title: Can the Visual Studio ARM Assembler produce binaries that don't require an OS?
body: <p>I'll admit upfront that I don't know a whole lot about ARM development, so I probably have by information wrong here.</p>
  
  <p>Visual Studio comes with an ARM assembler (armasm.exe), which is extremely convenient because I use the tools included with VS for basically everything and I'm not too wild about paying for an ARM assembler that comes bundled with a C compiler that I'll never use from other companies.</p>
  
  <p>Now, my understanding is that ARM binaries that are run on-the-metal need to be in a pure binary format instead of something like ELF or PE. Is ARMASM capable of outputting binaries that can run without an operating system? The MSDN documentation for ARMASM appears to be lacking in regards to that type of information.</p>
  
  <p>If not, can you recommend a free ARM assembler that provides macro support and doesn't come bundled with a bunch of extra fluff?</p>