Contents
- Introduction
- System Requirements
- List of Files
- Installation
- Technical Support
- Ordering Information
- Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Astrobe for Cortex-M3 is a fast and responsive integrated development environment for Windows. It is designed to be used to write software to run on Arm Cortex-M3 microcontrollers. The programming language supported by Astrobe is Oberon.
Oberon is a general-purpose, procedural programming language. Its type-safety, module consistency-checking and predictable code-generation features allow you to develop efficient, reliable, high- and low-level 32-bit native code embedded software without the arbitrary quirks and complexities associated with using C or assembler.
See the Astrobe for Cortex-M0, M3, M4, M7 Feature Matrix on the Astrobe website for a full summary of features.
2. System Requirements
Astrobe is supported on Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (or other software that can read PDF files). For proper display of tables uncheck the Acrobat's Preferences > Page Display > Enhance thin lines option.
3. List of Files
After running the Astrobe setup installation setup program the following files are created in the program folder that you are asked to specify:
| AstrobeM3.exe | Main program |
| AstrobeM3.chm | Help file |
| Oberon.xml | Syntax-highlighting schema |
| Syntax.chm | Oberon Syntax Quick Reference |
| OberonReport.pdf | Oberon Language Report |
| OberonGuide.pdf | Oberon Programming Guide |
| OberonArm.pdf | Oberon for Arm Microcontrollers |
| ReadMe.htm | This file |
| UninstallAstrobeM3.exe | Uninstall program |
| UninstallAstrobeM3.log | Uninstall support file |
| AstrobeCompile.exe | Command-line compiler |
| AstrobeLink.exe | Command-line linker |
| AstrobeBuild.exe | Command-line builder |
| AstrobeDecode.exe | Command-line disassembler |
The subfolders Configs, Examples and Lib which contain the configuration files, examples and library modules are created in the data folder that you are asked to specify. This defaults to DriveLetter:AstrobeM3-v10.0 where DriveLetter: is the name of the drive from which the installation executable is being run.
The examples are described in the Examples ReadMe file on the Astrobe website.
4. Installation
Astrobe is distributed as a self-installing Setup file:
- AstrobeM3Setup.exe
Install Astrobe as follows:
- Login to your system using an account with Administrator privileges that you will
use when running Astrobe.
- Exit all Windows programs.
- Run the Astrobe Setup file
- Press the Next button, and follow the prompts.
- When the installation program has completed, run Astrobe by selecting it from the
Windows Start menu.
5. Technical Support
If you have any technical questions related to Astrobe, the Oberon language, or programming microcontrollers using Astrobe go to the Astrobe Technical Support webpage for details of how to get support.
Back to Contents6. Ordering Information
For details of prices and payment options and to place an order click on Order Astrobe on-line or go to the Astrobe website at:
and select Orders from the menu. Follow the instructions there.
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7. Acknowledgements
We greatly appreciate the valuable support and encouragement that Niklaus Wirth gave to us during the initial development of Astrobe. He provided us with the original Oberon source code of the Arm compiler, linker, MAU and FPU libraries that formed the basis of the corresponding components of Astrobe and allowed us to include the Oberon Language Report with distributions of Astrobe.
Chris Burrows
Development Manager
CFB Software
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