Michael Barr - Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition

All of the examples in this book have been written for and tested on an embedded platform called the VIPER-Lite. This board is a high-speed embedded controller that is designed, manufactured, and sold by Arcom. The following paragraphs contain information about the hardware, software development tools, and instructions for ordering a board for yourself.

The VIPER-Lite hardware includes the following:

Processor: PXA255 XScale (based on the ARM v.5TE architecture) (200 MHz)

RAM: 64 MB of SDRAM

ROM: 16 MB of flash and 1 MB boot ROM

Three RS232-compatible serial ports (with external DB9 connectors)

10/100baseTx Ethernet port

USB v1.1 client port

CompactFlash slot

Four programmable timer/counters

Sixteen-channel DMA controller

Watchdog timer

Real-time clock

Eight buffered digital inputs

Eight buffered digital outputs

RedBoot debug monitor program resident in boot ROM

Embedded Linux (based on kernel version 2.6) resident in flash

[*] The Windows CE operating system can be specified instead when ordering the VIPER-Lite board. There is an additional cost for the VIPER-Lite with the Windows CE operating system. Examples in the book target the embedded Linux operating system version of the board.

JTAG port for system debugging

Arcom has also built an add-on module ideal for learning embedded software. The add-on board was designed specifically for the examples shown in this book and is included with a book-specific version of the VIPER-Lite development kit. The VIPER-Lite add-on module includes the following:

Three LEDs

Four buttons and jumpers

Four opto-isolated inputs

Four opto-isolated outputs

Two relay outputs

A buzzer

A small prototyping area

The VIPER-Lite development kit includes all of the necessary cables for interfacing to the board and a power supply. A photograph of the complete VIPER-Lite development kit in its blue case is shown in .

The CD-ROM that comes with the Arcom development kit includes all VIPER-Lite manuals and reference documents, datasheets for all components on the board, source code for RedBoot, embedded Linux packages with source code, and binary images for RedBoot and embedded Linux.

The software development tools for the Arcom board are located on the book's web site. We built these tools ourselves for the ARM processor by following the instructions shown in . The software tools include the GNU C compiler (gcc), assembler (as), linker (ld), and debugger (gdb). We encourage you to investigate the other GNU tools included in the development kit. All programs in this book were built using the tools contained on the book's web site.

For readers of this book, the VIPER-Lite development kit is available at a special discount price of $295 (plus shipping). Use one of the following order codes when contacting Arcom, depending on the operating system you want:

VIPER-Lite Embedded Linux Development Kit

VIPER-Lite Windows CE Development Kit

Make sure you mention the book so that you receive the add-on module. Here is Arcom's contact information:

Arcom

7500 West 161st Street

Overland Park, KS 66085

Web: http://www.arcom.com

America and Asia: +1 913-549-1000 or

EMEA: +44 (0)1223-403410 or

This appendix shows the procedure for setting up the GNU software development tools and example source code. The GNU software development tools setup procedure is broken down into two sections: one for Windows and one for Linux. The GNU software tools we use for the example code include the gcc version 3.4.4, as version 2.15, ld version 2.15, gdb version 6.3, and binutils version 2.15.

This book's web site contains several compressed archive files that expand to include the various source code and tools used in this book. These files are:

windowshost.zip

Contains the Cygwin setup files and the Windows-based GNU software development tools

linuxhost.tar.gz

Contains the Linux-based GNU software development tools

ecos.tar.gz

Contains the eCos source code repository and the eCos development tools (see for additional information on setting up the eCos host environment)

examples.zip and examples.tar.gz

Contain the book's example code

The Linux example code in has not been built and tested using a host computer running Windows. It is common to use a Linux host system for developing embedded Linux applications. Building applications for Linux using a Windows host is beyond the scope of this book. It involves the use of the Cygwin free software toolset, a somewhat more involved procedure than the one described in this chapter.

The GNU software development tools were run on a Pentium 4 computer with Windows XP (Service Pack 2). The first phase of the Windows setup is to install Cygwin , a Unix environment for Windows. Additional information about Cygwin can be found online at http://www.cygwin.com.

The first step in the Windows host installation procedure is to download the windowshost.zip file and unzip it to temporary directory.

Cygwin is used for building all of the examples in this book under Windows. The following instructions assume that C: is your hard disk drive where the files are installed. The Cygwin environment is installed under the C:\\cygwin directory.

Looking at the commands and directories here might get a bit confusing, because Windows and Unix environments differ in how they separate directories: Windows uses the backslash ( \\ ) and Unix uses the forward slash ( / ).