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My reply may be considered off topic -- but I think it's a cool idea.... | I would like to make some single board embedded development | kits with some | simple tools. Firstly I would like to use a board that has a | more general | (i.e. non DSP) type processor, something like a MIPS, ARM, PowerPC, or | Pentium, or anything else that is deemed suitable. The | programme for a board | will be programmed using gcc on any type of host computer | with target output | for the embedded system processor, and I would like to have | the facility to | use gdb as the debugger. Such a system has many advantages. One not-so-implied requirement is to lower the entry cost to develop on such a system. IMO this is the key to making this type of system work. I have been drawn to gcc/gdb/eCos for the same reasons: extremely high quality tools, exceptionally low cost of entry (in $). However, there is cost. In many cases you must converge the tools to your system. To expand on your idea, wouldn't it be great if there were a "kits" for not just this board (which BTW is an excellent combination) but for a large number of development boards/eval kits. I am approached by distributors/factory reps every week. They want to "give" me an eval board. In almost all cases the development tool-chain cost is extreme ($5k-$25k+). They will give you an eval license for the development tools that lasts 30 days. This is not enough time. Also, all of these compilers are different -- I have no desire to learn a new tool chain each time I have to develop a project with a new processor. There are development boards for all of these systems. The ultimate would be to download a zip (windows) or tar-ball (Linux) that had binary versions of the compiler, debugger, eCos, and maybe uC/Linux with a BSP for a specific development board. Based on how much processor you have available (MIPS, memory size, etc.) other excellent additions would be a portable GUI and a TCP/IP stack. All ready to go. Download, install and you are ready to develop in a familiar environment that has been pre-converged to this target system. Here's a list of processors that I'd love to see a binary distribution of this "development kit" for both windows and Linux: 8bit: 8051/Atmel AVR 16bit: x86 32bit: PPC/CPU32(68k)/ARM/MIPS/Pentium I'm sure there are more. These are the processors that I use (or would like to use) on a regular basis. I know a lot of people have developed parts and pieces of this. All of the source code is available. But, there does not appear to be any _overall_ organization. Sorry for the rant, A.C. Verbeck Principal Software Engineer Clarity Visual Systems email: cverbeck@clarityvisual.com vox: (503) 570-0319 fax: (503) 682-9441 web: www.ClarityVisual.com ------ Want more information? See the CrossGCC FAQ, http://www.objsw.com/CrossGCC/ Want to unsubscribe? Send a note to crossgcc-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com
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