TI's $199 Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit with LCD touch screen is packed with features to jumpstart development and speed time-to-market

DALLAS, Sept. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) introduced the new $199 Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit with a 4.3-inch LCD display supporting rotation and tilt capabilities via the on-board accelerometer that provides an affordable platform for smart appliances, industrial automation and networking applications and other devices requiring a touch screen interface. The low-cost development platform, based on the Sitara AM3358 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, integrates multiple communication options such as Dual Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® connectivity for the creation of highly connected devices.

At speeds up to 720 MHz, the AM335x Starter Kit accelerates designs with a ready-for-production hardware and software platform. This board is an affordable tool that offers the ability to quickly evaluate the features of the processor and accompanying TI components, taking the guess work out of hardware design. This allows both experienced and novice designers to focus on product differentiation such as advanced graphics and connectivity. Developers can accelerate time to market and reduce costs when creating connected thermostats, security panels, wireless hard disk drives and portable hot spots.

TI's AM335x Starter Kit is a feature-packed compact design with an optimized bill of materials.

AM335x Starter Kit key features include:

• Scalable with pin for pin options for graphics and industrial communications based on AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 processors at up to 720 MHz.
• Two-Gb DDR3 memory.
• Two Gb Ethernet ports via integrated 2-port switch on the AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 processor.
• 4.3 inch LCD touch screen (5.1 inch x 2.6 inch) supporting rotation and tilt capabilities via the on-board accelerometer and countless application possibilities.
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) with Wi-Fi Direct™ support and Bluetooth v4.0 including Bluetooth low energy connectivity via on-board WL1271 Murata module with integrated antenna.
• XDS100 JTAG emulator functionality on board via USB enables debug at no extra cost
• Additional peripherals such as USB, USB-UART, navigation buttons, user LEDs, audio out and more.

Turnkey software development kits for Android and Linux
In addition to extending TI's hardware portfolio with the availability of a low-cost development tool, the AM335x Starter Kit fully leverages TI's proven suite of software solutions, including Sitara StarterWare software for accelerated application speed and scalability. The AM335x Starter Kit is also compatible with the Android and Linux operating system distributions from TI, delivering complete support for the latest software solutions and cutting-edge customer applications using Android 4.0 and Linux 3.x.

Additionally, compatible solutions and real-time operating systems will be available from third parties to enable additional product customization and simplify development.

"TI's AM335x Starter Kit is the perfect complement to the popular BeagleBone computer and the full-featured AM335x evaluation module by providing a touch-screen-enabled hardware and software platform at an affordable price," said Russell Crane, product marketing manager, Sitara ARM processors, TI. "With support for low-cost DDR3, two Gb Ethernet ports and wireless connectivity, this new development platform expands Sitara's tool offerings and meets the needs of customers who demand these features when creating innovative, next-generation products."

Pricing and availability
The new AM335x Starter Kit (TMDSSK3358) is available and shipping today for $199 from www.ti.com. For more information, visit TI's AM335x Starter Kit page. Additional accessories including stands, capacitive touch screen and case will soon be available. Please visit boardzoo.com.

To see the AM335x Starter Kit in action:

• Check out the overview video
• View the Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 processor webinar on demand here

For more information:

• Join the TI E2E™ Community
• Follow TI on Twitter
• Like TI on Facebook

Quote Sheet:

Wind River
"Wind River® has further extended its world-class support for TI's product line to now include the new Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit, which is packed with the key features our customers need to accelerate the development of their next-generation designs," said Warren Kurisu, vice president, product marketing at Wind River.  "Combined with our real-time operating system, VxWorks®, the AM335x Starter Kit is ideal for customers migrating from a PLC design needing better performance and flexibility, or those looking for a device that blends performance and power efficiency."

QNX Software Systems
"Embedded systems are becoming more connected and graphics-intensive, but must still deliver high performance and reliability. The QNX platform helps developers strike this critical balance through a powerful mix of connectivity options, user interface technologies, and proven real-time performance," said Grant Courville, director of product management, QNX Software Systems. "QNX Software Systems will provide a pre-integrated software package for the Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit, offering an ideal foundation for connected embedded systems. The package will include support for Qt 5.0, OpenGL ES 2.0, 802.11n (Stations, AP), Bluetooth^®, and Bluetooth Low Energy, as well as reference applications and demos, all running on the QNX^® Neutrino^® RTOS."

Mentor Graphics
"The Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit enables embedded developers to explore the wide range of functionality available in the AM335x family of Sitara devices," says Glenn Perry, general manager of Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division. "In addition to providing an embedded Linux distribution and Sourcery CodeBench tools, we're excited to make it easier for developers to use power saving features in Sitara ARM AM335x devices while maintaining a large feature set with the Power Management Framework in the Nucleus RTOS."

Crank Software Incorporated
"Crank Software's Storyboard Suite for User Interface (UI) development combined with Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit is a powerful combination for rapid development of state-of-the-art Human Machine Interfaces (HMI)," said Brian Edmond, president of Crank Software Incorporated. "We worked closely with TI's Android and Linux Software development teams to fully integrate Crank Storyboard suite complete with out of the box demos so users can evaluate how Crank delivers an easy to use, drag and drop, development environment for rich animated UIs while fully leveraging the graphics acceleration of the platform."

IAR Systems
"Development tools from IAR Systems support the entire range of TI ARM Cortex cores," said Mats Ullstrom, product director at IAR Systems. "Our compiler provides world-class optimizations that create the most efficient code in the industry and enables developers to create high-performing, low-power applications. We work closely with TI to offer wide support for Sitara devices, including the AM335x family and the newly announced Starter Kit." 

Timesys
"The combination of the Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 Starter Kit and Timesys LinuxLink tools makes development of embedded Linux devices very easy and affordable," said Maciej Halasz, director of product management at Timesys. "Timesys makes it quick and easy for customers to prototype and benchmark embedded Linux on the Sitara's AM335x Starter Kit with the LinuxLink FREE Edition. For developers building commercial products, we offer the LinuxLink PRO Edition which provides advanced customization tools and unmetered support that simplifies the development process and lifecycle maintenance for any AM335x-based embedded device."

About Texas Instruments
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Embedded processor | ARM processor | Sitara ARM | ARM Cortex a8

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