Visual Basic for Applications, an integrated development environment that allows users to customize the way they use packaged software, is now included in the Microsoft Office 97 software suite. The availability of Visual Basic for Applications, said Bedrick, will generate immediate benefits for ISVs by introducing three million developers for Visual Basic as potential customers. VirtualICE currently supports the ARM7 and ARM710 cores. By using the same bus architecture as the final ASIC with synthesized versions of the peripherals, system hardware and software can be prototyped early in the design cycle, thereby reducing the risk of design faults in the final system. VirtualICE for the ARM7TDMI is available now.
Pricing depends on the CPU model.
With QuickChange, designers can specify as many DSP parameter changes as they like using one design. After completing the design with an initial set of parameters, the designer invokes QuickChange from the Atmel design environment. QuickChange searches the design for DSP filter coefficients and other parameters, logically groups them, and displays them in a graphical user-interface. The designer can then interactively specify as many replacement sets of parameters as desired. The QuickChange tool then generates the FPGA logic stream for each new specified parameter.