From: msr on
Hello,

Im just "researching" and I would like to know your opinion.

Which microcontroller do you prefer? Stellaris from TI or LCP from NXP?
Other? Why?


I didn't use any. Altougth TI seems better for me because: more evaluation
kits, TI licensed ARM technology longer ago than NXP (which may not mean
nothing once Luminary Micro was bought by TI), TI seems to have better
tools and support in general.

However it seems that LPC microcontrollers are more... famous?

What do you think?



---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com
From: Leon on
On 13 Apr, 23:42, "msr" <mario.ribas(a)n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Im just "researching" and I would like to know your opinion.
>
> Which microcontroller do you prefer? Stellaris from TI or LCP from NXP?
> Other? Why?
>
> I didn't use any. Altougth TI seems better for me because: more evaluation
> kits, TI licensed ARM technology longer ago than NXP (which may not mean
> nothing once Luminary Micro was bought by TI), TI seems to have better
> tools and support in general.
>
> However it seems that LPC microcontrollers are more... famous?
>
> What do you think?
>
> ---------------------------------------        
> Posted throughhttp://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

The LPC range is much larger - ARM7, Cortex-M0, -M3, etc. Tools are
the same, With ARM chips one just uses the chip with the features one
needs, it doesn't really matter who makes it.

Leon
From: Stuart Longland on
On Apr 14, 8:42 am, "msr" <mario.ribas(a)n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Im just "researching" and I would like to know your opinion.
>
> Which microcontroller do you prefer? Stellaris from TI or LCP from NXP?
> Other? Why?

I haven't used the NXP chips myself... but we recently switched one
project over from using a modified Tritium TRI63 microcontroller (TI
MSP430F149 MCU), to the Luminary Micro EK-LM3S8962 evaluation board.
Granted, these things are not meant to be a final product, but this is
a prototype. I was able to port my code across without much trouble,
and after a few minor hiccups, it now functions quite well.

I'm finding the LM3S8962 quite nice to work with, and the EK-LM3S8962
is a very cheap board (about AU$150 through Farnell) to get started
with. The same ARM toolchain (we use CodeSourcery ARM-EABI Lite, free
download with sources available) will program most, if not all of both
LI's and NXP's chips, but what makes the evaluation kit nice is that
the debug interface is built-in by way of an FTDI serial I/O chip,
which is hard-wired to the JTAG/SWI on its SPI side, and UART0 on its
UART side.

Thus, if you're just getting started, you can program the board from a
USB port without having to buy a separate JTAG device. The board also
functions as a JTAG device for other Stellaris MCUs. You can of
course plug in your own JTAG device too to program the board
externally too.
From: MK on

"Leon" <leon355(a)btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:694090e1-aa62-478e-adc4-b88640c70ddc(a)k33g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
On 13 Apr, 23:42, "msr" <mario.ribas(a)n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Im just "researching" and I would like to know your opinion.
>>
>> Which microcontroller do you prefer? Stellaris from TI or LCP from NXP?
>> Other? Why?
>>
>> I didn't use any. Altougth TI seems better for me because: more
>> evaluation
>> kits, TI licensed ARM technology longer ago than NXP (which may not mean
>> nothing once Luminary Micro was bought by TI), TI seems to have better
>> tools and support in general.
>>
>> However it seems that LPC microcontrollers are more... famous?
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> ---------------------------------------
>> Posted throughhttp://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

>The LPC range is much larger - ARM7, Cortex-M0, -M3, etc. Tools are
>the same, With ARM chips one just uses the chip with the features one
>needs, it doesn't really matter who makes it.

>Leon

I can't agree with Leon that it doesn't matter who makes the chip - apart
from the obvious concerns like availability, the different manufacturers
offer very different peripherals. They all offer 'quick start' libraries to
make these easier to use but the performance hit from using them may be very
high. I've just spent several days on a project getting rid of all the calls
to ST's library with a significant improvement in performance and a massive
reduction in code size.
When you swap chips you need to learn all the peripherals for the new one
and this may be an issue.
Currently I think ST have the broadest range of ARM Cortex parts but you
need to choose according to your own application and plans.

Michael Kellett


From: Leon on
On 14 Apr, 08:38, "MK" <m...(a)nospam.please> wrote:
> "Leon" <leon...(a)btinternet.com> wrote in message
>
> news:694090e1-aa62-478e-adc4-b88640c70ddc(a)k33g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
> On 13 Apr, 23:42, "msr" <mario.ribas(a)n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >> Hello,
>
> >> Im just "researching" and I would like to know your opinion.
>
> >> Which microcontroller do you prefer? Stellaris from TI or LCP from NXP?
> >> Other? Why?
>
> >> I didn't use any. Altougth TI seems better for me because: more
> >> evaluation
> >> kits, TI licensed ARM technology longer ago than NXP (which may not mean
> >> nothing once Luminary Micro was bought by TI), TI seems to have better
> >> tools and support in general.
>
> >> However it seems that LPC microcontrollers are more... famous?
>
> >> What do you think?
>
> >> ---------------------------------------
> >> Posted throughhttp://www.EmbeddedRelated.com
> >The LPC range is much larger - ARM7, Cortex-M0, -M3, etc. Tools are
> >the same, With ARM chips one just uses the chip with the features one
> >needs, it doesn't really matter who makes it.
> >Leon
>
> I can't agree with Leon that it doesn't matter who makes the chip - apart
> from the obvious concerns like availability, the different manufacturers
> offer very different peripherals. They all offer 'quick start' libraries to
> make these easier to use but the performance hit from using them may be very
> high. I've just spent several days on a project getting rid of all the calls
> to ST's library with a significant improvement in performance and a massive
> reduction in code size.
> When you swap chips you need to learn all the peripherals for the new one
> and this may be an issue.
> Currently I think ST have the broadest range of ARM Cortex parts but you
> need to choose according to your own application and plans.
>
> Michael Kellett

That's why I suggested choosing the chip with the features one needs -
that includes the peripherals, of course.

Leon