SoftConsole

SoftConsole is Microsemi's free software development environment that enables the rapid production of C and C++ executables for Microsemi FPGAs using RISC-V, ARM® Cortex™-M3, and Cortex-M1 processors. Libero SoC can export firmware for SoC FPGA designs that can be imported into SoftConsole. SoftConsole includes a fully integrated debugger that offers easy access to memory contents, registers, and single-instruction execution.

SoftConsole is built upon state of the art open source components including:

• Eclipse/CDT
• GNU MCU Eclipse Plug-ins
• GCC RISC-V/ARM compiler
• OpenOCD

SoftConsole provides a flexible and easy-to-use graphical user interface for managing your embedded software development projects. You can quickly develop and debug software programs and implement them in Microsemi FPGAs. SoftConsole enables you to configure project settings, edit and debug software programs, and organize your files. With this tool, you have simultaneous access to multiple tool windows and the ability to quickly switch editing and debug views.

Key Features

• Eclipse-based IDE
• Development/debug support for ARM® Cortex®-M and Mi-V RISC-V CPUs/SoCs
• Built using the latest industry standard stock free/open source components and tools for RISC-V and ARM® Cortex®-M  firmware development and debugging
• Uses OpenOCD for RISC-V and ARM Cortex-M1/3
• Seamless download to/debug from SmartFusion eSRAM and eNVM, SmartFusion2 eSRAM, eNVM and external RAM (MDDR), Cortex-M1 RAM and Fusion eNVM, and RISC-V RAM
• Supports FlashPro JTAG programmer for debugging (FlashPro5 on Linux, FlashPro3/4/5 on Windows)
• Supports ARM Cortex-M semi-hosting redirection of standard/file I/O from target board to host debugger
• Allows users to install arbitrary additional Eclipse plug-ins and features
• Fast switching between C/C++ and debug
• Suitable for development and debug of bare metal and lightweight RTOS based embedded applications
• Supports newlib nano for Cortex-M and RISC-V providing an even more lightweight standard library implementation ideal for resource constrained environments
• Includes a built-in terminal emulator for connecting to a target board’s serial port

The Following Features are not Supported

• Compatibility with SoftConsole v3.4 workspaces/projects/debug launch configurations. SoftConsole v3.4 workspaces/projects/debug launch configurations cannot be used with SoftConsole v4. SoftConsole v4 workspaces/projects/debug launch configurations cannot be use with SoftConsole v3.4
• Compatibility with SoftConsole v5.1 RISC-V projects. Due to a change in the RISC-V Eclipse plugin support between SoftConsole v5.1 and SoftConsole v5.2, SoftConsole v5.1 RISC-V projects will not work in SoftConsole v5.2. Such projects must be recreated using the same project source files and settings in order to work in SoftConsole v5.2
• Debugging a CoreJTAGDebug/UJTAG Cortex-M1 or Mi-V RISC-V CPU that is in one device in a multiple device JTAG chain
• CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9 32-bit and 64-bit are not supported in this release
• Debugger driven download of programs to non-CFI external parallel flash memories
• Launching Firmware Catalog from SoftConsole
• Core8051/Core8051s firmware development and debugging. Use Keil C51 Development Tools with Core8051/Core8051s ISD-51 support