Hi, I am new to ARM controller and this forum. I am working on PIC microcontrollers and want to use ARM controller series (CORTEX-M) also. Kindly tell me which microcontroller i choose as a starting point? I have downloaded uVision V5.11.1.0, currently i have no ARM based hardware (Microcontroller, evaluation board etc). Is there any simulation software available in which i can write a program and then test its functionality?
Thanks
ST has a number of STM32 series Discovery boards starting at around the $10 (USD) mark. These include a built in USB debugger (ST-LINK), and some of the higher end boards have Cortex M4 chips running at 180 MHz with an LCD screen.
My experience with the Keil simulators are they aren't particularly effective, or support the parts (peripherals and clocks) adequately to be considered much more than toys. Real tools that do real/effective simulation of the part at a gate level run hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Given the cheapness of actual hardware, I don't see much investment in effective simulation, use real hardware, and understand how that actually works.
Most sufficiently abstracted C code can be fully characterized and tested using PC compilers. Step #1 is to become proficient at C in the general sense before dealing with the limitations/constraints of an embedded system.