using eclipse
 

guten tag:
I just completed my first season as team coder and have concluded that mplab is the fruit of the devil. In Atlanta I went to the Advanced C conference (y'all did an awsome job with that by the way) and noticed when they brought up some code they used eclipse, way cool. So, i was wondering how to do that - i've been tinkering round a bit but my lack of knowledge is leading me in circles. All i know is that i need an editor a linker an assembler etc... but i dont know how much of that is taken care of by eclipse and how much i need from the stuff first gave us .. . . .. so if somebody could help explain what all i need, and what exactly it does i'd be much abliged. thanks
~ Xavier

Re: using eclipse
 

I haven't tried it, but being able to use Eclipse woulb be cool. I agree with you about MPLAB.

I'm thinking you need to set up CDT special, or there is a custom PIC plugin. I'm also betting as a post-link step, you run the ifi-picloader (the Linux version of IFILoader) to load it.

If someone whose actually done this could post, I'd love to hear about it, too!

Re: using eclipse
 

k -- well -- i found this
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=35571

but i cant seem to get it to work for me --
in addition -- i'm not exactly sure what some of this stuff does
so -- if somebody could give me a rather detailed description of what each step does and exactly which files need to be installed (like that whole mcc thing .. how to integrate that?) i would much appreciate it so that i c'n know enough to debug my problems -- or -- if there's another way entirely -- i'd be very open to that too

thank you much
~Xavier

and oh yea -- i forgot eclipse is cross-platform -=- i've been waiting ages to use linux on our robot -- if for nothing else -- just to say -- i'm using linux :D

Re: using eclipse
 

Biggest understatement of all time....

Eclipse is nice, but I prefer Dev C++ myself.... any hope of ever using that with FRC?

Re: using eclipse
 

Bah! IDEs are for the weak. Makefiles 4Life!!!

Re: using eclipse
 

The Eclipse CDT thing lets you use makefiles...in fact, I think if you're using something other than the GNU tools, you have to use a makefile.

Re: using eclipse
 

You can specify a tool to run. Just has to accept arguments similar to GNU make. Jam, for example, can be used.

I noticed that the makefile posted in the other thread doesn't handle asm files. How can one remedy this?

Re: using eclipse
 

I think requiring any particular environment is quite poor.

Luckily people have done some great work to create tools to allow us to use our own chosen systems.

Personally, I use kate (the KDE Advanced Text Editor) and a Makefile expanded from the one I found here:
http://adambots-live.sf.net/

Providing great (standardized, open, free, interchangeable) tools instead of mediocre "environments" is much appreciated.

Re: using eclipse
 

k -- well - i have it all figured out for those that are as in the dark as i was...
needed files:
eclipse : http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/index.php
C tool : http://update.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/...-win32.x86.zip
-and-
http://update.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/...-win32.x86.zip
compiler: mcc18 (provided from first)
make tool: mingw32 http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/MinG...3.exe?download


'n' once its all installed, make sure they're all set under ur PATH variable and when you create a new project, make sure u set the make command to use mingw32-make

i use mingw 'cause its got g++ built in, so i c'n use it to make non-first related programs aswell

and you will need something similar to that makefile example on the thread above

~Xavier

Re: using eclipse
 

It's much easier to use Eclipse's internal update mechanism than it is to try to download a file outside of eclipse and installing it.

Trust me. It's just not worth it.

Re: using eclipse
 

With a fair bit of tinkering, it should be possible to use DevC++. If I recall, it uses mingw, so it should be able set the compiler to mcc18 in project options or the like.
Making the makefiles yourself is easy once you know how -_-

Re: using eclipse
 

I'm actually working on this since a lot of people have complained about this. It seems most people don't actually know how makefiles and make utilities work, so it seems to me that using the managed make feature in Eclipse's CDT would work best. I'm writing a plugin for eclipse to do this. At this point I have added support for the C18 compiler. However, I'm still workig on the linker.

Re: using eclipse
 

Cool deal! Although I do know how makefiles work and how to make them, it would be even better to have that automated. :)

Re: using eclipse
 

I've finally finished my work on the eclipse plugin that allows you to use the manged build feature for eclipse. All it actually is, is an xml file that you stick in the plugins directory of your eclipse installation. Here are the instructions:

1. First download the basic eclipse installation. (At this point I am using Eclipse SDK 3.02) You can get it here.Eclipse Foundation website Just unzip the file to wherever you want it to go.

2. Next install mingw (if you're on windows) If linux install, some sort of gcc collection that includes GNU make. If you're on a Mac, sorry I don't know what to do. Anyway, you can MinGW from this site. Click on File List and then click on the current release of MinGW. (As of the time I'm writing this the current release is MinGW-3.1.0-1.exe) Make sure that your path has C:\minGW\bin by rightclicking on My Computer, properties, advanced, envrionment variables, system variables, path.

3. Start up eclipse, you'll probably get a welcome screen and everything. Go to the Help menu select Software Updates and then Find and Install, Select Search for new features to install and click Next. Click New Remote Site to add an update site with the URL:

http://download.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/releases/new

Download the latest version of the CDT SDK (not runtime) (I'm currently using 2.1.1) By the way CDT doesn't work with Windows ME or Windows 98.

4. Finally, download plugin.zip and unzip the folder within to the plugins directory of your eclipse installation. Restart eclipse.


To make a project. Click on file new project managed make C project. Uncheck the use default button and browse to the folder containing the code you're working on.
Give your project a name (it doesn't have to be the same as the folder containing your code, then click next.
On the following screen choose Microchip Embedded Systems from the dropdown menu. (i know its an odd name. the reason i chose was in case i felt like adding support for other microchip processors later) Make sure that both FRC Debug and FRC Release are checked.
Click on finish (not next).
Delete everything other than the two lib files the source and header files, and the linker file (extension .lkr).
Next, go to project, properties (if its grayed out, make sure you've got your project selected) and click on C/C++ Build on the left side.
Choose miscellaneous from the MPLINK linker settings and add your linker file by clicking on the little yellow plus signs next to where it says "Linker File". Unfortuanately you have type the path in yourself. There's no browse feature. Do the same for the library below. Choose either FRC_library.lib or FRC_altimeters.lib. For both of these options make sure that only one library/linker file is selected, or else bad stuff happens. Now click on build all from the project menu and you're ready. Errors during compilation should show up in the problems menu at the bottom of your screen. Errors during linking will be the last thing in the console after a build. The equivalent of make is build all in eclipse. The equivalent of build all is clean. I know its weird but that's how it works. In addition if you would like to build the project each time you save changes check build automatically from the project menu.

Re: using eclipse
 

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW!!!!!

k - - nuff of the randomness -- using a managed make saves me a bunch of heartache -- thanks

but question -- if anybody knows exactly what utils one needs to program the robot in linux (like linux versions of , ifiLoader and C18) that'd be great. I found this one site that was hosted by sourceforge -- but i couldn't find out how to download it...thanks

~Xavier