You are correct. It took me a while to find it, but the PCDuino from Sparkfun is the one with a direct ethernet connection rather than going through the USB hub, Assuming I read the block diagram correctly.
and specifically page two of the schematic
http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Dev/PCDuino/pcDuino_V01_Schem...
The problem with the Beagleboard XM is the usb fails then the board can't be reached through ethernet to diagnose the problem, let alone do remote management. USB is always kind of touchy since the devices connected to it are not as shall we say as well disciplined as ethernet clients. So running your ethernet through the usb host seems like a bad idea.
I also thought this message was on the suse list when I responded. [I was clearing email while in line at a store.] I haven't tried fedora on the Beagleboard XM in a while, but the version I tried (17?) did NOT have the usb hub patch, Then 18 didn't work at all. In the mean time I was able to get Opensuse to add the patch to the kernel.
Info on the patch here:
On 04/30/13 22:40, Peter Robinson wrote:
On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 1:44 AM, lists@lazygranch.com wrote:
I'm a bit confused here. This is the new Bone, not the original.
In any event, the Beagleboard XM is the one with the hub. (4 usb) Also note that board needs a special patch. I'm just watching ther list to see when it is available for opensuse 12.3.
Personally, I wish I got the Panda ES rather than the Beagleboard XM. I would have saved myself hours of debugging.
The ethernet on the Beagleboard XM runs off an internal usb port. Not the greatest design since it has to share I/O with the rest of the hub.
So does the ethernet on the PandaES.