Re: Help with embedded hardware/software platform selection for ADA

[mjsilva@scriptoriumdesigns.com]

On Monday, July 1, 2013 4:35:54 PM UTC-7, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2013-07-01, Dmitry A. Kazakov <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> wrote:
> 
> >
> 
> > Don't be. Meanwhile, there are plenty of Intel Atom and AMD Geode SBCs.
> 
> >
> 
> > E.g. an ALIX board is under 100 EUR.
> 
> >
> 
> >    http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm
> 
> >    http://pcengines.ch/pic/alix2b3.jpg
> 
> >
> 
> 
> 
> That is way, way too big for some embedded environments (for example if
> 
> someone wants to drop a board into a model aircraft, ground based robot
> 
> or handheld device).
> 
> 
> 
> ARM is ideally suited for this market; take a look at the latest Olimex
> 
> boards for some examples of ARM board form factors. The ones Olimex have
> 
> produced over the last year or so in response to the Raspberry Pi are
> 
> rather capable boards.
> 
> 
> 
> Simon.

Exactly.  There are countless applications for these "low-end" ARMS, which have 8kb-1Mb of Flash, and 2kb-128kb of RAM.  This is the universe I work in, and it's a big and active universe, and I can't use Ada even though I know it's a much better tool than C or C++.  And that's why I was anxiously hoping that the Cortex M3 GNAT release would become available at the libre site, but it's not.  Ada can't compete where it doesn't even show up.