Life of Atmel Studio after Atmel - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 08:14:56 am
content: I'm just wondering. Is Microchip planning to continue AS or will it eventually move the IDE over to MPLABX ? I seem to remember that one of the drivers for Atmel versus Microchip was that Atmel used an open source C compiler whereas microchips compiler was very expensive (£1000+ comes to mind) or free code size limited crippleware.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 10:47:06 am
content: Yeah those websites are probably outdated.. no size limit for XC8, but no optimization either. (it's mikroe which does full optimization but very small size limit)XC16 and 32 have no size limit and free optimization (-O1) available. methods were found in this forum to bypass the license check so you can use -O2 and -O3 but i wouldn't rely on "hacks" for commercial products.. And -O1 is enough. It gets rid of most of the garbage, with library functions it tends to use hardware tricks like the zero-overhead-loops for iterative operations.. and it's still easy to debugRegarding to your question, I don't know if they will add licenses to AVR-GCC and the ATMEL-ARM-GCC.Unfortunately for some (i don't really mind) i think their plan is to move everything to mplab x. latest versions have added initial support / menus for XPLAINED boards, mentions of other ATMEL stuff here and there.One thing for sure, every time i have to open eclipse i thank the gods that microchip went the netbeans way.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 10:52:03 am
content: Well having tried and failed again to setup my custom header files location in Atmel studio (u$oft visual fuckover) I tried maplab. Yes there is initial support as in you can pick the AVR category for starting a new project but no AVR device is listed.

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 11:59:40 am
content: Microchip have started adding support for ARM devices to MPLAB X, and the latest version of XC32 bundles both MIPS and ARM compilers. But there's plenty of vendor-neutral tools for ARM microcontrollers to choose from.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 12:03:47 pm
content: Well I'm trying to use a tiny24a, back of the que I guess.

author: cv007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 02:58:41 pm
content: QuoteIts not rocket science or voodoo. The source code is available as required (xc16/xc32), and if you can read code there is no mystery what is happening. The compiled code is exactly the same as the 'paid' version. Exactly. Always. There can be many reasons to go for the paid version (priority support would be one), but to think that you are getting a more 'reliable' compiler in the paid version makes no sense. You don't even need to 'hack' any file to get all optimizations/enable c++.I think the OP is not interested in xc16/xc32, so it doesn't matter anyway.QuoteThey have 2 ARM M4 crypto controllers- which seem to have no home, so they adopted them in mplabx for some reason. Maybe its a test run to see if they can make arm work in mplabx.Whatever they do with AS/MPLABX, its not going to happen quickly. So unless you want to wait around for at least a few years, plan to use what is available now.You can also look into the mchp 8bit parts (newer ones with pps are nice), then you can use MPLABX instead of AS. The xc8 compiler (not open source/gcc) in free mode is restricted in some optimizations, but it is not a big deal (at all). They have a $30 Curiosity board which can mount 8-20pin pics, includes a programmer/debugger, and works quite nicely. I guess it depends how attached you are to the tiny24. Just a thought.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 04:22:03 pm
content: Quote from: cv007 on April 15, 2018, 02:58:41 pmI agree with every word. I never thought for a second that hacked -O3 is different than paid -O3, it's just that an update could break the "hack" (see the quotes?) And you may find yourself to choose between updating and getting compiler bugs fixed or compiling the full version.If you know how to compile the compiler good for your, i don't i suck at these things i like installers.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 04:47:49 pm
content: I'm no IDE expert and am giving netbeans a go. Anything I need to do to make it work? It has picked up on the availability of GCC for AVR so will that do it ?

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 04:52:20 pm
content: uh.. netbeans is the platform MPLAB X is based on, just as for example NXP LPC Expresso is just eclipse with some fancy plugins

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 04:55:59 pm
content: Yes I know. I just needed to pick an IDE and set it up without any bullshit from any vendor. I have created a new thread specifically about my progress:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/going-bare-with-netbeans-and-writing-code-for-avr/new/#new

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 05:20:58 pm
content: great, i just wanted to be sure

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 05:27:57 pm
content: If you want a vendor independent IDE, I'd highly recommend Visual Studio Code. I'm a die-hard Emacs guy, but VSC is changing my mind quickly...

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 05:35:35 pm
content: Quote from: agehall on April 15, 2018, 05:27:57 pmOK, so how do I get it compiling for AVR ?

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 06:45:51 pm
content: I am looking at it with platformio installed. But there seems to be some confusion between AVR and Arduino

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 05:30:21 am
content: Quote from: Simon on April 15, 2018, 06:45:51 pmOther than most of the libraries being a bit bloated Arduino and AVR are effectively the same. Arduino just wraps some stuff up to be easier for beginners. Including assembly if you go with avr gcc.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 05:47:24 am
content: Quote from: Simon on April 15, 2018, 05:35:35 pmHave not looked into it myself as I'm quite happy with Atmel Studio for now, but everything else I've needed in VSC has been available as a plugin with instructions for how to setup any external dependencies.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 07:05:44 am
content: Quote from: maginnovision on April 16, 2018, 05:30:21 amYes but I don't want to use arduino code style due to the bloat it will call in. platformio seems to try and mimic arduino and wants libraries putting into project folders whereas I want one standard folder on my machine so that when I update or improve or fix I don't have to do a round robbin.I have returned to Atmel studio as I have figured out what I was getting wrong, I'll just have to see what happens when it is phased out.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 07:40:09 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 16, 2018, 07:25:11 amReally? I have not noticed this at all and I'm on an MBP most of the day.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 07:52:51 am
content: It'd be stupid for them to kill off Atmel Studio. I think a fair amount of people are quite happy with it.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 08:02:05 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 16, 2018, 07:44:52 amInteresting. I certainly have not noticed that effect on my computer but I'll try measure the effects of it as well. If that is the case, that is something they need to fix...

author: snarkysparky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2018, 01:10:02 am
content: Quote from: Mr. Scram on April 16, 2018, 07:52:51 amThat would make it likely for them to charge for it. Which is essentially killing it off.

author: technix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2018, 04:52:06 am
content: As of the toolchains ARM, AVR, PIC32 and PIC16 all uses GCC, so there is always compile-your-own route with license check patched out and base compiler rebased to the latest (I even have an AVR GCC version 7.2 for macOS archive, much newer than anything Microchip or Atmel ever packaged.)