Re: STM32F4 GNAT Run Time System - roadmap

[Brian Drummond <brian@shapes.demon.co.uk>]

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:02:22 +0100, Simon Wright wrote:

> Looking for some input on priorities for work.

> Other MCUs ----------
> 
> STM have just released a significant number of affordable Nucleo
> development kits. The NUCLEO-F091RC has 48 MHz Cortex-M0 core, 256-KB
> Flash, 32-KB SRAM, which would just-about take my current testbed
> program; for the princely sum of UKP7.94 + p&p, 88 in stock in UK for
> next day delivery from Farnell[0].

I confess I haven't been following this as closely as I'd like, but there 
are many possibilities for "other MCUs".

Anything that can be done to make adding an MCU easier is worthwhile. In 
the MSP430 case I had a parser for the C header files so that all MSP430s 
were available (to the extent the parser worked) but that won't work 
across multiple manufacturers.

So establishing a framework into which someone can plug in the details of 
a new MCU, or which guides or helps him in doing so, would be important.

Specific MCUs it would be good to target: 
TI have several families, some with low cost Launchpad boards, including 
the Stellaris. They have announced  anew "MSP432" line aiming squarely at 
their own ultra-low-power MSP430 market but with a Cortex core.

And notably they have the Hercules series, again with cheap Launchpads, 
aimed at high reliability for industrial and automotive markets - with 
dual CPUs operating in lockstep to detect errors. 

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/launchpads-hercules.html
http://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/launchxl-rm42/dev-board-rm42-
hercules-launchpad/dp/2341348

What better platform for running Ada?

-- Brian