AVR-Chat

Tony,

  There are IDE's out there for gcc-avr on the Windoze platform, I've not
seen any for Linux or Mac yet, but I've not yet exhausted my searches
either.  The IDE's usually handle the makefile generation and use, but
aren't as flexible as the command line "make" is.
  I've found gcc-avr to be complete, with some good tools (like one to
put the assembly and source interleaved in a .lst file, verbose, but
OK to use, and of course AVR-DUDE which works well for serial port
programming, but is kind of unpredictable for parallel port use (like
the parallel port usually is!)
  I've not found avr-gcc to be universally well optimized though
compared to Bascom/AVR or Codevision/AVR.  I was astonished to see
what was generated for what should have been a simple ISR routine,
so there is some "cost" for the free nature of gcc-avr there.  The
printf library is also very "fat" compared to those other dedicated
IDE/compiler combos.
  Since avr-gcc is just another port of gcc to another hardware
platform, there is no real hardware support for the peripherals in
the AVR chips.  I've heard of others that have abstracted the hardware
out in "third party" libs, but I haven't seen them, so I can't comment.
For many of us, this isn't much of a handicap since we like to
twiddle bits to set things up ourselves anyway, but having library
support for other I2C, SPI, etc. chips is quite handy.  Perhaps a
Google for such code will provide the needed help, not tried that yet.
  All things considered though, warts and all, avr-gcc is a good bet
for AVR programming.  ESPECIALLY if you want to play somewhere other
than the Windoze environment.  It is full ANSI C so far as I can tell
and will allow the use of lots of cool code that is out there with
minimal porting effort.

IMO,YMMV,
DLC

>
> Great questions!  GCC is nice and free, but does it come at a cost?
> Are there worthwhile "value-added" features for the more costly
> compilers?
>
> The command line interface is slightly annoying but not impossible,
> even when I still have not completely solved my problem with runing
> the make program.  I worked around it and I am compiling just fine.  I
> soon will have the actual hardware. to try out.  Mavric-IIb and ICE-
> cube.
>
> I can manage with GCC since my needs are not complex.  But I still
> would like to know if the other $$$ compliers have features worth the
> cost.   I will be watching the anwsers to your queston!
>
> -Tony
>
> --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, Russell Shaw <rjshaw@n...> wrote:
>> > Which would/did you pick and why?  What, in your mind, are the
> advantages > > I know WinAVR is free but the cost of ImageCraft ($199)
> and CodeVision ($150)
>> > seem reasonable if justified in support, features, etc.
>> >
>> > BTW: I'm programming in a Windows XP environment and have
> AVRSTudio and an
>> > STK500 and JTAG ICE-Cube.  I want to be able to use the full AVR
> line from TINY
>> > to MEGA.  I'll do 90% in C but may need bits of code in assembler
> some day.