Re: [avr-libc-dev] <ot> porting a generic libc to an arbitrary uC

[Steve Franks]

On 4/19/07, Joerg Wunsch <address@hidden> wrote:
> As Steve Franks wrote:
>
> > The ARM/lpc folks have a "newlib" implementation for their i/o, but
> > no one appears to have implemented anything with stdio, ...
>
> I'm a bit surprised about that.  I always thought newlib contained a
> reasonable stdio implementation.  But then, newlib is basically a
> half-heartedly assembled conglomerate of libraries that are not as
> restricted as GPL is (as in an embedded world, true GPL is probably
> not what people are looking for), picked from everywhere around, but
> not really maintained as a whole.

That's my impression as well (disorganization).  The major issue is
all the newlib implementations I see have "lpc" tacked on them, which
is the NXP specific arm, and I see a lot of non-standard looking
things in there that are specific to the NXP device, so I'm not sure
the ARM people actually have newlib, just the LPC people.  I'm also
unclear on the differentiation between newlib and stdlib, so I may be
making incorrect generalizations anyway.  Glad I'm being paid to
research this for once ;)


> For a completely other route to go, I confess I don't know very much
> about ARMs.  However, if I were you, I'd at the very least explore the
> option to run either NetBSD or maybe even FreeBSD natively on them.
> Failing that, have a look whether you could maybe use their libraries.
> Unlike the AVR, the ARM is not as resource-constrained, so picking a
> well-maintained library that has been written for a larger processor
> might not be a too bad option at all.

Should have been specific - this is an ARM7 with 64k of flash @ 48MHz,
not an ARM9/11 in a pocket pc @ 400MHz with 64MB of flash, so an os
(except TinyOS & similar) is really not an option - If not for the
nice analog section (think quiet 12 & 16 bit @ 1MHz) I wouldn't be
using it instead of an avr at all - capabilities are really similar
(64k 32-bit instructions ~ 16k 8-bit instructions ~ 32k 16-bit
instructions), and the Avr is much more mature (also everyone at my
current employer is an old EE, so they keep anything made by Analog
Devices, Burr-Brown (div. of TI), National Semiconductor, or Linear
Tech in a special place in their hearts ;)  "No one ever got fired for
buying IBM".

Steve