![]() ![]() There’s also a modest trend toward system-on-chips adding MCUs to Linux-driven Cortex-A cores, as with the NXP i.MX6 SoloX. In robotics, you’re likely to see Cortex-A and Cortex-M both integrated in the same product. Other categories where MCU development skills might come in handy include wearables, where low power, low cost, and small size give MCUs an edge, and robotics and drones where real-time processing and motor control are the main benefits. This includes improved memory addressing, independent clock settings for the core and various buses, and in the case of some Cortex-M7 chips, rudimentary graphics. Yet beyond prototyping, developers often replace the Arduino board and its 8-bit ATmega32u4 MCU with a faster 32-bit Cortex-M chip with additional functionality. This is especially true with complex, heterogeneous IoT projects that extend from MCU-based endpoints to cloud platforms.įor prototyping and hobbyist projects, an interface to an Arduino board offers fairly easy access to MCU benefits. Why Learn MCU-Speak?Įven if a Linux developer has no plans to load uClinux on a Cortex-M chip, knowledge of MCUs should come in handy. However, Libero requires a license, and the RHEL version lacks support for add-on packages such as FlashPro and SoftConsole. Microsemi, which integrates Cortex-M3 chips in its SmartFusion FPGA SoCs has a Libero IDE available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in addition to Windows. ![]() However, LPCXpresso costs $450 per individual seat. For example, NXP, whose share of the MCU market increased with its recent acquisition of Freescale (Kinetis MCUs, among others), offers an LPCXpresso IDE with Linux, Windows, and Mac support. ST is not the first 32-bit MCU vendor to offer Linux-ready IDEs for Cortex-M chips, but it appears to be one of the first major free Linux platforms. Targets include ST’s full range of MCUs, from entry-level Cortex-M0 cores to high-performing M7 chips, including M0+, M3, and DSP-extended M4 cores. The software is compatible with microcontroller firmware within the STM32Cube embedded-software packages or Standard Peripheral Library, says ST. SW4STM32 supports the ST-LINK/V2 debugging tool under Linux via an adapted version of the OpenOCD community project. The STM32CubeMX configurator and SW4STM32 IDE enable Linux developers to configure microcontrollers and develop and debug code. The Nucleo boards are available in 32-, 64-, and 144-pin versions, and offer hardware add-ons such as Arduino connectors. ST’s tools, some of which should also be available for Mac OS/X in the second quarter, work with STM32 Nucleo boards, Discovery kits, and Evaluation boards. With ST’s free tools, Linux developers can more easily tap this new realm. The firmware development work is typically done on a Windows-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Instead, they are controlled with real-time operating systems (RTOSes) or go bare-bones with no OS at all. A small subset of these can run the stripped-down uCLinux (see below), but none support more comprehensive Linux distributions. Yet, much of the IoT revolution, as well as the wearables market, is based on tiny, low-power microcontrollers, increasingly Cortex-M chips. Linux is the leading platform for Internet of Things gateways and hubs, as well as higher-end IoT endpoints. ![]() “We are now making it ultra-easy for them to apply their skills to create imaginative new products, leveraging the features and performance of our STM32 family.” “The Linux community is known to attract creative free-thinkers who are adept at sharing ideas and solving challenges efficiently,” stated Laurent Desseignes, Microcontroller Ecosystem Marketing Manager, Microcontroller Division, STMicroelectronics. SW4STM32 is supported with toolchain, forums, blogs, and technical support by the development community. The tools include ST’s STM32CubeMX configurator and initialization tool, as well as its System Workbench for STM32 (SW4STM32), an Eclipse-based IDE created by Ac6 Tools. This week, leading ARM Cortex-M vendor STMicroelectronics (ST) released a free Linux desktop version of its development software for its line of STM32 microcontroller units (MCUs). ![]() The 32-bit microcontroller world is starting to open up to Linux. ![]()
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