We have Arduino Mega 2560 as the bigger Arduino Uno. We have Arduino Due as the bigger Arduino M0. Now I wonder how hard it would be to have a bigger Arduino Zero/M0 Pro - ARM with built-in debugger?
The idea is just copy/paste the EDBG circuitry from Zero onto Due, replacing the ATmega16U2 USB to Serial chip. This EDBG, if supported, can have full JTAG wiring with parallel tracing all connected, for the folks that want to have faster debugging speed or use advanced debugging features of the chip.
When programming existing Due core and libraries would work directly, since connections to ATSAM3X8E is unchanged. For uploading sketches the native USB port uploading method is untouched, while the programming port uploading works in the same way as programming port on Zero.
Also, for this Due Pro, it might be a good idea to route the RMII to some headers, and provide an alternative Ethernet library that is based on this native RMII interface.
Imagine an Arduino with a processor similar to RK3229, maybe without the graphic part
RK3229 SoC Feature
CPU
Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7MP Core processor, a high-performance, low-power and cached application processor
Full implementation of the ARM architecture v7-A instruction set, ARM Neon Advanced SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) support for accelerated media and signal processing computation
Separately Integrated Neon and FPU per CPU
32KB/32KB L1 I-Cache/D-Cache per CPU
Unified 256KB L2 Cache
Trustzone technology support
GPU
ARM Mali400 MP2
High performance OpenGL ES1.1 and 2.0, OpenVG1.1 etc
Embedded 4 shader cores with shared hierarchical tiler
Memory
36KB internal SRAM
Dynamic Memory Interface (DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR2/LPDDR3)： Compatible with JEDEC standard DDR3-1600/DDR3L-1600/LPDDR2-800/LPDDR3-1333 SDRAM. Supports 32 Bits data width, 2 ranks (chip selects), totally 2GB (max) address space.
Nand Flash Interface: Support 8bits async/toggle/syncnandflash, up to 4 banks. 16bits, 24bits, 40bits, 60bits hardware ECC
eMMC Interface: Compatible with standard eMMC interface, Support MMC4.51 protocol
SD/MMC Interface: Compatible with SD2.0, MMC4.51
System Component
Timer: 6 on-chip 64bits Timers in SoC with interrupt-based operation for non-secure application. 2 on-chip 64bits Timers in SoC with interrupt-based operation for secure application
PWM: 4 on-chip PWMs with interrupt-based operation
WatchDog: 32 bits watchdog counter width
Video
Real-time video decoder of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4,H.263, H.264, H.265, VC-1, VP8, VP9，MVC
H.264 10bit up to HP level 5.1 : 2160P@60fps (4096x2304)
VP9 :2160p@30fps(4096x2304)
HEVC 10bit: 2160p @60fps(4096x2304)
MPEG-4 up to ASP level 5 : 1080p@60fps (1920x1088)
MPEG-2 up to MP : 1080p@60fps (1920x1088)
MPEG-1 up to MP : 1080p@60fps (1920x1088)
H.263 : 576p@60fps (720x576)
VC-1 up to AP level 3 : 1080p@30fps (1920x1088)
VP8 : 1080p@60fps (1920x1088)
MVC : 1080p@60fps (1920x1088)
Support video encoder for H.264, MVC
JPEG Codec
Decoder size is from 48x48 to 8176x8176(66.8Mpixels). Maximum data rate is up to 76million pixels per second
Encoder image size up to 8192x8192(64million pixels) from 96x32. Maximum data rate up to 90million pixels per second
Display
HDMI interface: Support YUV420 4k x 2k @ 60fps. Support for 4k x 2k and 3D video formats. Support for up to 10.2bps bandwidth. Compliant HDMI 2.0. Compliance HDMI compliance Test specification 1.4. Support HDCP 2.2.
CVBS interface: TV encoder 10bit out for DAC
Camera interface
No camera interface. Only support USB Camera
Audio
I2S0/I2S1 with 8ch: supports up to 8 channels (8xTX or 8xRX). Audio resolution from 16bits to 32bits. Sample rate up to 192KHz
I2S2/PCM with 2ch: Up to 2 channels (2xTX and 2xRX). Audio resolution from 16bits to 32bits. Sample rate up to 192KHz
SPDIF: Support two 16-bit audio data store together in one 32-bit wide location.
Audio Codec: 24bit DAC. Support Line-out. Support Mono, Stereo, 5.1 HiFi channel performance. Sampling rate of 8kHz/12kHz/16kHz/24kHz/32kHz/44.1KHz/48KHz/96KHz
Connectivity
SDIO interface: Embedded one SDIO interface, Compatible with SDIO 3.0 protocol
TS interface: Supports one TS input channel.Supports 4 TS Input Mode: sync/valid mode in the case of serial TS input; nosync/valid mode, sync/valid, sync/burst mode in the case of parallel TS input.
Smart Card: support card activation and deactivation
GMAC 10/100/1000M Ethernet Controller: Supports 10/100/1000-Mbps data transfer rates with the RGMII interfaces. Supports 10/100-Mbps data transfer rates with the RMII interfaces.
Ethernet PHY: Integrated IEEE 802.3/802.3u compliant 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY. Supporting both full and half duplex for either 10 or 100 Mb/s data rate
SPI Controller: One on-chip SPI controller
UART Controller: 3 on-chip UART controllers
I2C controller: 4 on-chip I2C controllers
USB Host2.0: Embedded 3 USB Host 2.0 interfaces
USB OTG2.0: Compatible with USB OTG2.0 specification. Supports high-speed(480Mbps), full-speed(12Mbps) and low-speed(1.5Mbps) mode
Other
Temperature Sensor(TS-ADC): 10-bits SAR ADC up to 50KS/s sampling rate. 0~80C temperature range and 5C temperature resolution
eFuse: Two high-density electrical Fuse is integrated: 256bits (32x8) / 1024bits (32x32)
I wonder how hard it would be to have a bigger Arduino Zero/M0 Pro - ARM with built-in debugger?
SAM3X has been labeled "not recommended for new designs."
Adafruit has made vague hints that they might do a MEGA-sized board based on the SAMD51 CM4 currently used in their (quite new) Metro M4 and ItsyBitsy M4. But it hasn't shown up in their code, yet, and the "vague hints" haven't really even reached the "rumor" state...
Microchip (nee Atmel) has "Xplained Pro" eval boards for their SAM4 and SAME54 chips (some have ethernet built-in) that might not be an awful starting point. (probably significant work is required, though.)
STM32duino supports a bunch of the ST CM3 and CM4 "eval boards."
how hard it would be to have a bigger Arduino Zero/M0 Pro - ARM with built-in debugger?
So far, the debugger support on the Zero seems to be inaccessible to most Arduino users, anyway. I keep hearing that a new IDE version will have some sort of debugging support, but it hasn't show up yet (and worse, I'm not really sure how it can be done, within the limits of "keep it simple.")
Meanwhile, there are the TI ARM Launchpads (MSP432 and TM4C123) that have Arduino IDE cores, AND an on-chip debugger.
And the price of external debugging for ARM chips keeps coming down as well; if you only include the standard JTAG/SWD connector.
