Setting ARM GCC development environment

As we mentioned before, we are going to stick with free software tools. So we are going to use free and open-source GCC compiler to develop programs for ARM Cortex microcontrollers. As we will work from the windows environment, there are a couple of serious choices that are pretty similar. One is using CodeSourcery Lite edition or Yagarto Gnu ARM toolchain. Both tools work the same as they use the same GCC compiler and other tools. Both seem to be supported frequently. CodeSourcery claims that they are updating Lite Edition twice a year, while Yagarto is doing this more regularly depending on updates of separate tools. So your choice won’t affect your final result. When installed you can quickly check if everything works fine by opening command-line tool and writing a simple command that checks the version of ARM GCC compiler: arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe -v Both can be used with Eclipse IDE and require a makefile. The only difference – is a path to tools when compiling. Download any or both of these and install to your machine. Next step is to…

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Do we need ARM?

ARM microcontrollers are very successfully positioned microcontrollers in the market. Billions of them are used in all areas where control, data processing, in interfacing is needed. ARM microcontrollers have evolved into a high-level product that provides high processing power with the minimum clock frequency and power usage. Practically all major manufacturers are developing their line or ARM processors that share the same standard core functionality, and variations between MCUs starts with peripherals and other external features. ARM microcontrollers are cheap and robust which makes them attractive to use in almost all applications. They are successfully taking the place of smaller microcontrollers like ARM or PIC. Hobbyists also are taking them over.

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