CooCox Development Tool for ARM Cortex M3 & Cortex M0 based Microcontrollers

Overview

CooCox is freely available powerful software development tool for ARM Cortex-M3 & Cortex-M0 based microcontrollers. Coocox Tools organizes and provides the knowledge required by developers. It's also a social network platform for embedded developers and provides a embedded development knowledge platform to the users. Coocox can organize information, extract and share expertise through the collective wisdom.

Coocox development tool consist of various modules like CoIDE, CoFlash, CoLinkEx, CoOS, CoCenter and CoAssistant. Coocox development tool can be downloaded for free from here.

CoIDE

CoIDE is a highly-integrated software development environment for ARM Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M0 based microcontrollers, which includes all the tools necessary to develop high-quality software solutions in a timely and cost effective manner. CoIDE is consists of a component-based network platform and an Eclipse-based development environment. Component is a set of relatively independent codes, peripheral driver programs, some algorithms and operating system. Unlike other traditional embedded development IDE, CooCox programming approach is based on its components, routines and examples. The component-based network platform can quickly obtain resources to build applications, share your resources and exchange ideas. The Eclipse-based development environment provides many features for code editing, code browsing, compiling, linking, debugging, project management, etc.

CoIDE has four different panels windows like other IDEs: Components Window, Components Tree Window, Example Window and Help Window.

Components Window:

Components window is basically a browser window where you can select your MCU supplier and the microcontroller. After selecting your microcontroller, here you can see the listed of all the components for respective microcontroller. User can add the appropriate component code to their project only by clicking on the components. If the components are appropriate to user requirement, user only need to check the corresponding components to complete all of the software development work except the application layer development.

Any registered users can upload their own components to the server following CooCox component standard and then share them with other users. Developers are able to offer comments and grade the components uploaded by other users, components window will rank them by these scores.

Components Tree Window:
The checked components will be organized in the form of tree in Components Tree Window. The Component Tree is completely corresponding to the Project tree. When checking one component, the corresponding files in Project tree will be highlighted. And the Examples Window will automatically display the example codes for the selected component.

Examples Window:
Once clicked on any component in Components Tree Window, all the related examples will be listed in Examples Window. User can refer to these examples or add them to their project. Like Components Window, Examples Window is also a browser based and registered user can add their own examples to share with others or give comments and grade to those provided by other users.

Help Window:

Help Window provides a variety of related information according to the changes made by the developer. When user selects a microcontroller, Help Window will provide its basic information, data sheet, technical manuals. Checking on component, Help Window will provide its API information. Checking for examples, help window will provide its schematic and evaluation board information.

CoFlash:

CoFlash is a free Flash programming tool, providing both GUI and Command line modes. Unlike the other Flash programming tools: CoFlash supports User-defined flash programming algorithm, user just need to complete five functions; Init, EraseSector, EraseChip, ProgramPage and UnInit, to finish their user-defined flash programming algorithm according to the template provide in CoFlash tool. Same as the components and examples of CoIDE, users also could share their programming algorithm with others, and give their comments to the algorithm provided by other users.

CoLinkEx:

CoLinkEx is a free and open In Circuit Emulation solution, supports JTAG and Software debugging interface, and it is available for a variety of Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 microcontrollers.  In addition to debugging and programming using CoIDE and CoFlash, it also can be used with MDK and IAR development tools.

CoOS:

CoOS is a free and open RTOS, designed specifically for Cortex-M processor, supports preemptive priority and round-robin, Semaphore, Mutex, Flag, Mailbox and Queue for communication & synchronization, highly scalable, minimum system kernel is only 974Bytes, supports interrupt while task switching, supports stack overflow detection, supports the platforms of ICCARM, ARMCC, GCC. CoOS is also free and open-source for business users.

In CoIDE, CoOS is also a component. User can add CoOS source code to their project only by clicking CoOS component and then could use it after modifying its task number, stack, system clock frequency and other corresponding configurations in the OS_Config.h configuration file according to their project. By viewing and trying the CoOS examples shown in Example window, anyone can easily achieve the application programming of CoOS.

CoCenter:

CoCenter is a center for Coocox users, providing user registration, software download, updates and other functions. In the future, Coocox will also provide a dedicated instant messaging tool; developers who use the same MCU will automatically be assigned to the same group, so as to communicate online in real time.

CoAssistant:

CoAssistant is a free and online embedded programming tool; user can use it very easily by visiting http://www.coocox.com:8080/coassistant_en/rap. It will intuitively present the MCU register details after selecting a certain processor. Developers can easily configure the related peripheral registers without reading chip manuals. User can also share their experiences about peripheral or registers with the other users by adding comments to the registers.

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Debuggers and Programmers

CooCox Colink:

CoLink is a small ARM Cortex-M3 JTAG hardware debugging probe. It directly supports CoIDE and CoFlash, and integrates seamlessly into IAR Embedded Workbench and Keil RealView MDK.

CooCox CoLinkEx:

CoLinkEx is a hardware debugging adapter which supports SW debugging and supports both ARM Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M0 devices, it supports debugging in CooCox software and Keil Realview MDK.

Features:

• Free
• Supports Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 devices
• Supports SW debugging
• Supports JTAG debugging
• Supports CoFlash, CoIDE, MDK and IAR

You can build your own CoLink & CoLinkEx emulator, anyone can download ColinkEx’s SCH, PCB, BOMList and Firmware from below links to do it yourself. The solution is also free for business users.

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