ARM processor - Newbie Questions

Posted by on January 26, 2006, 1:51 pm

Hello!

Am planning on working on a small device - my info (gathered mainly
from web) dictates using ARM processor for that.

Apart fron\m the processor, I could only find development and
Evaluation boards. What about the boards that ship with the final
product ? What are Development and Evaluation and Development boards?
What are these "production" boards called as - and are these always
manufactured by the developers of the device?Are there some
customizable/programmable boards available on which one can ship the
final/production model?

Too many questions? hope someone can bear with me and answer these.

waiting ...

Arshad

Posted by Matthias Melcher on January 27, 2006, 5:29 am

ashparvez@gmail.com wrote:

> Am planning on working on a small device - my info (gathered mainly
> from web) dictates using ARM processor for that.

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... .

Posted by on January 27, 2006, 12:55 pm

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

Posted by Matthias Melcher on January 30, 2006, 3:40 am

ashparvez@gmail.com wrote:

> 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?

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

Matthias

Posted by Emtech on February 4, 2006, 9:43 pm

ST has some application notes on their site...

http://www.st.com

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

Good luck..

> ashparvez@gmail.com wrote:

>> 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?

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

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