Gameboy Advance is an example of consumer devices using an embedded ARM
CPU. There are several companies providing development kits for games
and other uses of this platform. Xport 2.0 is a product from Charmed
Labs allowing an embedded developer to write code and load it into
flash or RAM in the Gameboy Advance (gba). This Gameboy Advance tool is
featured in Dr. Dobb's Journal. GBA has also been described in Circuit
Cellar.
Other development products for the GBA include :
EZ-Flash USB
EZ-FlashII Power Star
Extreme Flash Advance (EFA)
Flash2Advance
Flash2Advance USB
GBA Flash Linker
X-Rom
There are many ARM CPU vendors selling evaluation boards for the ARM
MCUs. There are also many vendors selling JTAG emulators, Flash
programmers and debuggers. JTAG is a convienient way to access the
builtin self test features of the ARM CPU. Many JTAG debuggers from
various
companies support emulator or debugging features. Emulators can be
found that support ARM7TDMI.
Most ARM CPUs include Thumb mode and
have a PLL clock generator. Some even have an LCD controller and
are listed here. You can find others at sites such as
Power supply devices from semiconductor companies provide both IO and
core voltages to the ARM CPU and support chips such as Flash memory,
FPGA, RAM, SDRAM, SRAM, async RAM, Ethernet, CAN bus and others. Power
supplies can be either linear LDO or switching devices. LDO devices
drop voltage by wasting power. Semiconductor switching devices convert
voltage up or down by storing
power either in capacitors or inductors. TI makes a semiconductor
switched capacitor power converter, the TPS60500 which can convert any
voltage between 2 to 6.5 volts to a lower voltage with an optimum
efficiency.
Linear Technology makes a dual buck switching semiconductor regulator
that can output two different voltages at 600 mA each, the LTC3407.
These devices are optimal for embedded ARM applications using FPGAs and
other IO devices.
GCC is a GNU compiler and is part of the GNU toolchain. It is available for the ARM cpu.
The ARM GNU tools are a complete package including a GNU ARM compiler, an assembler and a simulator.
It is also equipped with the Insight debugger. It is available to run under Linux or Cygwin for Windows.
All of the GNU ARM tools ( arm-elf-gcc toolchain download) are available at www.gnuarm.com.
Many ARM CPUs are supported including the LPC2100, OKI ML67Q5000 and ADuC7000.
There is also an arm assembly tutorial to accompany the GNU ARM toolchain.
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