WTD: Another IDE for Teensyduino

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For MS Windows, I've found this free IDE to be the best (uses MS Visual Studio 2015 and earlier, all now free).
http://www.visualmicro.com/
Microsoft's great IDE but uses GCC for ARM targets.

The debugger is not free, but the IDE per se is free.
It has long supported Teensy 3.
See also the user forum for it.

There is an Eclipse for Arduino/Teensy but I find it to be a struggle, and for Windows users, not worth it.

There are other IDEs but they aren't Teensy-friendly and/or don't support the "unique" build procedure that Arduino uses for C/C++ code.
 
I admire stevech's experience and his contributions are always worth considering, however, I find Arduino Eclipse (http://eclipse.baeyens.it/) worth trying - as long as you don't have any spaces in your path names under Windows (maybe, that this is what he's referring to).

So, here's the check list:


  • If your user name has spaces in it, things get more complicated - won't treat that case here.
  • Install your Arduino/Teensyduino in "C:\Arduino" (instead of the standard "C:\Program Files\Arduino" first.
  • Then, the easiest way to install the IDE is to download the whole product bundle (http://eclipse.baeyens.it/stable-win.html) and also install it in a directory that doesn't have spaces anywhere in its path name

Try if it works for you. We might get debugging working with the new Teensy 3.2 (see here: https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/26358-Software-Debugger-Stack?highlight=C_DEBUGEN), it's a work in progress. I'll keep you updated.
 
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@jbliesener pulled down the baeyens (2.2.0) package on Windows - installed JRE (32bit) - the eclipse package and finally got my bearings enough to touch something and was warned "considerations about Arduino IDE compatibility ... Advised version is 1.6.5" which gave a link and all refs are to IDE 1.5.x ???

I chose ignore because the flow chart was either IDE 1.0 or 1.5?

Never used eclipse - lots of menus with no commonality to my ingrained 30 years of using Windows. initial help screen (may be for the unpackaged Eclipse and maybe Eclipse plugin already configured?) - the first line says 'configure plugin' and no menu item says to do that . . . I found one to point to Arduino path 1.6.5 with TeensyDuino installed - maybe it doesn't like PJRC JAR file changes? Then I found help and installation details and and Plugins and there is the word configure - this is where I did the above.

Not sure what steps are needed to start a build and run to Arduino and upload? Am I missing something obvious or a tutorial somewhere?

I have done UPDATE thrice and pulled in new files twice.

I'd probably be more at home using MSVStudio ("and their great IDE" [stevech]) and the VisualMicro - but this made it sound easy with a one package install.
 
@defragster The latest quick series of changes in Arduino required had considerable impact on both Teensyduino and the ArduinoEclipse plugin, so the 2.2.0 branch won't run with Arduino 1.6.5.

You should install one of the nightly builds (see http://eclipse.baeyens.it/nightly-win.html). You also can try to install an update from the nightly update site (Eclipse Help/Install new Software, then type http://eclipse.baeyens.it/nightly in the "Work with" box). After that, the configuration screen still gives a message about Arduino 1.6.5, but - at least here - it works.

Oh, and there's another configuration you might have to do. Eclipse doesn't recognize .ino and .pde files as C/C++ source files. You'll have to configure this in Windows/Preferences/C/C++/File Types.

On Windows, there can be another issue with the missing "make" program, see the "Make" screen on http://eclipse.baeyens.it/getting-started.shtml.

If you want, we can set up a session on Skype or Teamviewer and I'll walk you through the setup.

Now for the good news. After the Teensy 3.2 came out, I was able to spend some more time on the software debugger stack (https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/26358-Software-Debugger-Stack). While it still needs some work, I'm happy to say that last weekend I was able to use Eclipse to single step myself through the first program running on the Teensy. So, breakpoints already work. I'll check memory and hardware register access this weekend and let you know.
 
@jbliesener - thanks I'll try again with a nightly later - already downloaded & extracted. I followed the p#3 link above and went from there. Only saw 2.2 in the plugins listing trying to follow the cryptic note on the 'welcome install' screen.

I saw the note about adding INO - that is when I got into the plugins and got the warning at some point. It listed INO as a file I opened - I thought maybe it was preadded in the baeyens package. I'll look to fix the make as well before I expect it to work as look for more help.

Note: your link #2 in p#5 gives '403 forbidden' - must be truncated? : http://eclipse.baeyens.it/nightly

For some reason that machine has started to auto scroll down when mouse hits many scroll areas - not the mouse - maybe the keyboard. ODD behavior - Win 10 start menu and a few other things just scroll down when the mouse touches - like the Plug in's list - very painful. I found a too narrow window scrolls right and stops on the edge - then doesn't go down - but that is just a partial workaround - TeensyDuino install ran to the bottom trying to change the drive & dir - but web pages don't - very very odd.

Cool news on the debug - I assumed that was queued on PJRC work - not already usable in any way!

I see there are tutorials - that might help me navigate Eclipse - I found http://www.tutorialspoint.com/eclipse/. Not Arduino use specific - but may get me familiar with how the IDE runs.
 
@defragster You won't download directly from that link. It's a base address of the update site that you specify in Eclipse's "Install new software" dialog and Eclipse will do the rest.

FYI, my Eclipse here runs with ArduinoEclipse plugin version 2.4.0.201508090212.

No idea about the scroll thing. Doesn't happen here.

Debugging depended on Paul releasing C_DEBUGEN in the bootloader, which he did with the new KL02 chip.

In a hurry, please get in touch if you have any question.
 
Curious isn't it how the more powerful IDE's basically require a degree in CS to set up and feature a much steeper learning curve than they should. This is where Arduino IDE really shines, despite its many, well-documented flaws.

I'm still flummoxed that 30 years after visual GUIs became the norm that most programming user interfaces still show their deep CLI roots. For example, can Xcode allow you to include library files by selecting them in their directory? Of course not. Nuts.

Never mind getting a debugger going or trying to use breakpoints. This is what I would consider to be Pauls biggest challenge re making the 3++ debugger accessible, i.e. How to deal with the software front end to make the thing accessible to the novice / semi-advanced user base that loves his product.
 
Just let me post the installation instructions to the Arduino Eclipse IDE again. there is a little section at the end that explains the difference between the windows and Mac installations.

http://trippylighting.com/teensy-ar...-3-teensyduino-1-22-mac-windows-installation/

Always use the latest nightly build of the Arduino Eclipse O
IDE , not the Stable even though that seems counterintuitive:
http://eclipse.baeyens.it

It's been reported on the forum just this week that it works fine with the latest versions of Teensyduino and Arduino.
 
Cheeky question : why would a serious s/w developer work under Windows?
Cheeky too...
For me, working professionally developing ARM firmware for many years, it's because the best IDEs and compilers are there and I need not spend much time building/configuring tools as my customers want me focused on the solution, not the tools. And the makers of the best IDEs and compilers focus on Windows due to demand.
But, that's just a personal opinion, based on long experience. And coming from one who made a living for 10+ years using Unix System V and SunOS and doing device drivers, etc.

;)
 
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Cheeky question : why would a serious s/w developer work under Windows?

That isn't a Cheeky Question - it's a naked slam or supreme sarcasm :) Every time I touch an apple thing I cringe - just inherently different.

Curious isn't it how the more powerful IDE's basically require a degree in CS to set up and feature a much steeper learning curve than they should.

Arduino is amazingly clear and single minded in its purpose and presentation with just a short intro - even if the shortcut keys are all wrong. Eclipse was amazingly opaque at first glance - being such a generic presentation wrapper for so many things - though all the addons and changes to Visual Studio these days have probably make it similar - docs for VisualMicro left me wondering too - of course I tried it when 1.6 just broke it. All the AutoComplete helpers are annoying in word or Notepad++ - every time you paste or type you have to make an extra action to tell it to leave you alone with what you did and stop helping. Notepad++ is a handy text editor but has a pile of addons that need their own WWW.GettingStarted to find and understand when you need them.
 
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