Re: Getting started with embedded programming

[Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org>]

Andrew Shvets <andrew.shvets@gmail.com> writes:

> I'd like to get started with embedded programming next year.  What
> would you recommend for hardware as well as OS?  I'm looking to spend
> no more than $50 for the hardware and this will be used for hobby
> projects only.
>
> Is Raspberry PI my only option or is there something else that you
> have tried in the past?

Assuming you want to use Ada --

For hardware, I know (some of) the STMicroelectronics range and Arduino
Due, all based on 32-bit ARM Cortex-M. I doubt any of these are going to
run Linux, though there are some RTOSs (FreeRTOS, Nuttx(?)).

For Ada you can write for the bare metal (e.g. Maciej's articles[1]) -
which are an excellent start, anyway - or for something higher-level try
a Ravenscar-based implementation (that's with a subset of Ada tasking
designed for small boards/higher integrity).

AdaCore's GNAT GPL 2017 for arm-elf supports these boards:

   crazyflie
   lm3s
   rpi2
   stm32f4 (this is the stm32f407disco board)
   stm32f429disco
   stm32f469disco
   stm32f746disco
   stm32f769disco
   tms570
   zynq7000

and there's the Ada Drivers Library[2].

I've been working on Cortex GNAT RTS[3], which is based on FreeRTOS - so
far it only supports arduino-due and stm32f4, stm32f429disco from the
above list. Its USP is that it's released as GPL with the GCC Runtime
Library Exception[4], so that you can release proprietary binaries using
it. Not that I expect this will be much of an inducement for you!

[1] http://www.inspirel.com/articles/Ada_On_Cortex.html
[2] https://github.com/AdaCore/Ada_Drivers_Library
[3] https://github.com/simonjwright/cortex-gnat-rts
[4] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception-3.1.en.html