I'd consider getting one of the LINUX-equipped eval boards that abound on the www, most of which appear to be under $200US, and get used to using the GNU tools because the "Free" 805x HLL's are way too costly for one-offs and the GNU stuff is purportedly pretty much capable of producing executable code for the ARM core, regardless of the peripheral set. Then I'd figure out how to build modules that link and load into an arbitrary ARM memory space, and gradually build up a library of those to cover whatever eventualities I can think of. In the background, I'd figure out how to write assembly code for those occasions when it's absolutely necessary, and build up a library of modules as the need arises. The first couple of years could be painful, but, so were the first couple of years with every other core.

Doesn't that make some sense? After all, the ARM is much more HLL-friendly than the 805x.

RE