Emulator Company Hitex Partners with Keil Software C Compilers

	Emulator Company Hitex Includes Free Keil Software C Compiler with Every Infineon ICE

	Company:	Hitex Development Tools / Keil Software
	Category:	Development Tools
	Date:	22-Jul-1999

	Sunnyvale, CA (microcontroller.com) - Hitex Development Tools, a broad-range supplier of microcontroller in-circuit emulators, and Keil Software, a supplier of C compilers for Intel and Infineon microcontroller architectures, have announced a close partnership between their hardware and software embedded development tools companies, providing lower prices for engineers that need a complete embedded development tool suite. Hitex will ship a free Keil Software C Compiler with every 8051 and Infineon C167 emulator purchased in the United States . While historically, emulator companies such as Hitex have shipped evaluation copies of popular compilers that support the emulator's target architecture, Hitex is the first company to ship a full C-Compiler suite with an in-circuit emulator. In addition, Hitex will also ship a free Phytec starter kit with any Infineon emulator supported by Phytec. All the hardware and software development tools are supported by Hitex's HiTOP software debugger user interface. Both the Compiler and the Starter kit will be shipped for no additional cost over Hitex's standard emulator prices. Response to Market Needs - Price, Quality Surveys have shown that quality of development tools ranks #1 in engineer's selection criteria for embedded systems development tools, while price follows at a very close #2. Hitex and Keil are recognized as quality providers of development tools in development tool surveys. This effort takes their efforts one step closer by providing engineers with a lower priced tool set than if the tools were purchased separately. Keil Software C Compiler The 8051 Keil compiler shipped by Hitex is the CA51 Compiler suite, which includes the µVision2 IDE, C Compiler, Assembler, and Linker. The CA51 supports most popular 8051 microcontroller derivatives. The Keil dScope debugger and RTOS are available from Keil for an additional charge. For Infineon (formerly Siemens) C161, C163, C164, C165, or C167 emulators, the Keil CA166 compiler kit (IDE, C Compiler, Assembler, Linker, RTXTiny) is shipped. Phytec Starter Kit In addition, Hitex will also ship a Phytec starter kit for any one of the following target Infineon microcontroller architectures: C505C, C515C, C161, C164, or C167. Why This Is Important At first glance, this may appear to be a mutual product promotion between Hitex, Keil and Phytec. Upon closer look, however, this may be the first step in a long-awaited convergence of players in the development tool chain. A typical microcontroller development project in C starts with a starter kit, which is used to first evaluate proposed microcontroller, and then later used as a development platform for initial code. Development continues with implementation of C code, which is then compiled, converted to a loader file, then loaded into the emulator for debug on the target hardware system. While in theory this sounds easy, in reality developers often spend a great deal of time battling interoperability issues. All hardware and software development tools have their own little quirks which may cause problems during standalone usage; however, when tools from different manufacturers are combined, interoperability issues between the development tools can develop that may hinder code development. This sometimes results in finger-pointing between development tools manufacturers as the engineer contacts their respective tech support groups and attempts to rectify the problem. What is significant here is that Hitex, as the driving partner for these relationships, is offering a development tool package that all but insures interoperability between the compiler, emulator, and starter kit. Hitex also offers first-line technical support for both Keil and Phytec products, offering the end customer a single point of contact for all tools in the development chain. Interoperability and integration are taken a step further in that Hitex's HiTOP debugging user interface can be used as the debugger for the Keil C compiler, Phytec starter kit, and Hitex in-circuit emulator. This means that a new user only needs to learn one debugging environment instead of three. In the end, this translates to ease-of-use for the development engineer. *Microcontroller.com* expects similar deals from other development tool manufacturers to follow Hitex's announcement. At present, this package is being offered only in the USA through the end of 1999. Links: Hitex Development Tools Keil Software Phytec [external]

Microcontrollers for Embedded Systems Designers

Emulator Company Hitex Includes Free Keil Software C Compiler with Every Infineon ICE

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