Hi µTasker (Coldfire) users!

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that a new SP has been made available on the web site
http://www.utasker.com/software/softwareV1.3.html
A complete list of service pack additions is given at http://www.utasker.com/software/V1.3/SP_M5223X_Notes.txt
At long last this SP is supplied with a GNU build project (as well as CodeWarrior) which works great!! It can be build from VisualStudio when working with the µTasker simulator. Here is a direct comparison of code sizes...showing just how competitive the GNU compiler is!

GNU FLASH 56'848 bytes / RAM 1'728 bytes (including 1024 bytes for vector RAM)
CW6.3 FLASH 59'492 bytes / RAM 1'680 bytes (including 1024 bytes for Vector RAM)

This service pack also contains an improved FTP server which supports passive mode (if the passive option is activated in the project) - see the details in the following new document: http://www.utasker.com/docs/uTasker/uTaskerFTP.PDF

If you nose around in the SP notes you will see references to SNMP and PPP. These are presently in development but there has been a certain amount of interest in them so I decided to put them into the SP as a snap-shot of the development state. SNMP can send traps and supports a few MIB entries for testing so it may even be useful for someone who wants to do first tests or would like to extend maybe some enterprise tree entries.

I can report that in the last few months the M5223X has finally established itself as a clear favourite for new projects and especially for industrial projects. This is good, because I find it a great chip - in fact the more I use it the more I have come to appreciate its capabilities.

But the µTasker is also about choice in choosing your weapons. Simple moving between chips is something which is central to its philosophy and it is with great pleasure that I can announce a new addition to the µTasker family in form of the ST STR91XF. There is a package available - presently on express request since it is a Beta release being tested by a few hardy individually - which is however proving to be very stable. The device does require an external PHY but offers up to 544k of on-board FLASH and 96k onboard Ram with an ARM9 running at up to 96MHz. All this plus 2 x I2C, 2 x SPI, 3 x UARTs, CAN and USB can make it very attractive for various project.

I have to admit it is not the easiest chip to work with due to its complexity and peculiarities - the original errata lists also caused several all-night sessions before even small progress was seen and its large FLASH granularity required a rework of the µFileSystem to include new "Sub-File system support" (it is all documented in the STR91XF package and is otherwise no concern to the M5223X). But it has (more or less) been tamed and I like the solution.

If you like the look of the new ST part then you know who to send an email to..!

Good luck with your projects!

Regards

Mark

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