I've never used ARM microprocessors, so i have questions about. For now, i have only used 8 bit micropoccessors and i have programmed only in C and asm language (i'm not expert in object oriented programming). I shoud use an ARM7 microprocessor.
1)What is the best ide for software development?Any site, reference , comparative table, suggestion?
2)Any book about this micro? I'm totally new, so any suggestion is important for me. Thanks
It includes Eclipse as IDE together with GCC and various other components It is free and works well. I don't know about books but on the net there are a lot of examples an support for the ARM7, here as example
There is no universal best. This is something you'll need to research to find your own feature, cost, performance, support, etc. balance.
Hitex has a nice introduction to the Philips/NXP flavour linked from their main site at
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You should be aware (if you're not already) that the ARM families from different manufacturers have significant differences in their peripherals -- where peripherals include things as fundamental as interrupt controllers.
For compilers, if your project can use GPL code there's a well-supported gcc port at
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On the commercial side, Keil is the Big Dog, and priced accordingly. IAR, Rowley, and ImageCraft are other commercial players (I'm sure there are more...). ImageCraft is where my price/performance curves intersected; your mileage may vary.
This question comes up again and again, and the answer is really dependent on your own usage requirements. If you can say more about:
1) How much you want to pay.
2) What sort of support you are after.
3) Size optimisation, speed optimisation, or dont care?
4) License model.
5) Documentation.
6) Reliability.
Then people may be able to make some suggestions, but be prepared for a religious argument as to the pros and cons of GCC which I'm sure will follow.
Eclipse is one solution if you want a free environment, but this is by no means the easiest for a novice.
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for an intro. If you are after a heavy weight reference then
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You might also like to look at the ARM Cotex-M3 as an alternative the ARM7.
Please note that using gcc does *not* automatically mean your code comes under the GPL. The GPL refers to further distribution of the compiler itself, not of your code.
If you link in other code (like e.g. newlib in the case of gnuarm) then you will be subject to the newlib license conditions, but they are much less restrictive for commercial use. You can keep your code proprietary. And it is perfectly possible to avoid linking in *any* of newlib by providing your own functions where needed. I find there are very few of these in smaller embedded applications.
If you want to do this for free, you can do this in 3 parts...
The compiler: GCC (gnuarm or similar), The IDE: Eclipse
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or CodeBlocks
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The JTAG debug tool: Olimex, Amontec, Wiggler, all driven via OpenOCD. OpenOCD is a utility which drives the JTAG tools, and GDB makes a connection to it when debugging. (openocd.berlios.de)
We have developed a free toolchain, that pulls GCC compiler, our own IDE, and OpenOCD support.
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There is a free IDE, which is seperate from our build of arm-elf-gcc (sarm). Eclipse seems to be the popular choice at the moment for IDE's.
The above does not have simulation support though.
Commercial solution:
I have used Keil, IAR, and Raisonance. Keil has fantastic simulator. Around the £2.8k price for full, or around 1.2k for 256k baseline version. Pricing for these 2 are similar. Raisonance is a lower cost solution, around 600eur.
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