I am interested in starting a new experience in ARM assembly next year. Totally clueless questions;

1. What hardware do I need? Can I run it on my PC? Do I need an emulator like QEMU because I don't have Android Phones. My current phone is smart enough to have a small flashlight led attached to it. Useful though.
2. Do I need specialized SDK similar to Win Phone/CE SDK?
3. I read that there are too many ARM 'families' out there. Which one should I start with If I were to take the 64-bit path?

I got more questions but I'll ask later.

Ok like for example I want to print a "hello world" to screen. Whose screen because my screen resolution is 1600 x something wide. That screen or emulated screen or real android phones screen?

system error wrote:

1. What hardware do I need?

Anything that is not locked down would be a good start. Many cellphones do not allow you to directly run assembly code so check before you buy.

system error wrote:

2. Do I need specialized SDK similar to Win Phone/CE SDK?

Maybe, if you want to interact with the OS. If you want bare-metal then you'll need more than an SDK, you'll need full system info.

system error wrote:

3. I read that there are too many ARM 'families' out there. Which one should I start with If I were to take the 64-bit path?

That will mostly depend upon the board you buy/have. You won't really be able to buy a CPU of your choice, you have to buy the whole board with CPU/SOC included. Well, that is unless you are planning to make a million or so units then you can buy your own CPU/SOC but that is a whole different thing.

And my PC don't have touch screen either. If I were to run my code in an emulator, don't I need a touch device for that?

This is important because I'm considering to sell my laptop for some android smartphone. But before I do that, I need to test it first, at least in emulated environment. I am not rich you know.

revo, I'm having trouble understanding your explanations, or may be I am too clueless to get it. To cut it short,

What do you personally use to code ARM?
What is your recommendations for a clueless low-budget peasant like me?

I read things on the internet, but still don't get the bigger picture though.

system error wrote:

What do you personally use to code ARM?

fasmarm, of course. And notepad2 to edit the sources. But then I don't program for phones or any consumer gear.

system error wrote:

What is your recommendations for a clueless low-budget peasant like me?

Some other users here have bought second hand equipment (Gameboy? Nintendo?) and written code for them. There are topics with code posted and some info on how to get it all up and running.

But how do you test your source without the CPU?

system error wrote:

1. What hardware do I need? Can I run it on my PC? Do I need an emulator like QEMU because I don't have Android Phones. My current phone is smart enough to have a small flashlight led attached to it. Useful though.

you could use qemu, https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Developer_guide/Virtual_ARM_Linux_environment for a start

i would suggest using router with USB, flash with openwrt or etc firmware, they are less expensive and available in every pc shop or reuse old tp-link is fine too, try tp-link brand, they are the cheapest afaik,

or you could buy raspberry pi 3 and load it with windows 10 iot or linux arm, could explore both experiences

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/docs/kitsetuprpi

Setting up Qemu on Linux now... Thanks for the links. Now it's starting to make sense.