LatticeMico8 FPGA microcontroller boasts new C compiler

Lattice Semiconductor (www.latticesemi.com) has announced the availability of GNU software development tools for its LatticeMico8 soft processor.  The tool chain, including a GCC C-Compiler and Linker, was developed as part of an ongoing collaboration with Beyond Semiconductor (www.beyondsemi.com).  These tools are available now and can be downloaded from the Lattice Semiconductor website (www.latticesemi.com/mico8).

The LatticeMico8 soft processor is a free, easy-to-use embedded microcontroller optimized for implementation in Lattice FPGAs and PLDs.  The LatticeMico8 soft processor consumes minimal device resources (less than 200 Look-Up Tables in the smallest configuration) while maintaining a broad feature set.  It is ideal for implementing control processing, control communications, state machine replacement and simple user interfaces.

The LatticeMico8 microcontroller is provided free of charge through an innovative open source intellectual property (IP) core license.  The open source license provides developers with access to the HDL for the IP, as well as full architecture independence and portability to allow design migration to other FPGA platforms or ASICs, if desired.

"Lattice customers can now program the LatticeMico8 microcontroller using mainstream, well established tools," said Matjaz Breskvar, CEO of Beyond Semiconductor.  "We were able to use our expertise with compilers to provide the advanced tool functionality for this compact processor."

"C-language complier support has been among the most common requests from our customers and potential users of the LatticeMico8 soft processor," said Gordon Hands, Director of Marketing for Low Density and Mixed Signal Solutions.  "Through our collaboration with Beyond Semiconductor, we are excited to have developed a GCC C-Compiler that meets our users' needs."