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IAR Embedded Workbench for 8051 ~US$4500 WTH? Are there any other options?

Mark Pointing
Prodigy 145 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC2530, Z-STACK

Hi All,

I am looking at doing a project using CC2530 and I am chasing up the required software.  I put a request for quote in for IAR EW8051 and my local distributor quoted me AU$ 4,939 which is about US$4500.  Are there any other options for this chip?  The cost of tools, especially for this one device will be more than the remainder of the development cost.

Thanks. :-)


@TI - Please consider some reasonably priced suites for Z-Stack.

@IAR - It is this kind of price gouging that encourages piracy.

  • 0
    TI__Guru** 106705 points

    Hi Mark,

    For the 8051 based devices IAR is the only officially supported compiler. That being said, using SDCC is possible. Check out the Contiki project for inspiration:

    http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Getting_started_with_Contiki_and_CC2530

    https://github.com/g-oikonomou/contiki-sensinode/wiki


    Our next generation radio SoC will be supported by CCS and GCC in addition to IAR.

    Cheers,

    Fredrik

  • 0 in reply to Fredrik K
    Intellectual 560 points

    Hello Mark,


    I suggest you to consider MSP for application development  like MSP Launchpad &  Anaren CC2530 Booster pack. You can have the core zigbee stack on CC2530 and change/create the applications on MSP controller.  Due to cost or BOM or for any other reasons if you dont want other controller and wants to stick with CC2530, you have no other option other than IAR.

    On the other hand, porting Zstack using SDCC will be a significant, not-so-easy effort.

  • 0 in reply to Karthikeyan Janardhanan
    TI__Genius 16570 points

    Hi Mark,

    IAR is the compilation tool which has, for 8051 core, the best performance in terms of code efficiency and optimization.

    We appreciate your feedback and hear the concern in regards to collateral cost of development tools and we are constantly working on improving our deliverable as bundled package of HW, SW stack and tools for the best customer experience that reaches out to the widest of HW and SW engineering crowd. 

    I can't disclose much information on roadmap of future products but I can guarantee you that this type of feedback is heard.

    Other options (like the use of ZigBee stack as ZNP as Karthy suggests), combining it with external micro which just runs an application using the ZNP API (like Anaren air module Booster pack offers) may be suitable for your development.

    Thanks,

    TheDarkSide

     

  • 0 in reply to TheDarkSide
    Prodigy 145 points

    Hi,

    Thanks for the replies, it looks like porting Z-stack to SDCC or using an external micro are my best alternatives (per the suggestions above).  Also my commendation to TI, this is the only forum I have used where staff post so frequently.