WinARM

The LPC2148 is a powerful microcontroller but it is useless as a gaming device without software to run on it.  The student needs a way of developing software, compiling it for, and loading it onto the LPC2148. To achieve this the student decided to use WinARM.  According to the web page, ARM Projects(1)

WinARM is a collection of GNU and other tools to develop software for the ARM-family of controllers/processors on MS-Windows-hosts. Unlike other collections WinARM does not depend on a cygwin or mingw-environment. All needed tools are in the distribution-package. WinARM has been tested with Philips LPC2106, Philips LPC2129, Philips LPC2138, Philips LPC2148 and Atmel AT91SAM7S64, AT91SAM7S256, AT91RM9200 ARM7TDMI(-S) controllers (the list is based on own tests and user feedback). The gnu-toolchain and the supplied tools should work with all microcontrollers based on ARM(-TDMI/Thumb etc.) architecture. WinARM has been made in the spirit of WinAVR which is a collection for Atmel AVR 8bit-Controllers.

The student chose WinARM because it contained all the tools needed to create software for the LPC2148. The GCC compiler allows programs to be written in C and C++  instead of just in assembly.  The inclusion of Programmers Notepad, and the appropriate WinARM plug ins to Programmers Notepad, create an environment similar to a IDE (Integrated Development Environment).  The inclusion of sample code and other utilities helped the student learn how to code on an unfamiliar chip.

Setting up WinARM for use is described below.

1. Download the WinARM archive file from the ARM Projects Web Page (1)
2. Extracted the archive to C:\ (any path will do,  so long as it is used in the next step)
3. Changed the System path variable to include [install dir]\WinARM\bin and [install dir]\WinARM\utils\bin.

WinARM was then ready for use.

(1)  ARM Projects