embedded tools

Perhaps this is a very naive question, but still, what are tools that you use for embedded development and debug which make life ( development and debug ) easy ?

Alternatively, can you all suggest me some website which enlists the popular tools which developers use(like lint and eclipse etc.)

regards ashu

Reply to
ashu
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Can you narrow down what you are after. At least the type of processor you are wanting to use or some characteristics of the application being developed. Otherwise the list would be massive and be mostly irrelevant to you.

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Richard.
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FreeRTOS.org

Thanks Richard!

I am looking for things which help in project management, or debugging things, good hex editors, binary file comarison tools, etc etc.

Architecture: ARM9 and Motorola, M68HC11 and HC08

you

t to

Reply to
ashu

a code versioning system (cvs, subversion) is a must. IMHO of course :)

Bye Jack

Reply to
Jack

A versioning system was already mentioned. Subversion is widespread and works well.

You already mentioned lint. Although some "innovations" from C99 are still not implemented, PC-Lint seems still the best static code checking tool for "C".

I prefer plain old "make" over fancy IDEs.

I rarely need a "hex" editor for embedded development. What do you intend to do?

Besides this, the text editors I'm using (MED and PsPad) can edit also binaries. And my favourite comparison tool (Beyond Compare) supports also binary comparisons, of course.

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lists more editors, but might be autdated.

HC11 is "very mature". I wouldn't rely on long availability these days. 9S12 is a successor. I also wouldn't recommend HC08 for new designs, use 9S08 if possible. There are interesting new derivatives.

Regarding debuggers, it depends what you are willing to spend or what your work time is worth. A very good low cost tool for HC11, HC(S)12 and HC(S)08 (and many more you didn't mention) is John Hartman's NoICE debugger

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Lauterbach, iSYSTEM etc. have more features and can increase productivity but cost _much_ more. I really like to work with my iC3000 for the 9S12 and Coldfire V2, but I'm rather disappointed by the support quality. Besides this, there were drastic changes in price policy recently.

You should visit the

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trade fair starting soon.

(full quote deleted)

please quote only relevant parts.

Oliver

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Oliver Betz, Muenchen (oliverbetz.de)
Reply to
Oliver Betz

emacs (text editor, might look at Eclipse if didn't already know emacs) make (build system) gcc-arm (compiler/assembler/linker) openocd (jtag-dubug software tool) Amontec usb-jtag dongle (but there are cheaper generic ones) git (version control system; used to use subversion) insight (debugger, occasionally) Vutrax PCB layout software (non-free) LTSpice circuit simulation Context (typesetting software for user manuals etc)

All under debian linux (although all have windows versions).

Plus various oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, power supplies, soldering iron etc!

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Developing embedded systems that meet expectations of performance, integrity, safety and quality is not easy. The work can be made much easier by adopting a really good development process and sticking to appropriate standards for the domain you are developing for.

Definitely a version control system and change tracking system is a must for any engineering development process. If you are a one-man band make sure you have some friends who will act as sounding boards, assistants in reviews and who will maintain commercial confidentiality.

Your best tool is you. Spend time up front in the development to fully understand what you are tyring to produce, be strict in following standards (especially coding standards). Inspect early and often and try to find and expel problems before you design them in. In fact do not design faults and bugs into the system in the first place.

As for the other helpful tools; be clear of your needs for tools, run proper evaluations for all tools you select for your shortlist and be prepared to take time to learn to use them adequately to your needs.

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Paul E. Bennett...............
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Paul E. Bennett

Why did you change from SVN? I am happy with SVN - what are the advantages of GIT (tell me to shut up if this is off topic).

...hammer, etc

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Regards,
Richard.
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FreeRTOS.org

Write some of them to suit yourself. Do the simple things. Of the above, hex editors and file comparison are extremely simple. Initially at least you would be better advised to get debuggers and project management tools from the world. Source maintenance and revision systems are probably quite available in suitable form.

Please do not top-post. So doing has lost everything you were replying to. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all irrelevant material. See the following links:

(taming google) (newusers)

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 [mail]: Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) 
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Reply to
CBFalconer

although you _can_ implement a simple file comparison, I don't want to miss the extremly advanced tools available these days.

Side by side view, direct editing, (S)FTP access and lots of other features save so much time that it is a no-brainer whether to buy Beyond Compare or EC Merge.

Oliver

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Oliver Betz, Muenchen (oliverbetz.de)
Reply to
Oliver Betz

It's not off topic (at least, there are others here who would like to know...)

The big advantage of GIT that I've heard of is that it is distributed, which can be important if you have people working in different places with slow connections. You can have a full copy of the repository on your local machine, making it very quick and easy to do things like compares to older versions or different branches. SVN is very much a client-server model, although you can tie it together with extra software to replicate servers.

For me, the SVN client-server model is an advantage (especially for backup), and the command-line tools and gui tools (like tortoise for windows) are very handy. The other big plus for SVN is trac.

A good coffee machine is handy too.

Reply to
David Brown

printf

#define

Reply to
7

Skillful hands, clever head and stubborn arse.

http:\\

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Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

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Reply to
Vladimir Vassilevsky

True. And for when you can't use printf or it's equivalent, the OP should be aware that an LED is an excellent debugging tool.

Simon.

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Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world
Reply to
Simon Clubley

I tried Eclipse once a few years ago. My impression was that it seemed bloated and nothing in it jumped out as offering me anything significant over emacs (at least for what I use emacs for - I'm not an all-in-one IDE type of person; I prefer to use tools from the CLI directly) so I just went straight back to using emacs.

Yes and no on the non-free part.

Vutrax is normal commercial software, but they offer a limited 256 pin version free of charge.

(I used to use the 256 pin Linux version before I switched to gEDA.)

Simon.

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Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world
Reply to
Simon Clubley

Yeah, me too - I haven't tried it recently though, and didn't give it much of a chance at the time. Java on debian was pretty broken then too (due to licencing) but may be much better now, with Eclipse itself much more mature.

Sorry, I meant that I was using the paid for version. I would probably try geda seriously, but have been using Vutrax for ~20 years(!). I only do layout occasionally so switching to another system would be very disruptive. Vutrax is dongle-free, stable, reliable and works on Linux and Windows.

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Along with a multimeter, logic probe and oscilloscope. Of course, the best tool of all is a Mk1 brain and eyeballs.

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Paul E. Bennett...............
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Paul E. Bennett

OK, the advantages I can think of, that I notice are: - all operations seem much faster (instant).

- Project repositories seem to stay small, disk space is used very efficiently.

- easy per-project "repositories", each project is it's own independent "repository". All the history is under a single, hidden ".git" folder at the root of the project. No central server to maintain.

- I found the continuously incrementing svn repository "version number" confusing with respect to multiple projects. And I seem to recall problems with svn when directories were moved around within a project.

- Git has a some nice graphical history visualisation and diff tools.

Note I am only using it as a "single" developer. And the "limitations" I found with svn may well have been just my own misunderstandings.

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

I also make a software printf/RS232 routine that toggles a single I/O line so that I can hook up a opto-isolator (LED). The other side of the opto-isolator I feed to a MAX232 to get RS232 and get print out of internal variables even when everything else is failing/not operational yet. The optical isolation is important to avoid electrical problems when hooking up different kinds of systems together.

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7

Vladimir Vassilevsky schrieb:

Better try to avoid backslashes ;-)

I often found what I needed when asking a search engine for "${CPU/architecture} gnu toolchain"...

Falk

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Falk Willberg

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