| ??? 11/08/05 17:43 Read: times |
#103430 - Tools Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Anil Gupta said:
And none of 51 MCU vendors comes out with any significant developement tool support( leave aside low cost or free) when other MCU vendor like PIC, ST , freescale are offering such things. The reason is obvious: because the 8051 instruction set & architecture is common to all derivatives, there is no way that any one vendor is going to put their own money into developing tools! eg, if Philips did a free 8051 compiler, there would be no way they could prevent it from being used with any & every other vendor's 8051-based products![1] Conversely, Atmel give away AVR tools because they are useless for any other manufacturer's products; similarly, Microchip give away PIC tools because they are useless for any other manufacturer's products. Effectively, these "free" tools are part of their Sales & Marketing campaigns - and very effective they are, too! (especially amongst hobbyists) [1] In fact, Philips do have a special deal with Keil for their 8051 tools targetted at the LPC series - you get a slightly more generous code-size limit, you don't get the offset, and you get an MCB900 board all for under fifty quid! There is, of course, nothing to stop you buying this, throwing away the MCB900 board, and using it with Atmel or any other 8051 derivatives! |
