Texas Instruments' Stellaris Family Development Kits provide the hardware and software tools to develop and prototype embedded applications. Each kit includes different evaluation tools suites for development tools, documentation, a complete StellarisWare Firmware Development Package, and all the cables necessary to begin rapid development using Stellaris microcontrollers.
Evaluation kits provide a low cost means of evaluating Stellaris family microcontrollers. Slightly less feature-rich than Stellaris family Development kits, evaluation kits focus on a single set of tools and a single Stellaris family member. Evaluation kits created by TI span the spectrum from evaluation to design to application-specific prototyping by functioning both as an evaluation platform and as a serial in-circuit debug interface for any Stellaris-based target board.
All Stellaris Reference Design Kits are offered as open-tool solutions, meaning that TI provides all the hardware and software design files to allow Stellaris developers to modify or copy-exactly the designs for use in their specific end application. Each reference design is also available to purchase (in volume) as a standalone module.
With Stellaris microcontrollers, developers can choose to keep all programming in C/C++, even interrupt service routines and startup code. TI provides StellarisWare software that includes source code and royalty-free libraries for applications support.
TI software compiles on ARM/Keil Microcontroller Development Toolkit for ARM, IAR Embedded Workbench, Code Red Technologies' RedSuite, Code Sourcery SourceryG++, and generic GNU development tools.
The Stellaris Peripheral Driver Library is a royalty-free set of functions for controlling the peripherals found on the Stellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3 microcontrollers. The Stellaris Peripheral Driver Library performs both peripheral initialization and peripheral control functions with a choice of polled or interrupt-driven peripheral support.
The Stellaris Graphics Library is a royalty-free set of graphics primitives and a widget set for creating graphical user interfaces on Stellaris microcontroller-based boards that have a graphical display. The sample applications and detailed documentation make it easier to integrate rich graphics into projects.
The Stellaris USB library subset of USB functions simplify embedded USB control. Royalty-free sample applications are provided to enable efficient USB operations.
Code examples are available for the ARM Cortex-M3 platform with TI's extensive set of sample applications that the company provides royalty-free.
All Stellaris microcontrollers ship with a serial flash loader programmed into flash. Stellaris microcontroller's serial flash loader and the royalty-free Stellaris boot loader simplify in-system programming from the production process all the way to in-field updates.
TI provides extensive, well-documented application notes and software examples for use in several targeted industrial and consumer applications. In addition, TI offers several utilities, such as a GUI and command line Stellaris flash programmer, USB VID/PID sublicensing forms, and CAD and PLB Libraries for Stellaris microcontrollers.
TI, with the Stellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers, supports ARM's Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS), a standardized hardware abstraction layer for the Cortex-M processor series. The purpose of the CMSIS initiative is the same as TI's when creating the Stellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers: to standardize a fragmented industry on one hardware and software microcontroller architecture. The CMSIS enables consistent and simple software interfaces to the processor for silicon vendors and middleware providers, simplifying software re-use, reducing the learning curve for new microcontroller developers.