page_title: Blackfin
section_title: Development tools
hierarchical_section_title: Blackfin / Development tools
caption_attribution_description: Analog Devices Blackfin evaluation platform EZ-Kit-Lite for BF537 microcontroller/DSP
context_page_description: The Blackfin is a family of 16-/32-bit microprocessors developed, manufactured and marketed by Analog Devices. The processors have built-in, fixed-point digital signal processor functionality supplied by 16-bit multiply–accumulates, accompanied on-chip by a microcontroller. It was designed for a unified low-power processor architecture that can run operating systems while simultaneously handling complex numeric tasks such as real-time H.264 video encoding.
context_section_description: ADI provides its own software development toolchains. The original VisualDSP++ IDE is still supported (its last release was 5.1.2 in October 2014), but is approaching end of life and has not had support added for the new BF6xx and BF7xx processors. The newer toolchain is CrossCore Embedded Studio, which uses supports all Blackfin and Blackfin+ processors using upgraded versions of the same compiler and tools internally, but with a UI based on Eclipse CDT. No free version of either tool is available; a single-user license for VisualDSP++ costs $3500 USD, and CrossCore Embedded Studio $995 USD.
  Other options include Green Hills Software's MULTI IDE and the GNU GCC Toolchain for the Blackfin processor family. However, like VisualDSP++, these have not been updated to support the newer BF6xx and BF7xx processors. Moreover, neither support all BF5xx processors. Green Hills MULTI lacks support for BF50x, BF51x, some BF52x, BF547, and BF59x. GCC lacks support for BF50x, BF566, and BF59x, and has incomplete support for BF561.
  Blackfin is also supported by National Instruments' LabVIEW Embedded Module, which requires VisualDSP++.
caption: Blackfin BF537 EZ-Kit-Lite evaluation platform
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