Comparison of ARM DS-5 with ADS, RVDS, and MDK

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Author | strongerHuang

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Many readers have heard of ARM DS-5, but are not familiar with it (rarely used for Cortex-M development). Today, I will share some content about ARM DS-5.

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Review of DS-5 Development

ARM DS-5, also known as DS-5, DS5, ARM Development Studio 5, etc., is the same product.

SDT：Software Development Toolkit

ADS：ARM Developer Suite

RVDS：RealView Development Suite

MDK：Microcontroller Development Kit

DS-5：Development Studio 5

DS-5 is developed from SDT, ADS, and RVDS. These old tools have stopped updating and have been replaced by MDK or DS-5.

1. Comparison of Three Tools

2. Extension of Keil

Before being acquired in 2005, Keil used GCC compiler and its own developed compiler. After the acquisition, it switched to using ARM’s compiler.

Keil is aimed at Cortex-M, originally called RealView MDK, while ARM’s own tool is called RVDS (which supports all ARM cores).

Originally named RealView MDK, it is also known as MDK-ARM, Keil MDK, Keil for ARM.

3. Extension of DS-MDK

During the development of the above tools, there was also a tool called DS-MDK, which combines some functions of DS-5 and MDK.

DS-MDK has now stopped updating and has been replaced by Arm Development Studio.

4. Final Development

In fact, the final result of the development of these tools is MDK-ARM and DS-5 (Development Studio).

DS-5 is very powerful, and the following sections will detail it.

MDK-ARM is well known, most people here are aware of it. I recommend reading my MDK-ARM special column articles (Keil series tutorials).

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What is ARM DS-5?

ARM DS-5 is a comprehensive end-to-end software development tool suite for ARM supported Linux and Android platforms.

1. Main Functions

Flexible Integrated Development Environment

Customized Eclipse IDE, compatible with third-party plugins

Powerful C/C++ editor and project manager

GNU compiler tools verified for ARM Linux

Integrated productivity utilities such as remote system browser, SSH and Telnet terminal, etc.

End-to-End Debugger

Bootloader, kernel, and user space debugging

Non-intrusive instruction tracing, including summarized profiling

Automated debug sessions for faster, simpler debugging cycles

One-click JTAG debug configuration with device configuration database

Streamline Performance Analyzer

System-wide analysis without JTAG probe

CPU usage statistics broken down by process, thread, function, and source code line

Performance-related events (e.g., cache misses, interrupts) instantaneously associated with software execution

Critical path identification and dynamic memory usage analysis

Real-time Simulator

Debugging Linux applications on the host

Preloaded with ARM embedded Linux, Cortex-A8, Cortex-A9 (single-core, multi-core), ARMv8-A base model, etc. system model simulators

Typical simulation speeds above 250 MHz

2. DS-5 Versions

DS-5 has three versions:

3. Extension of DS-5ARM DS-5 is currently still maintained and supported by Arm, but DS-5 has been replaced by Arm Development Studio.

Here is the image released yesterday:

4. Comparison of MDK and DS-5

MDK is suitable for developing Cortex-M processors;

DS-5 is suitable for developing Cortexx-R/A processors;

For more information about DS-5, please refer to:

http://www.myir-tech.com/product/ds-5.htm

https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/embedded/legacy-tools/ds-5-development-studio

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Is it not recommended to use DS-5 for Cortex-M development?

DS-5 is an extremely rich tool suite for embedded C/C++ software development for ARM-based SoCs.

Of course, DS-5 also supports developing STM32, here are a few summarized reasons:

1.DS-5 is too powerful, not suitable for beginners;

2.DS-5 licensing fees are higher than MDK;

3.ST has not provided DS-5 examples;

4.Very few people use DS-5 to develop STM32;

5.STM32CubeIDE has been released

6.······

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