Developing for the AT91SAM7 microcontroller

I once purchased a SAM7 P256 board from Sparkfun for $72. This post is a bunch of pointers to the resources I’ll need to develop for it. The same code will work on the H64 header board (only $35), which can be used in future USB projects. UPDATE: Sparkfun no longer sells the H64 header board, but they have a H256 board for $45.

This post assumes an Ubuntu Linux environment.

• User manual: http://www.olimex.com/dev/pdf/ARM/ATMEL/SAM7-P256.pdf
  
• P256 dev board at Sparkfun: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/774
  
• H64 header board at Sparkfun: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/614
  

Set up the development environment.

• Jaunty 9.04: http://blog.nutaksas.com/2009/05/installing-gnuarm-arm-toolchain-on.html
  
• Lucid 10.04: http://lejosrt.org/tuto/install-gnu-arm-toolchain-under-linux
  

Use Sam_I_Am to access the SAM-BA bootloader.

• Sam_I_Am website: http://claymore.engineer.gvsu.edu/~steriana/Software/Sam_I_Am/index.html
  
• How to get the SAM7 board into bootloader mode.
  
  • Power off the board by removing the USB cable.
    
  • Connect TST jumper.
    
  • Power on the board and let it sit for 10 seconds.
    
  • Power down the board.
    
  • Disconnect TST jumper. On next power-up, board will go into SAM-BA bootloader mode.
• Adam Pierce article is worthwhile: http://www.doctort.org/adam/nerd-notes/getting-started-with-the-olimex-sam7-p256.html
  
• He has a good blinking-LED example that runs out of RAM (not flash, so lost on power cycle): http://www.doctort.org/adam/files/ARMBlinkExample.tar.bz2
• But I needed to modify his linker file to make it build on Ubuntu 10.04: https://github.com/wware/stuff/blob/master/sam7/ARMBlinkExample/ram-ln.cmd
• You might need the mknod command discussed here to create a /dev/ttyUSB0 device: http://claymore.engineer.gvsu.edu/~steriana/Software/Sam_I_Am/connecting.html
  

Some easily available demos and example programs

• Blink LED demo: http://www.olimex.com/dev/soft/arm/SAM7/Blinking_LED.zip
  
• USB HID mouse demo: http://www.olimex.com/dev/soft/arm/SAM7/Mouse_driver.zip
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/at91sam7s-ek.zip has more useful examples in the at91sam7s-ek/packages directory, look for the ones with names ending in "_gnu"
  

Other resources

• http://www.mjbauer.biz/SAM7_Firmware_Guide.htm
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=3784
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/app_notes.asp?family_id=605
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc6293.pdf
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc6310.pdf
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc6263.pdf
  
• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc6273.pdf