Atmel AT91SAM9 – or simply Atmel SAM9 – series are versatile microcontrollers and embedded microprocessors used in variety of products such as internet radios, embedded p2p downloaders, smart grid in-home displays, and much more.
Atmel SAM9 series are divided into five subsets:
- The original SAM9 MCU based on ARM926EJ-S running at between 210 and 240 Mhz, namely AT91SAM9260, AT91SAM9261, AT91SAM9261S and AT91SAM9263
- SAM9G eMPU (Embedded MPU) based on ARM926EJ-S, a new generation based on SAM9 MCU architecture but running at between 266 and 400Mhz: AT91SAM9G10, AT91SAM9G20, AT91SAM9G45 and AT91SAM9G46.
- SAM9M eMPU based on ARM926EJ-S clocked at 400Mhz and with a video decoder: AT91SAM9M10 and AT91SAM9M11
- SAM9R MCU based on ARM926EJ-S running at 210 Mhz with similar characteristic as the original SAM9 MCU, except it does not support USB Host but can be used as a High Speed USB device: AT91SAM9R64 and AT91SAM9RL64
- SAM9XE MCU are also based on ARM926EJ-S running up to 210 MHz and embed flash memory inside the chip: 128KB forAT91SAM9XE128, 256KB for AT91SAM9XE256 and 512KB forAT91SAM9XE512
Please check out Atmel SAM9 Parametric Product Table for details about the processor, memory, peripheral, packaging…
Some new generation processors are pin-to-pin compatible with the older ones, for example, SAM9G20 is pin-to-pin compatible with SAM9260 (LFBGA package only).
Atmel provides support for the following operating systems (Click on the links to go to relevant OS page to get started and download the SDK/BSP):
For Linux, you can download AT91Bootstrap, U-Boot (Bootloader), the Linux kernel and buildrobot that will allow to build everything including the ARM toolchain.
To program your target board, you’ll need to use AT91 In-system Programmer (SAM-BA), an open set of tools for programming the SAM3, AT91SAM7 and AT91SAM9 ARM-based microcontrollers that can be installed in Windows or Linux and allows in-system programming via JTAG, RS232 or USB interfaces.
AT91.com is a very helpful community for developing on SAM3, SAM7 and SAM9 MCU and eMPU. Their forum provides support for hardware and software development. They also have a list of devkits, software and hardware vendors that can help you during your project.
You can purchase SAM9 development boards directly on Atmel Store such as Atmel SAM9G20-EK (AT91SAM9G20-EK) evaluation kit which currently costs 500 USD.
Many other companies also resell those evaluation boards but the price is similar or even slightly higher than on Atmel store. Let us know if you can find cheaper ones.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
