ARM processor - Newbie Questions

Evaluation boards are manufactured by the same people that make your device. They offer access to the main features and can be pretty complex. They are expensive and you would never deliver a product with those. Some manufacturers don't even give you a license for that.

Development boards are maded by the parts manufacturer or third party vedors and are meant to assist you in creating a setup that can then become the final product. Usually expensive and big.

Once you circuit design is finished (on paper or in a CAD system) and tested (on a development board), you would create the first few master boards form you CAD data, manually solder the pieces on them and test the board thouroughly.

The final board depends on how many pieces you are trying to sell. If you plan to sell 10, you'd have the board manufactured and hand solder the components. If you plan to sell tenthousands, you'll have a robot do the soldering.

There are prototyping bords out there that can be used in final products, but due to the high price, this is usually limited to a series of three to eight. The boards come with a matching case included to look professional, but the insisde is still a prototype... .

Thanks for your reply - really informative for me.

I have heard that there are some boards that have some sort of built-in OS - like linux - and can save/run software written in high level languages. The plus side being; a hardware-ignorant person like me can also assemble a device - at least as a personal project. Is that so ? Can you please point out some links where one can find such boards?

Arshad

No, becaues I am not using ARM's yet. You'll have to do that by yourself... .

Matthias

ST has some application notes on their site...

Look for the ARM7 ST711 I think - there is also an application note for running ucLinux on an ARM.

Good luck..

Hi

I recently picked up 2 FREE sample ARMs from Texas Instruments. I don't know what to do with them yet, as I am still getting my feet wet with 8-bit microcontr0llers( MCUs). Maybe it would be worth learning some circuit-building and testing with simpler MCUs before diving into the deep end of ARMs, maybe your project could use some of the more capable 8-bit controllers. Or...maybe even consider one of the many small form-factor motherboards available and run it on Linux and use a free 32-bit compiler for program development. Maybe use an old motherboard? An old notebook?There is plenty of info on the Internet, and some books, eg the new "Linux Robotics".

More than likely you could find some free programming and development tools on the Internet, as well as some inexpensive circuit solutions for experimenting. I think one of the regulars here sells a product called the TinyARM - maybe have a chat with him. A mob called shmartboard/EZ sells prototyping boards for small footprint components and MCUs that makes it easier to make your own development boards.

Cheers

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Dale