Win a chance to evaluate ARM® Cortex M4 processor SAM4S from Atmel!
The Atmel SAM-4S Xplained (ATSAM4S-XPLD) evaluation kit is a hardware platform to evaluate the Atmel SAM4S16 microcontroller.
The kit offers a large range of features that enables the Atmel ARM® SAM4S16 user to get started using SAM4S peripherals right away and understand how to integrate the SAM4S device in their own design.
Kit Contents
The Atmel® SAM-4S Xplained toolkit contains the following items
One SAM-4S Xplained Board inside its antistatic bag.
One USB cable (USB A type to MicroB type).
A Welcome Letter.
You can download sample code and get technical support from Atmel website:
SAM4S-Scalable Performance and Memory Density, Power Efficiency
Based on the powerful ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor, the Atmel® SAM4S series extends the Atmel Cortex-M portfolio to offer:
Increased performance and power efficiency
Higher memory densities: up to 2MB of Flash and 160KB of SRAM
And a rich peripheral set for connectivity, system control and analog interfacing.
Devices are pin-to-pin and software compatible with current SAM3 Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontrollers (MCUs), offering a smooth upwards migration path for performance and memory size.
Testers will be selected on the basis of quality of applications: we expect a full and complete description of why you want to test this particular product.
Testers are required to produce a full, comprehensive and well thought out review within 2 months of receipt of the product.
Failure to provide this review within the above timescale will result in the enrolee being excluded from future Road Tests.
If anyone is interested I was definitively able to alter the demo program (qtouch_demo.c, I commented out one of the led lines), recompile using gcc, program using JLinkExe, and execute the program on Linux (Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 64 bit). I did all this through the command line, but throughout the course of the review, I will try to get it into an IDE as well, probably eclipse. So it's a start.
Also don't run it (StartJLinkExe.sh) by double-clicking, open a terminal and run it from the command line. That way you can get some debug info to see why it isn't working. Also you need to have the usb cable connected to the JTAG port not the one labeled device.
Make sure you follow the instructions on the readme. If you are running 64 bit you need to make sure you install the lib32 readline library. After that I had no problem. Also when I navigated to the segger software via the atmel site, I got a different (earlier) version than the one I linked. Also they provide a little shell script that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the current directory. Also I read on a forum that were some issues with the plugdev script they distribute, so you might have to fix that, although I didn't have any issues, once I got the 32 bit versions of the libs installed it connected up right away and saw my board.
I mean I have gotten the windows 7 drivers installed and can program/talk to the device. I tryed the j-link commander for Linux and i cant seem to make it connect to the board.
For linux I downloaded http://www.segger.com/jlink-software.html and was able to talk to the board and upload an image into flash. I only spent a few minutes though. I also downloaded http://www.atmel.com/tools/AVRSOFTWAREFRAMEWORK.aspx and was able to compile some of the examples using make. I already had all of the cross compilation tools setup on my system. I have not attempted to get an IDE configured to compile and program the device yet. Hopefully I'll have some time this week to get it going.
I like the way the kit was packaged in a foam lined re-sealable plastic case complete with a heat-sealed anti-static bag with a tamperproof seal. All his placed in a factory box and Newark placed the package in their shipping box with packing.
Guaranteeing this side of a truck running over the box, no shipping damage incurred.
I realy wanted to buy this bord on farnell at cristmas. It's price was lowered a lot... But had some problems with my payment card and now it is bit expensive to me
As of 7PM MST I have not received mine yet, No email either.
Unfortunately it appears ATMEL isn't to fond of PDF manuals. Having a soft or hard copy would be an asset to a potential applications or design engineer. .
Ok thanks it made it seem like you needed a J-link when I was looking online. Theres almost no documentation on this thing at all which is a major pain. And Steve it was shipped to my doorstep
