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I asked this question ago. (Don't need to read it to answer this one)

out growing 8-bit AVRs, not sure where to move on to

I really liked the answers about the NXP line of microcontrollers. I'm about to invest in some hardware to get started playing with them, and I wanted to run it by this forum to make sure that I'm not paying too much or buying the wrong part.

I'm not interested in the mbed chip. I prefer to have the option to build something from scratch using the full line of micro-controllers. That means I have to buy a programmer.

I'm interested in the ULINK2 from Keil. It is 411 CND on digikey.ca. http://www.keil.com/ulink2/

It integrates with the Keil Development environment. If it turns out I can't or don't want to use the Keil IDE can I use the ULINK2 with FOSS on Linux? What about on windows without Keil? If I decide now that I don't want to go with Keil, is it worth getting another generic JTAG programmer?

Ultimately the goal is to be able to compile and program

  • LPC2921/2923/2925 (ARM9) (this is the least important category for me)
  • All LPC21/22/23 (ARM7)
  • All Cortex M0 and M3

I wasn't able to find any instructions on setting up a toolchain and flash/debugger program for NXP microcontrollers, and that is the only reason I'm talking about Keil related products. I would rather just use GCC and some other uploader. I'm used to avrdude for AVRs.

What kind of setup do you guys use for ARM or NXP uCs? What JTAG programmers do you recommend? Any other FOSS toolchain instructions or other software I should know about?

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5 Answers

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For professional type use, your major options are IAR, Keil or Rowley CrossWorks. Keil is owned by ARM, which may or may not give them a slight advantage. I'd say the performance between IAR and Keil is nearly identical. Rowley is bargain of the 3. Rowley also let's you use cheaper debuggers, such as the J-link. You might be able to use the J-link with IAR as well, but I think Keil forces you to use their Ulink products, which can be a bit more expensive. As far as support, I believe Rowley is purely through their website. IAR and Keil offer 1 year or so of phone support. From what I've been told, Keil seems to offer better support in the US, while IAR is more focused on Europe. I've used Keil without any issues and support was good. That being said, any of these 3 will probably perform just as well.

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I`ve used exclusively Keil for 10 years and found the compiler, hardware and support to be very good. However they are the most expensive of the 3 you mention! –  BullBoyShoes Jan 15 '11 at 22:12
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up vote 3 down vote

Have you checked out the LPC1343 (Cortex M3) board from Microbuilder? (http://www.microbuilder.eu/Projects/LPC1343ReferenceDesign.aspx)

Could be a cheap stepping stone to get familiar with ARM dev environments. You can easily upload the program via USB (it appears as a USB flash drive, and you just dump your hex file in there).

Microbuilder also has tutorials to get you up and programming with free tools (Codelite/YAGARTO).

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+1: Didn't know about YAGARTO, thanks. Microbuilder is also a nice site. thanks again. Not interested in their reference boards, since they are in the same category as mbed, and YAGARTO was for windows. I know I can build an arm toolchain under linux, I've already done it, but I don't know if there are any special things I need to do to a toolchain for NXP micros. Also have no idea how to use a JTAG programmer/debugger under linux. –  Chris H Nov 29 '10 at 5:54
 
Have you looked at OpenOCD? –  XTL Nov 29 '10 at 9:30
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up vote 1 down vote

LPC2138/48 would be a good start. There lots of examples written for these micros.

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Can you link us to these examples? –  Kortuk♦ Jan 16 '11 at 4:07
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up vote 1 down vote

I use Rowley CrossWorks with their CrossConnect Pro for ARM development. Support is very good.

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Give us links! They help users dive right in. –  Kortuk♦ Jan 16 '11 at 4:08
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No too familiar with all the options but make sure you get something that will do JTAG and SWD - later Cortex parts use the latter, which uses fewer pins for debug.

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