Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'm looking at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class. I'm not looking for embedded Linux--I'm looking for a C compiler/IDE package that allows me to develop for that processor on my Linux workstation. I need the processor in my design for simple switch-scanning LED-lighting functions, ie basic GPIO, and production quantities are in the low thousands/year, so feature set or absolute cost is not a big issue. The processor just needs to be available from US distribution channels. I already have licenses for Eagle, VariCAD and Xilinx tools, so I'm fine with a commercial closed-source solution, particular if it comes with reasonable support. I can even live without the IDE as long as it has a good compiler and supports USB or serial-based debugging/programming. Yes, I know this is Usenet, but I'd rather not get into a Windows/Mac/Linux debate. I just prefer Linux. So, if anyone has used, can recommend, or can just point me to a vendor of microcontrollers or a third party toolset vendor that has a native Linux toolkit/programming development kit, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Best microcontroller with Linux development tools
Started by ●March 26, 2008
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On Mar 26, 3:41=A0pm, "Bob11" <nos...@tigercatdesigns.com> wrote:> Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small > microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'm looking > at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class. I'm not looking for embedded > Linux--I'm looking for a C compiler/IDE package that allows me to develop > for that processor on my Linux workstation. I need the processor in my > design for simple switch-scanning LED-lighting functions, ie basic GPIO, > and production quantities are in the low thousands/year, so feature set or=> absolute cost is not a big issue. The processor just needs to be available=> from US distribution channels. I already have licenses for Eagle, VariCAD > and Xilinx tools, so I'm fine with a commercial closed-source solution, > particular if it comes with reasonable support. I can even live without > the IDE as long as it has a good compiler and supports USB or serial-based=> debugging/programming. > > Yes, I know this is Usenet, but I'd rather not get into a > Windows/Mac/Linux debate. I just prefer Linux. So, if anyone has used, can=> recommend, or can just point me to a vendor of microcontrollers or a third=> party toolset vendor that has a native Linux toolkit/programming > development kit, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.This is a kinda-sorta answer, FWIW. I have been very happy with the Rowley CrossWorks tools, and with the great attitude of the owner. I know they have a toolset for the AVR, and it can run under Linux. However, the kinda-sorta part is that I haven't used their AVR compiler nor any of their tools under Linux. I have only used their ARM tools, under Windows. They do have a 30 day trial period, and I'd strongly encourage that you contact them. They're at http://www.rowley.co.u= k/ Mike
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
I'm biased because I wrote the port for it, but the Renesas R8C/M16C/M32C family is supported by gcc from the FSF, and I have tools that can program it via usb or serial. None of this is official, but then again, none of it will cost you anything either. You can buy support from various third parties (KPIT or Red Hat, for example) if it makes you happy. http://people.redhat.com/dj/m32c/ I do *all* my r8c work on native Linux. If you're familiar with Eclipse, you can use that with the gcc tools under Linux too. Not saying it's the best, but if the MCU meets your needs, the tools are there.
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:41:29 -0500, "Bob11" <nospam@tigercatdesigns.com> wrote:>Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small >microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'm looking >at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class.There is a AVR gcc port and support for various ISP plugs and the Atmel JTAG probes. Everything is free software. Mit freundlichen Gr��en Frank-Christian Kr�gel
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
Bob11 wrote:>... snip ...> > Yes, I know this is Usenet, but I'd rather not get into a > Windows/Mac/Linux debate. I just prefer Linux. So, if anyone > has used, can recommend, or can just point me to a vendor of > microcontrollers or a third party toolset vendor that has a > native Linux toolkit/programming development kit, I'd greatly > appreciate it. Thanks.If you simply concentrate on using standard C, as approved by the C standard (and on-topic on comp.lang.c) your code should port everywhere. You will probably have to isolate some areas in system dependent files, for such items as i/o ports, local memory peculiarities, etc. Some useful references about C: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt> <http://c-faq.com/> (C-faq) <http://benpfaff.org/writings/clc/off-topic.html> <http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf> (C99) <http://cbfalconer.home.att.net/download/n869_txt.bz2> (C99, txt) <http://www.dinkumware.com/c99.aspx> (C-library} <http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/> (GNU docs) <http://clc-wiki.net/wiki/C_community:comp.lang.c:Introduction> -- [mail]: Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) [page]: <http://cbfalconer.home.att.net> Try the download section. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On 2008-03-26, Frank-Christian Kruegel <dontmailme@news.invalid> wrote:> On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:41:29 -0500, "Bob11" <nospam@tigercatdesigns.com> > wrote: > >>Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small >>microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'm looking >>at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class. > > There is a AVR gcc port and support for various ISP plugs and the Atmel JTAG > probes. Everything is free software.Likewise, there are gcc ports for HC12, Coldfire, H8, MSP430, ARM, SH, R8, M16C, M32C and so on. I don't like IDEs so I can't really offer advice in that area. -- Grant Edwards grante Yow! Should I do my BOBBIE at VINTON medley? visi.com
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
Bob11 wrote:>Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small >microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux?There is an archive of this group with a searchable database: http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=ingroup:comp.arch.embedded+insubject:Linux&scoring=d
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:41:29 -0500, Bob11 wrote:> Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small > microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'm looking > at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class. I'm not looking for embedded > Linux--I'm looking for a C compiler/IDE package that allows me to develop > for that processor on my Linux workstation. I need the processor in my > design for simple switch-scanning LED-lighting functions, ie basic GPIO, > and production quantities are in the low thousands/year, so feature set or > absolute cost is not a big issue. The processor just needs to be available > from US distribution channels. I already have licenses for Eagle, VariCAD > and Xilinx tools, so I'm fine with a commercial closed-source solution, > particular if it comes with reasonable support. I can even live without > the IDE as long as it has a good compiler and supports USB or serial-based > debugging/programming. > > Yes, I know this is Usenet, but I'd rather not get into a > Windows/Mac/Linux debate. I just prefer Linux. So, if anyone has used, can > recommend, or can just point me to a vendor of microcontrollers or a third > party toolset vendor that has a native Linux toolkit/programming > development kit, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.For the PIC chips I've used C2C when it was in trial software for Linux, I have the CSS compiler for the mid-range chips. I've used SDCC for the 8051 family, I've played with the Atmel AT91 ARM and gcc, I currently have an AVR Mega 128 setup for some work I'm doing. I have the MKII JTAG interface and the ISP interface. I prefer the JTAG. Sorry I have no IDE as I prefer make files and emacs. I'm pretty sure that the list Grant provided of Micro/GCC/GDB work with Eclipse. I can't use Eclipse because it doesn't support all the emacs keystrokes. ;-) I also have the MSP430 but I haven't had time to work with it yet. Of course all of this is under Linux. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Reply by ●March 27, 20082008-03-27
On 2008-03-27, Neil Cherry <njc@cookie.uucp> wrote:> Sorry I have no IDE as I prefer make files and emacs. I'm > pretty sure that the list Grant provided of Micro/GCC/GDB work > with Eclipse. I can't use Eclipse because it doesn't support > all the emacs keystrokes. ;-)I used to think Emacs was a memory hog. Then I tried starting Eclipse.> I also have the MSP430 but I haven't had time to work with it yet. > > Of course all of this is under Linux.I've read that you can use KDevelop to do embedded stuff, but from the descriptions I've read it looked like it took a lot of hammering to convince KDevelop that not everything is a Linux-hosted KDE application. -- Grant Edwards grante Yow! An air of FRENCH at FRIES permeates my visi.com nostrils!!
Reply by ●March 27, 20082008-03-27
>On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:41:29 -0500, Bob11 wrote: >> Does anyone have any experience, or know of any vendors, of small >> microcontroller development tools than run natively on Linux? I'mlooking>> at processors in the 8051/AVR/Z8 etc class. >> [snip]Thanks, Mike, to the link for Rowley. They're the only vendor I've seen so far that actually mentions Linux support for a debugging/programming JTAG probe. They deserve a good evaluation. Thanks, DJ, for the reminder about Renesas. I've checked out the KPIT toolchain before but completely forgot about them; I'll have to take another look at the Renesas parts. And thanks, Neil, for your list of tools you've used. I'm a vi guy myself :-) and find the vi Makefile cvs/subversion toolchain to be faster for development than IDEs also. I do like the IDEs for debugging, though, particular with parts that support ISE/JTAG. Debugging with scope probes gets old, and printf is a pain with 1K of code space. It's nice to have views of all the internal registers and pertinent memory locations updated in real time as you step through code. GDB is OK, but IDE debugging is faster IMO. What started this quest on my part was a recent experience with a Silicon Labs development kit. I've been using SDCC to code for a Cypress FX2 and haven't had any major issues, since I'm using my own routines to write to an onboard FLASH and Cypress documents everything fairly well. So, I thought I'd stay with this (ancient) family for the 'jellybean processor' I need for a number of other switch/lamp PCBs on some upcoming products. I bought the Silicon Labs development kit ($69) and it come with a USB debug pod. SDCC is even listed on their list of 3rd party vendors. What a disaster, though. I found an 'ec2/ec3' driver on sourceforge, but it completely locks up the USB stack, seriously enough that I have to reboot. Silicon Labs apparently believes the C2/C3 debugging protocol is a state secret, so there is no way to write a decent driver other than through reverse-engineering the Windows IDE. Well, I don't have Windows, and I don't have time for reverse-engineering a debug probe. Going down the list of 3rd party vendors (14 in all), not *one* of them supports debugging/programming on Linux. Compiling, yes, a few. USB debug support, none. Hell, I'd write the code myself if there was actually some useful SiLabs documentation on the protocol. Anyway, looks like I won't be using Silicon Labs in future designs. The AVR parts, or perhaps Renesas, are starting to look like the best option for being able to do real coding and in-circuit programming on Linux. Thanks again.
