How do you tell Microchip to PISS OFF!!! I want the old MPLAB back? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: xDR1TeK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2012, 11:17:46 pm
content: I have been home brewing as always and played with MPLABX beta, then 1.3 and now 1.5, and can't get Proton Basic compiler to be recognized by MPLABX as a toolchain. I know no one is doing anything about it now, but it worked before with MPLAB 8.6 till 8.80.Not a fan of PicBasic, they are lacking in so many ways. Proton seems fairly smarter and well documented. After all, an engineer is as good as his tools. Well, Mplab before was fine, ok it needed a little tweaking, but still better than any IDE out there. Plus MPLABX is now full time java, heavy on memory, full of memory leaks. The damn thing is just slow!!! Haven't managed to get the VSM from proteus to work in MPLABX yet, couldn't get ahead past the first alien encounters feeling with MPLABX. I know I have only started to scratch the surface, but seriously, everybody knows a good thing when they see it and the Pre-MPLABX was it.

author: mazurov
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 01:34:29 am
content: Latest MPLAB is still available for download, as well as many previous versions.

author: caffeinatedbard
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 02:02:46 am
content: I second mazurov, the old versions of mplab are archived on the microchip website.I also agree with xDR1TeK that MPLABX is slower than MPLAB 8.x but the new features are such an improvement that I can't complain too much. One thing to keep in mind is that the Netbeans environment actually caches pageviews based on usage and so you should see a pretty significant increase in speed and response within a couple of weeks.Another thing I forgot is that now MPLABX is cross platform which is huge for the apple fanboys.cheers,bard

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 02:24:09 am
content: If you don't like it go ARM (however using basic suggests this path is not for you), if enough people move because they don't like the tools, someone's going to have to lift their game.

author: McMonster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 03:53:26 am
content: Quote from: notsob on November 29, 2012, 02:24:09 amRegardless of the microcontroller family, switching to C is always an improvement.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 04:26:22 am
content: Quote from: notsob on November 29, 2012, 02:24:09 amand hows that going to help? IDE'wise freeware'wise?

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 05:45:25 am
content: I think you should bite the bullet and just learn MPLABXI tried it when you had to sign up to access the BETA version. The context editing capabilities at that stage were enough to have me jumping for joy.Once your code starts getting a little complex and you have to access deep and obscure parts of structures, reference defines etc, etc, it becomes very tedious flipping between files to look them up. Especially when a lot of these files may not be visible to your current project as the files may be part of a library. When this happens it start getting annoying if you have debugging them.Changing micros is an option but in this situation you not only have to learn a new IDE but also a new architecture and new software stacks, all a PITA

author: bxs
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2012, 09:15:56 am
content: Quote from: xDR1TeK on November 28, 2012, 11:17:46 pmI'm far from liking Mplab X because of how buggy it is, you just need to go to microchip forum and see some of my posts, but if your problem is with the lack of Proton Basic compiler support I don't agree.Starting with Mplab X v1.5 only Microchip toolchains are supported by default, to add others you have to go to Tools->Plugins and search for a plugin for a different toolchain, exist some, but don't know if Proton Basic is there, if not is not microchip that you should ask, but Proton Basic guys to develop a plugin for Mplab X.You can't blame Microchip for not doing plugins for others toolchains, are the companies of those toolchains that need to know if they want Mplab X support or not, if they think that it is important for their customers then they will do itNote that Microchip have some code to help with those plugins, and they even had help in the past people not representing any company.

author: Achilles
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2012, 10:20:21 pm
content: Well....I also use the old MPLab 8.6.I like it more than the MPLabX and so there is no need for me.One attraction was the Mac OSX support....if it would work with my pickit 3. At least I learned that the Microchip support sucks and doesn't help in any way. SO for a project on a tight schedule I couldn't recommend microchip....but hey...The IDE is free and the compilers in the light mode as well.....that's at least something...So just use 8.6 and it's fine if you don't like the new IDE.

author: xDR1TeK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2012, 12:56:58 am
content: All nice feedback; however, one thing is for sure, when shit hits the fan, you have to roll up your sleeves and go low level.I have been working in assembly since microsoft had the macro assembler. The good old days.AlfBaz is right about something, when you need to be productive then you need to jump the band wagon and pick a smoother development environment. Anybody can hook 5v on trigger data back and forth. Having this done anytime you change your application is not easy when code is just sitting in the way of progress. It is a one-man-show, firmware is not easy to debug. Getting it to work is one thing, catching freakish behavior is another. Sim can only take you so far, it still cuts development time and that is why it is important. Plus, debugging in-circuit is risky.For me, version 8+ proved stable, safe, trust worthy. Something you can depend on. Trust me, I have tried many IDEs. Some where amateur group effort, some were even standardized. Heck even worked with Qt before it was bought by Nokia. Tried eclipse with various open source compilers, embedded and platform development. They all sucked, lacked substance and blown all to hell.So mplab 8 to me is like winxp, or a good driver for one of my PC hw. It was fine, they needn't make something worse if they had something working. Again, I am no java fan, never been and will never be.