Stellaris microcontrollers provide a number of different mechanisms for in-system programming support. Many Stellaris microcontrollers ship with a royalty-free one-time-use serial flash loader application pre-programmed into flash. For these microcontrollers, the serial flash loader can be used in conjunction with Luminary Micro’s LMFlash application, a standard JTAG debugger, or a production programmer to load the end application into flash during manufacturing. Some Stellaris microcontrollers provide the Stellaris Boot Loader in read-only memory (ROM) integrated on the device. These microcontrollers provide flexible interface options for flash programming (both manufacturing and in-field updates) directly through the on-chip ROM.

Stellaris Serial Flash Loader

All Stellaris microcontrollers ship with a royalty-free serial flash loader application pre-programmed into flash. The serial flash loader is a small application that allows programming of the flash without the need for a debugger interface or production programmer. With easy interface options including UART or SSI, the serial flash loader provides users with maximum flexibility in their production programming options. Luminary Micro provides a free flash programming utility for PCs called LMFlash that supports either command line or GUI usage and makes full use of all the commands supported by the serial flash loader application. For users desiring to build their own flash programmers, Luminary Micro also supplies a sample UART download utility that makes full use of all the commands supported by the serial flash loader application. Application note AN01242 provides source code and information about the serial flash loader and the sample UART download utility sflash.exe.

• Pre-loaded in flash on all shipped Stellaris MCUs that do not have the ROM-based Stellaris Boot Loader.
• Small piece of code that allows programming of the flash without the need for a debugger interface.
• Interface options include UART or SSI.
• Free LMFlash utility makes full use of all commands supported by the serial flash loader.

Stellaris Boot Loader

For applications desiring in-field programmability, Luminary Micro also provides royalty-free Stellaris boot loader source code that can be added to your application at the beginning of the flash memory. This small piece of code can act as an application loader and stay resident to support in-field programmability for your end application. With flexible interface options including a UART, I2C, SSI, or Ethernet, and selectable methods for signaling an in-field update, the Stellaris boot loader provides users with maximum flexibility in boot loader requirements. The Stellaris Peripheral Driver Library includes source code and information about the Stellaris boot loader, including example applications that utilize the boot loader for in-field updates. Some Stellaris microcontrollers provide the Stellaris Boot Loader in read-only memory (ROM) integrated on the device.

• Free license and royalty-free use (for use with Stellaris MCUs).
• Small piece of code that can be programmed at the beginning of flash to act as an application loader; available integrated on-chip in ROM on some Stellaris microcontrollers.
• Also used as an update mechanism for an application running on a Stellaris microcontroller.
• Interface options include UART (default), I2C, SSI, or Ethernet.

The Stellaris Boot Loader is included in the Stellaris Family Driver Library (PDL-LM3S-EXE). The separate users guide (PDL-GRL-UG) provides application details.