ImageCraft - ARM Development Tools

19-Oct-2004

INTRODUCING the ImageCraft C Compiler for the ARM Microcontrollers

ImageCraft press release - ICCV7 for ARM. Click here for Press Sheet (PDF), click here for Press Release Presentation (Powerpoint), or click here for tech specifications flyer (also PDF).

The 32-bit ARM is the most popular 32-bit CPU in the world. More than 10 manufacturers have ARM based microcontrollers with features that will suite most engineers' needs and at prices very competitive with 16-bit microcontrollers. In addition, the ARM7T core provides the "Thumb" 16 bit instruction set, in addition to the native 32 bit instruction set, for an excellent mix of price, performance, and memory usage.

ImageCraft C compiler tools are known for our easy-to-use yet powerful IDE, plus a fast ANSI C compiler with innovative features such as our Code Compressort for selected targets.

With ICCARM, we will bring out two versions:
ICCARM STD:

IDE with editor, project manager, and Application Builder (*)

fast ANSI C Compiler with base optimizations such as register allocation and peephole optimizer

macro assembler and linker

ICCARM PRO:

Additionally includes MIO (Machine Independent Optimizer). This includes the classic global optimizations such as constant propagation, global common subexpression elimination (global value numbering), lifetime splitting, etc.

Of course we understand the need for industrial strength debug tools, and we will ensure a good debug solution exists for the ICCARM compilers.

(*) Application Builder is a GUI component that we provide in selected ICC compiler tools. It allows you to generate peripheral initialization code of the microcontroller's resources via a point and click interface.

~ Availability~

ICCARM is scheduled to release & ship in October 2004, during the ARM Developers' Conference.

Please email info@imagecraft.com if you are interested in becoming an ICCARM beta-tester. (Please let us know which ARM boards and the development tools you are currently using.)

~ Starter kits / Pricing~

With the emerging low cost ARM base microcontroller starter kits such as those found at www.tinyarm.com and the EB40 AT91 ARM Thumb evaluation board from Atmel, ICCARM STD is perfect for programming these microcontrollers without investing a lot of engineering cost on difficult to use GNU tools. When you are pushing the limits of the device memory, just upgrade to the PRO version and turn on the MIO, and the optimizer will decrease the code size and make your programs run faster.

Pricing: While the pricing is still TBD, we expect to price the STD tool similar to our other STD compilers, at Euro199,00. The PRO version is expected to retail between Euro 500,00 to Euro 1000,00. Most new commercial C compilers for ARM are actually simply IDEs on top of GNU ARM tool chains. While GNU compilers are known for their quality, they are not particularly easy to use, even if hidden under a GUI IDE. ImageCraft ICCARM provides a viable alternative to both GNU-based ARM compilers and the more expensive tools. Our experience with serving a broad customer base is unmatched by other embedded compiler tool providers.

Pagina aggiornata al 16 Novembre 2004

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~ Availability~
	ICCARM is scheduled to release & ship in October 2004, during the ARM Developers' Conference.

	Please email info@imagecraft.com if you are interested in becoming an ICCARM beta-tester. (Please let us know which ARM boards and the development tools you are currently using.)

~ Starter kits / Pricing~
	With the emerging low cost ARM base microcontroller starter kits such as those found at www.tinyarm.com and the EB40 AT91 ARM Thumb evaluation board from Atmel, ICCARM STD is perfect for programming these microcontrollers without investing a lot of engineering cost on difficult to use GNU tools. When you are pushing the limits of the device memory, just upgrade to the PRO version and turn on the MIO, and the optimizer will decrease the code size and make your programs run faster.

	Pricing: While the pricing is still TBD, we expect to price the STD tool similar to our other STD compilers, at Euro199,00. The PRO version is expected to retail between Euro 500,00 to Euro 1000,00. Most new commercial C compilers for ARM are actually simply IDEs on top of GNU ARM tool chains. While GNU compilers are known for their quality, they are not particularly easy to use, even if hidden under a GUI IDE. ImageCraft ICCARM provides a viable alternative to both GNU-based ARM compilers and the more expensive tools. Our experience with serving a broad customer base is unmatched by other embedded compiler tool providers.