From: Vladimir Vassilevsky on

Hello All,

I have to use a TMS470 C/C++ compiler (TMS470 == ARM). The toolset
wasn't my choice. The more I use it, the more nonsense I discover and
more doubts I have. Also, in theory there is TI DSP BIOS for ARM, but
zero documentation.
I suspect those tools are kinda unloved by TI, and I am the only one who
had ever tried them, and the earlier I switch to something different,
the better. Is that really so?


Vladimir Vassilevsky
DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant
http://www.abvolt.com
From: Tim Wescott on
On 06/21/2010 03:16 PM, Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote:
>
> Hello All,
>
> I have to use a TMS470 C/C++ compiler (TMS470 == ARM). The toolset
> wasn't my choice. The more I use it, the more nonsense I discover and
> more doubts I have. Also, in theory there is TI DSP BIOS for ARM, but
> zero documentation.
> I suspect those tools are kinda unloved by TI, and I am the only one who
> had ever tried them, and the earlier I switch to something different,
> the better. Is that really so?

Ouch. There are a bunch of nice ARM toolsets out there, I see no reason
to be trapped into one that sucks.

Maybe you should start annotating your bills: so many hours problem
solving, so many hours designing, so many hours wrestling with stupid
tools...

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
From: Stargazer on
On Jun 22, 2:28 am, Tim Wescott <t...(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote:
> On 06/21/2010 03:16 PM, Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hello All,
>
> > I have to use a TMS470 C/C++ compiler (TMS470 == ARM). The toolset
> > wasn't my choice. The more I use it, the more nonsense I discover and
> > more doubts I have.

Welcome to the club :-) (or the jungle?) If you just started with TI,
you should be prepared to face in any field that they are involved
industry-standard things (ARM, Linux, etc.) but done in unique "TI
way". There is a lot of non-sense on many layers, which even TI field
support in many cases fail to explain. But that's the reality, and
their prices are good for most products (nonsense included).

>> Also, in theory there is TI DSP BIOS for ARM, but
> > zero documentation.

I think that DSP/BIOS for ARM doesn't exist (at least I never heard
about it existing for anything besides C3000/5000/6000 family). TI
likes to focus on its core business and they see development of
toolchains (like DSP C compiler) and OS (DSP/BIOS) as necessary evil.
They introduced ARM-based DSPs for one of the main reasons the sake of
taking advantage of Linux, GCC and other industry-standard tools and
gradually phase out sales and support for own "side" software. However
here the right hand doesn't know what the left hand does: in the mean
time they have to support all the parts and provide interoperation
between them; TI guys that do the work do it in their own way, and now
we have what we have :-(

Just a month or so ago TI and CodeSourcery announced that CS would
port GCC to C6000 to replace TI's toolset. A good beginning but there
are yet "miles to go before" we get it, and if it will not be
abandoned in the middle.

Sorry for long passage just to say at the end that we've got what
we've got. There's a lot of "nonsense" in TI's infrastructure, but as
long as there prices are good it's "take it or leave it" situation. If
you absolutely can't get along with their tools then you may try some
open-source support for their platform (my experience tells that in at
least 95% of cases it will either not work at all or not do what is
written on TI's product box) or switch to another vendor (not easy
because TI's prices are tempting).

> > I suspect those tools are kinda unloved by TI, and I am the only one who
> > had ever tried them, and the earlier I switch to something different,
> > the better. Is that really so?

If you switch to something different and stick to TMS470 you will lose
TI support.

> Ouch.  There are a bunch of nice ARM toolsets out there, I see no reason
> to be trapped into one that sucks.

The one is only reason is that if you later complain to TI or Spectrum
Digital that something doesn't work and tell them you're not using the
"authentic" tools they will tell you "we have no idea what you're
talking about".

> Maybe you should start annotating your bills: so many hours problem
> solving, so many hours designing, so many hours wrestling with stupid
> tools...

It won't work with TI. They are too big to care about any particular
customer lost and they never claim that they do things in any way
"sensible" to third-party judgement. OTOH their prices are usually too
tempting to throw away their offer just because you can't fight stupid
tools.

Daniel

From: Tim Wescott on
On 06/22/2010 12:57 AM, Stargazer wrote:
> On Jun 22, 2:28 am, Tim Wescott<t...(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote:
>> On 06/21/2010 03:16 PM, Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote:

-- much whining and ranting snipped --

> It won't work with TI. They are too big to care about any particular
> customer lost and they never claim that they do things in any way
> "sensible" to third-party judgement. OTOH their prices are usually too
> tempting to throw away their offer just because you can't fight stupid
> tools.

There's a reason they named it "Code Composter". Too bad they
misspelled the second word.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
From: Grant Edwards on
On 2010-06-22, Tim Wescott <tim(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote:
> On 06/22/2010 12:57 AM, Stargazer wrote:
>> On Jun 22, 2:28 am, Tim Wescott<t...(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote:
>>> On 06/21/2010 03:16 PM, Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote:
>
> -- much whining and ranting snipped --
>
>> It won't work with TI. They are too big to care about any particular
>> customer lost and they never claim that they do things in any way
>> "sensible" to third-party judgement. OTOH their prices are usually too
>> tempting to throw away their offer just because you can't fight stupid
>> tools.
>
> There's a reason they named it "Code Composter". Too bad they
> misspelled the second word.

At the last MSP430 "event" I went to, the TI FAE openly discouraged
anybody from using CC for the '430. The freebie demo kits they gave
out contained an IAR demo toolchain. I did use CC for a TI DSP once,
and though it basically worked, it wasn't nice.

--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! World War Three can
at be averted by adherence
gmail.com to a strictly enforced
dress code!