Embedded Noob question: Netburner MOD5213/MOD5270 dev kits?

As a complete noob at embedded development I'm looking at the FreeScale Netburner (5213) dev kit as a relatively capable processor and reasonably priced entry into the game, but with the pricing on the 5270 being effectively the same for twice the bang for the buck, I'm not sure how to proceed. The ram/flash size make either one appealing, but of course more is better, right??

The 5213 has a nice small ff for embedding into projects and, but the 5270 just has so much -- *MORE* 8-}! Initial projects will be porting a C based Forth I wrote a bunch of years ago, toying with the interrupts/architecture, and either porting an RTOS or developing one as test/toy. Later, I'll be using the processor in some embedded robotics etc.

Any thoughts on the Netburner line? Is there good GNU/gcc support (I'm a 'BSD user/dev from many years back)? Are there more suitable dev kits similarly priced which offer similar bang for the buck??

Any insights appreciated.

Cheers, Rob.

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On Feb 27, 11:01 am, snipped-for-privacy@controlq.com wrote: [...]

I used the MOD5282 in a fast-track project at a previous employer a couple years back. Overall, it went pretty smoothly. I found a few bugs in the Netburner code (The MOD5282 was pretty new at the time, the 5270 should be well wrung-out by now)), and a bug in the boot monitor trashed a couple modules during development, but Netburner was fairly prompt at fixing any problems, and repaired the scrambled modules under warrantee.

I'd certainly use them again, especially if an ethernet interface is required (it wasn't for my project, but it was useful for code updates and a telnet interface).

Regards,

-=Dave

Reply to
Dave Hansen

I'm wondoring why you're looking at Coldfire? Most people who use Coldfire are leveraging the Ethernet interface that's only available on higher end chips. The 5213 is a new chip, but has no Ethernet.

I'd recommend also looking at Arm. I think the most bang for the buck is in the Arm world right now. Like the new NXP lpc23xx family. Or the Atmel AT91 family. Just a thought - they're more popular than Coldfire. If the purpose in learning is to make yourself marketable in the embedded field, then chip popularity is a concern.

I've always preferred the Coldfire internal architecture, but most of us use C compilers now, so that doesn't matter much.

Reply to
Eric

Actually, the adds in the front of Circuit Cellar and Nutz+Volts have been the major attractant, given that the price seems reasonable for a dev'nt system (99USD), and 39$/unit ($26?) means that I can purchase off the shelf a capable system to embed in hobby style projects affordably.

In many ways, I'd prefer ARM, as I'm hoping to leverage my skill sets to cross developing apps for a Palm/TX (PXA270) and IPAQ (also an XSCALE of some sort) ... and perhaps sometime moving them over to a BSD or Linux OS without bricking them.

The point you make about using C taking much of the concerns away from learning YAAL (yet another assembly language) is valid. I'm fluent in C, and have not had to assemble code for some years (more than 20).

Can you propose an Arm solution where I can have a complete dev'nt system for under $100USD, and purchase ready made embeddable target boards for under $40USD? I've been playing with an AVR butterfly/C and the TI MSP430 USB dongle thingy (and enjoying them immensely), but the ColdFire 5213 seems to have much more bang for the buck ....

Thanks again for your input ...

Cheers, Rob.

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You can't beat a 430 if power consuption is a concern. AVRs are much better than PICs, but they're in the same general league as the 430.

You surely aren't going to run embedded linux for under $100! You need to compare apples with apples. For this price range you'll have to pick an Arm7, and they can't really run linux. Of course some people will try, but I don't want to go there myself.

Go to

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and check out their QuickStart boards. I think they have the best deals right now, but Olimex is close behind. You can get a JTAG wiggler from Olimex, along with an EA Quickstart board and still have some change left over. Then you can use the GCC development environment.

Or you can get an EA Chirstmas tre eif you really want to save money. They are super cool, and almost free.

By the way, the biggest problem with the on-board BDM on the $99 5213 boards is that they have a closed API. You can't use open source gdb with those BDMs. You're stuck using commercial software. Of course the free version of CodeWarrior is not too bad, but I prefer open tools myself.

Eric

Reply to
Eric

There are a number of Arm7-based handhelds that run Linux and not just a restrictive embedded flavor like uClinux, for under $100.00 Please look into the 'zipitwireless' Yahoo group and also:

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Regards,

Michael

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