If you're going to have several developers using DVEVM you can save
some
by buying "bare" DVEVM directly from Spectrum Digital. It is just ~
$1200
and comes with preloaded MVLinux on NAND, but no dev tools. These you
get either from MVista for big bucks or from TI as part of the bundle.
The MVsita stuff has been quite a disappointment so far, but they seem
to be working to improve things...
And regarding CCS - if you're going to license standard codecs
(xDAIS/xDM compliant) from TI or third parties you don't need it. You
only need it if you plan running some proprietary algorithms on the
DSP
side.
Regards,
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Andrew J. Kilpatrick
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 11:29 AM
To: Ben White; [email protected]
Subject: RE: development tools required
Hey Ben,
Thanks for the quick response.
Well, if because of licensing stuff we need to get the $6995 bundle
before we go to production, then I understand that. I assume also
that I
need to pay for whatever codec licenses I end up using. But I don't
want
to end up half way done my implementation and find that I need the
production bundle to get some weird feature I'm missing... that will
make it look like I didn't plan properly.
My main concern is that I can have enough stuff with the
development kit
to start working on a real application, instead of just trying out
demos. I fully intend to use the ARM9 and run Linux on the chip, since
that seems (from the tutorials) to be the best way to control stuff.
Also, I'm quite comfortable with emacs and other unix devel tools
having
been a Linux/BSD developer for a long time. So I don't really care
about
having a flashy GUI. So I guess my major question is: does the
production bundle give me anything (apart from legal stuff) that I'll
need? And is the Code Composer studio necessary if I want to work
mainly
in Linux for my development? You say you use both Windows and Linux
tools... can you elaborate more why that's necessary?
Cheers,
Andrew
--
Andrew Kilpatrick, Lead System Developer
Onestop Media Group Inc.
phone: 416-646-7867 x63 fax: 416-646-2722
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben White [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: November 9, 2007 11:11 AM
To: Andrew J. Kilpatrick
Subject: RE: development tools required
Hi Andrew,
See some responses below..
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Andrew J. Kilpatrick
Sent: 09 November 2007 15:01
To: [email protected]
Subject: development tools required
Hi,
So, I've been doing a lot of reading as well as watching the training
presentations on the TI website. I'm pretty much ready to get some
tools
and get started, but need some practical advice as to what is REALLY
required to get started, in terms of software, evaluation modules,
etc.
A few questions:
- What process do you use to select the chip to use? I want to make
sure
whatever DaVinci chip I select is appropriate for as many of my future
projects as possible. I'm really liking the idea of the TMS320DM355
since it's low cost, and has a cheap development kit. But it only
seems
to have 1 video port, and one of my projects is a 4 input NTSC video
capture device. Is there a way I can do this with the 355? My other
project is an HD video encode/decode project... so this IC looks
perfect
for that.
-- I can't advise here. In my case the chip was selected 'for me'
by our
hardware guys. We are using DM6446, which is one of the more expensive
chips.
- What development tools are really required to get started? Is the
development kit enough? Or do I really need to buy the $6995 or $10995
digital video production bundles? If so, which one is required? Since
there seems to be a lot of Linux involved, shouldn't a lot of this
stuff
be free?
-- This depends on the chip you select! It depends if you have an ARM
core on the chip you use or not. On the DM6446 there's an ARM9 and a
TMS320 DSP. I use the Linux for the ARM side and the $10995 bundle for
the DSP side!
I think the difference between the $6995 and $10995 bundle is that one
comes with Code Composer Studio and a JTAG emulator. Code Composer
Studio is the DSP equivalent of MS Visual Studio.
In the end it boils down to what you want to do. TI have this 'usage
model' - in their eyes you're one (or many) of the following:
- An algorithm developer
- An algorithm integrator (get lots of algos and package into one
product, e.g. encode + decode).
- An application developer.
The reason TI have split it up like this (and hence the split between
the free/cheap Linux tools and the expensive DSP tools) is that there
are a lot of existing codecs out there (e.g. a TI MPEG4 encode). If
you
are only writing the applications that use the codecs, and not the
codecs themselves, their idea is that you don't need the expensive
tools
- you can do it in Linux.
In practice, how well this works will depend on the chip. If you
have an
ARM core on there, you'll definitely need the Linux side. If you
don't,
then you'll definitely need CodeComposer studio.
The DVEVM come with most of the tools you need to get started. If you
have an ARM core and intend on using the Montavista Linux OS, then
legally you have to purchase the $6995 bundle to get distribution
rights
(and support).
By the way... I don't think TI have got this totally right yet.
There's
a big gap between the Linux tools and the Windows tools. I've found
that
I've needed to use both, sometimes simultaneously. The Linux tools
have
a large software framework called "codec engine", that Code Composer
knows nothing about! Hopefully in the future they'll get their Code
Composer Studio to build all of the stuff that builds in Linux.
At the moment it's like they have 2 separate teams that work on the
Linux side and DSP side and nobody's got the two talking.
My current solution uses the Windows (DOS command prompt) versions of
the Linux build tools to build everything with the codec engine
framework, and the Code Composer to load the resulting executable
in for
debugging.
It's a bit nasty and for ages I thought there must be a better way,
but
I haven't found it yet.
- Could anyone offer a quick bill of materials outlining what they
found
to be the basic tools required to: a) get started exploring, and b)
finish a production-quality product?
-- I would say for a) you need the EVM - will give you a good intro.
For b) you'll more than likely require the $10995 jobby!
Another hint - the TI linux tools will only install on the latest
version of RedHat Enterprise (which is no longer free).
However, to get around this, we installed them on RedHat 9 (pretty old
now), and then tarred up the directory and plonked it on Fedora
Core 6.
Worked a treat. Totally free.
Thanks!
Andrew
--
Andrew Kilpatrick, Lead System Developer
Onestop Media Group Inc.
phone: 416-646-7867 x63 fax: 416-646-2722
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