STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) has announced availability of cost-effective development kits for its recently introduced STR711F and STR712F 32-bit ARM-based microcontrollers, which are intended for high-performance but cost-sensitive applications, and which offer embedded USB or CAN interfaces. The $299 (Recommended Resale Price) kits from IAR Systems answer a real need in the market for a low-cost, high-quality solution for evaluating the STR7 MCU family and for creating and debugging new applications.

The STR711-SK/IAR and STR712-SK/IAR KickStart kits support all of the normal development phases, and enable designers to move from evaluation to full-scale development with no additional work. They include an evaluation board complete with STR711F or STR712F microcontroller, a USB to JTAG hardware interface for debugging, a 20-state version of the visualSTATE(R) graphical design environment, and a KickStart version of Embedded Workbench(R) for ARM (EWARM), IAR's integrated development environment (IDE).

This proven development toolset is fully optimized for the STR7 family. The evaluation board provides a full range of features -- including I/O ports, ADC, UART, two SPI and I2C ports, and USB or CAN connector -- to help designers to evaluate and start developing applications for the on-board STR71xF MCU. The board is powered through the USB to JTAG interface from the host PC to eliminate the need for an external power supply.

The EWARM integrated development environment includes the KickStart 32KB C/C++ compiler for building the application, and the C-SPY(TM) debugger for debugging the code while it runs on the evaluation board's STR71xF microcontroller. It also offers complete integration with the J-Link-KS JTAG interface, plus editor, linker and librarian tools, and built-in flash programming, all controlled through a single intuitive user interface. Embedded Workbench is well regarded among developers of 8, 16 and 32-bit systems worldwide, and its ultra-dense code generation makes it ideal for the STR71xF target market.