Which AVR Studio and C compiler for AVR 8-bit microcontroller and JTAGICE?

I see there are three AVR Studio versions: 4, 5 and 6. Which one to
use?

I don't understand if a free C compiler is present in all of those
versions or only for AVR Studio 6. Anyway I see there is a AVR 8-bit
toolchain for Windows: could it be used in AVR Studio 4 too?

I have an old JTAGICE debugger clone with RS232 interface only. I
think only AVR Studio 4 supports this old debugger. Is it correct?

On 03/06/13 17:32, pozz wrote:
> I see there are three AVR Studio versions: 4, 5 and 6. Which one to
> use?
> 
> I don't understand if a free C compiler is present in all of those
> versions or only for AVR Studio 6. Anyway I see there is a AVR 8-bit
> toolchain for Windows: could it be used in AVR Studio 4 too?
> 
> I have an old JTAGICE debugger clone with RS232 interface only. I
> think only AVR Studio 4 supports this old debugger. Is it correct?
> 

The "free C compiler" you are talking about is avr-gcc, which is the
free "gcc" compiler targeted to the AVR, along with a matching
libraries.  The main "gcc" is written by volunteers and supporting
companies, and is entirely free.  The AVR port is also mainly volunteer
work, but Atmel provides some support and backing for it.  It is free
software - you can download the source and compile it yourself.  Atmel
also provides packages with pre-built binaries, which is much more
convenient for most users.

I don't use AVR Studio much myself (it's windows-only, and version 5
onwards are based on MS Visual Studio instead of the industry standard
IDE).  So hopefully someone will correct me if I get the details wrong...

AVR Studio 5 onwards come with the avr-gcc toolchain.  Each release of
Studio has the latest Atmel release of the toolchain.  AVR Studio 4 did
not come with the toolchain, but it has convenient support for using
avr-gcc.  In those days, Atmel did not make its own releases of avr-gcc,
so the common choice (on Windows) was the "WinAVR" packaging of avr-gcc.

If you need to use AVR Studio 4 to have support for your debugger, there
should be no problem using it together with the latest "command-line"
avr-gcc toolchain from Atmel.  I very occasionally use AVR Studio 4
myself for debugging, though I never use it as an IDE or editor.

It is also perfectly possible to use the free debugger "gdb" for
debugging with the AVR.  You can use the latest version of Eclipse as
your IDE and debugger interface, compile with avr-gcc (using Atmel's
packages if you like), and connecting to your jtag debugger using
avarice.  However, if you are new to this sort of thing and don't have
someone nearby to help, then I'd recommend AVR Studio first.

Il 04/06/2013 09:04, David Brown ha scritto:
> [...]
> In those days, Atmel did not make its own releases of avr-gcc,
> so the common choice (on Windows) was the "WinAVR" packaging of avr-gcc.
> [...]

The latest release of WinAVR is dated back to 2010, while Atmel AVR8 
toolchain release 3.4.2 was updated at April 2013.

It seems Atmel toolchain is more update than WinAVR.

pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> wrote:
> The latest release of WinAVR is dated back to 2010, while Atmel AVR8 
> toolchain release 3.4.2 was updated at April 2013.
> 
> It seems Atmel toolchain is more update than WinAVR.

Atmel hired the head WinAVR developer to work on toolchains for them.

-a

On 06/06/13 07:07, pozz wrote:
> Il 04/06/2013 09:04, David Brown ha scritto:
>> [...]
>> In those days, Atmel did not make its own releases of avr-gcc,
>> so the common choice (on Windows) was the "WinAVR" packaging of avr-gcc.
>> [...]
>
> The latest release of WinAVR is dated back to 2010, while Atmel AVR8
> toolchain release 3.4.2 was updated at April 2013.
>
> It seems Atmel toolchain is more update than WinAVR.
>
>

Yes, that's pretty much what I wrote.

http://microcontroller.com/news/Atmel_AVR_Studio_5.asp
"Atmel's AVR Studio 5 is completely free and completely free of limits - there is no code size limit for compiled code and no additional compiler purchase is necessary. The suite is completely free and has no limits."

Article has a nice animated demo of Atmel AVR Studio 5's Intelligent Editor. AVR Studio 5 also has a complete chip simulator, simulates the microcontroller core and peripherals including undocumented features. Fun to play with!