CCS 7.0 will be available without license requiremens

[EdoNork 10]

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CCSv7_Changes

 

Will it be the end of the TI ARM compiler and will the GCC compiler be the alternative?

[spirilis 1,265]

That confirms some suspicions many have had... the CCS license bundling w/ launchpads was a clever way to sell some hardware.

 

Why would the TI ARM compiler go away? I haven't done an exhaustive analysis on it but I have to imagine TI built it for a reason. The real news here is the MSP430 optimizing compiler having no code limit (I assume...)

 

Of course maybe a bit too late now that msp430-elf-gcc has been around a while.

[abecedarian 330]

@@spirilis - Better late than never though.

 

I suspect that TI is doing something that lets people take advantage of the hardware, albeit in a less than most efficient manner, and the most efficient will be available at some cost. I.e. they will "unlock" all the resources your MCU has, but you get that with generic tooling, but if you want the optimum it will cost extra.

[Rickta59 589]

I updated my original post:

http://forum.43oh.com/topic/9873-ccs-for-999/

 

Sorry to all those who bought hardware they didn't really want to get a free license. I didn't know they were planning to change it.

 

-rick

[roadrunner84 466]

Will it be the end of the TI ARM compiler and will the GCC compiler be the alternative?

There is nothing indicating the TI compiler will be phased out. But with the plethora of ARM compilers available, I can imagine TI stopping support for their compiler and focus effort elsewhere.

I don't think compilers are TI's core business, nor are software packages. A lot of MCU vendors now provide peripheral setup utilities (like TI's Grace or ST's Cube) and IDEs for free; it's a complementary service for using their MCUs. Pure compiler vendors charge you for their environment of course, since it's their business model. They need to put all effort in providing a better development experience or easier code generation or better libraries than their competitors, not something TI should (IMO) focus on. TI is a hardware vendor; they build the best analog and radio chips they can, as well as a huge range of analogs complemented with a nice collection of MCUs and CPUs. That is where their focus is, not on tools to use those things.