Mity CPU Platforms » MityDSP-L138 (ARM9 Based Platforms)

Hi Simon,

For software development, there are really two distinct development paths / tools. One is for the ARM, which involves a port of gcc and (for most folks) eclipse and gdb via gdbserver. At the moment, the primary OS supported for the ARM is linux, though there are ports for QNX and embedded windows. Our suggestion is that for development of ARM side applications you develop on a Linux platform. This software is downloadable (the compiler:http://support.criticallink.com/redmine/projects/arm9-platforms/wiki/GCC_Toolchain, at least) from this wiki. You should also have received a DVD containing the compiler along with a pile of libraries and other utilities pre-installed into a VirtualBox virtual machine image. I would recommend setting this virtual image up and familiarizing yourself with eclipse and the cross tools and go for the "hello world" type application on that first.

The second path is for the DSP, which involves using CCS and the emulator. Sounds like you have this material. CCS is a TI tailored eclipse build that uses their back-end compilers for the DSP. The compilers are available for both Linux and Windows. Emulator support is currently only available on windows, though this is expected to change early next year.

Most folks start by developing their ARM side portion of the application, as in general the ARM is responsible for external communications interfaces (display, ethernet, UARTs, etc.). Then once they have a shell and they need to use the DSP, they work on that (port codecs, write custom processing logic, etc.). That's really your prerogative, however.

To get the two processors communicating, you'll likely need to learn to use DSPLINK, which is a TI provided library (included on the virtual machine image, for your convenience).

Besides this site, there is a wealth of information on TI's Processor Wiki as well as their E2E site.

Please don't hesitate to fire questions here as well. We'll do our best to support you.

-Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your fast reply!

For my project, I will probably only use the ARM side. In fact, I wanted a MityARM but there were only MityDSPs available. Since the AM1808 is in the OMAP it's no big deal cause I can do the exact same stuff.

So, if I get you right, I don't even need CCS to program the AM1808 inside the OMAP?

For the OS side, I will probably use linux. For what I need it should be ok.

I will start by installing virutal box et check that out.

Another question I have is about the PRU. I'm trying to find some information about it and there's not much yet. Since this is TI stuff, I'll check out their forum to find out info

Thanks!!

Hi Simon,

Yes, you are right, you probably won't need CCS or the Emulator (except, perhaps for the PRU...).

The PRU user-space driver access for linux is fairly new, and not yet included in the kernel from Critical Link yet, but I expect that it will be dropped in fairly soon. Critical Link has not really used it yet, though there are folks at TI developing a couple of custom IP cores using our Industrial I/O board using the PRU. I would start with the TI sites for details about the assembler and how to load the PRU from a linux OS. If you run into a wall, we can help find answers for you.

-Mike

Hi again

Is there a release note somewhere about the Release 2010-10-12? I think the VirtualBox image I had on my dvd contains stuff from Release-2010-05 so I'm wondering if it's a good idea to update everything to october 2010 stuff.

Thanks!