CAMBRIDGE, UK, November 22, 2004, - Crossware (www.crossware.com), a leading embedded tools developer, has released flash programming software that can be used to program Freescale ColdFire^® boards using its FireFly USB BDM (background debug mode) interface. This can save developers considerable amounts of time as FireFly can program flash more than 8 times faster than via a parallel port interface.

The flash software - available free of charge to users of Crossware's FireFly interface - will simultaneously control up to 127 USB ports each connected to a separate ColdFire board. A single click of the mouse will program the selected software file into any or all of the connected boards.

The Crossware software can automatically generate a configuration script - required so that the target board can be correctly set up for flash programming - by examining the program that is to be downloaded. This feature eliminates the need to for the script to be created manually.

Multiple program formats are supported including Motorola 'S' records, IEEE 695 and ELF. The software can be used with programs generated by any ColdFire tool chain as well as those generated with the Crossware ColdFire Development Suite.

Crossware developed its small yet powerful and fast FireFly BDM interface for Motorola's ColdFire family of chips. FireFly features a USB controller and requires no external crystal. The miniature debugger plugs directly into the target board minimising signal delays and ensuring compatibility with the new generation of ColdFire chips running at up to 200 MHz.

The FireFly USB BDM interface is also driven by a new version of Crossware's source level debugging software, which integrates seamlessly with the rest of its ColdFire Development Suite. The user interface is unchanged and so developers can simply replace their existing parallel port interface with the new USB debugger and immediately benefit from the improved performance. In addition, developers can also move to platforms such as the newer generation of notebook PCs, which do not have a parallel port.