PropGCC-SimpleIDE

[jazzed]

Hi,

I've spent my own time* developing a Simple IDE for Propeller-GCC.

The Simple IDE Features:

1. C/C++ syntax highlighting
2. Tabbed editors for multiple open files
3. Menu and function key command controls
4. Toolbar buttons for click controls
5. Search function, copy, cut, and paste
6. Project panel file list for click to open files
7. Add/Delete files on the project panel
8. Saves project files and options in *.side files
9. Automated Propeller-GCC builds (no makefiles)
10. Click-error report to highlight error file and line
11. Board type select drop-down list and reload
12. Simple port select and integrated serial terminal

Please join me in using this IDE for testing Propeller-GCC (and testing the IDE).
PropGCC-SimpleIDE will be available at: http://code.google.com/p/propgcc/downloads/list

The package is about 72MB which is neat considering it has both the IDE and Propeller-GCC in it.
Unzip the package and read the SimpleIDE_UserGuide.txt

Please reply here with any questions at all so that I can help you get the most out of this IDE.

I've tested all features to my satisfaction and have noted some challenges and future enhancements in the
SimpleIDE_UserGuide.txt . Currently the Help-About points to an under construction page - it will be enhanced.

More screen shots are attached below.





Note* By my own time, I mean that it is not an officially sanctioned, sponsored, funded, or even Parallax tested effort.
This is my work that I hope will make your Propeller GCC programming experience better.

[TrapperBob]

Jazzed,

Thanks for the effort. It is appreciated.

TrapperBob

[Kye]

Sweet! Thanks man!

What did you make that in?

[4x5n]

Looks good. Any chance of getting a version that works with linux?

[sevs]

+1 for linux if it isnt too hard

Fantastic work jazzed!

Thanks heaps mate.

[sevs]

Does anyone else get 'propeller-elf-gcc.exe Unknown Error: 1' when they try to debug hello.c?

I am using a PPDB with winXP in a vitualbox machine. BST can program the prop, and PropGCC-SimpleIDE can see the new com port then i plug in the PPDB.

In the output part it just show this:

Project Directory: C:/Documents and Settings/god/My Documents/PropGCC-SimpleIDE/hello/

propeller-elf-gcc.exe -o a.out -Os -mcog -m32bit-doubles -fno-exceptions hello.c -s

I havnt changed any settings aside from the com port to use. I just followed the steps in the user guide.

Sorry if it is a noob Q

[jazzed]

Hi sevs,

Please don't sweat questions or any other feedback.

I saw that problem. Adding C:\propgcc\bin to PATH from the installer fixed it for me.
Windows7 64bit and Windows XP SP3 are all I have for testing. I don't have Win in VirtualBox.
Can you open a command window, type echo %PATH%, and copy the output here?

Would you be willing to try some test programs? The download would be about 3.4 MB.

--

Linux and Mac versions are possible. The foundation of the IDE is Qt C/C++.
I want to post the source to Google Code then port it - shouldn't be too hard.
Linux runs in VirtualBox on my PC, so I'll port that first. I don't have a Mac.

[sevs]

jazzed, I am more than happy to help out with test programs. The next few days for me a fairly free, so send em at me.

WHen you say a command window, I assume command prompt? The output was

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;;C:\propgcc\bin

I will try reinstalling and see if that helps with the additon to path.

[jazzed]

sevs or anyone who gets the unknown error.

Can you please download and unpack PropGCC-SideIDE.exe to the Program Files\PropGCC-SideIDE\bin directory and try it?
You will need administrative permission for this. Don't uninstall your original package.

Don't bother to reinstall the whole package, it won't help. Your PATH looks just fine.

[sevs]

That fixed the problem. It builds, loads and brings up the terminal.

I didnt get anything on the terminal, but that may well be my setup.

[sevs]

I selected burn instead and now it is working.

[jazzed]

That fixed the problem. It builds, loads and brings up the terminal.

I didnt get anything on the terminal, but that may well be my setup.

Great! Keep me up to date with your progress. I'll upload a new package fix on the GoogleCode page.

[jazzed]

Hi All.

@sevs has been working with me trying to understand his issue.
Thanks for his patience. And thanks for your's too.

What we found was that some library files are missing from the distribution.
I think I still have more work to do on this, so you might want to hold off on downloading.
I'm afraid more library files could be missing, and I'm too tired to chase it all down just now.

Still, I'm leaving a new package for the adventurous on this page.

Thanks,
--Steve

[sevs]

A huge thanks to jazzed for spending a considerable amount of time helping me today.

jazzed: 0.3.2 seems to have solved most of the issues i was having. Debug/run still do not work as expected though, possibly the prop is resetting after it has been programmed causing it to loose its program? When i burn it works as expected, however it does seem to take maybe 3 seconds for the prop to start output any data over the serial. Again maybe the prop is resetting, but able to load from eeprom.

In any case, the Hello World example works a treat when using Burn. So anyone keen to give it a whirl, get on it

Thanks again Steve.

[mindrobots]

Steve,

In the spirit of a Guinea Pig, I grabbed the latest, unzipped and installed it. Plugged in my Quickstart and fired up Side. It ran Hello.c loading to RAM, EEPROM and the Debug version (I really like the quick little debug terminal!)

Only saw 2 strange things:

1) LPT1 is one of my serial port options (obviously preparing for the long awaited USB/Parallel Propeller module)
2) the first output to the debug terminal contains some garbage characters before first "Hello World" - maybe an stdio initialization issue in propgcc? maybe a debug terminal issue.

Win7 Pro
propgcc that came with SIDE
Propeller Quickstart board

Other than that, it works great. I'll be experimenting more with it today as my day job permits. I just have my Quickstart with me today, so testing could be limited.

It's like "Goldilocks and the 3 IDEs"
Eclipse is TOO BIG!
Notepad++ is too small.
SIDE could be JUST RIGHT!!

Thank you for your "out of bandwidth" contributions!!

[jazzed]

In the spirit of a Guinea Pig, I grabbed the latest, unzipped and installed it. Plugged in my Quickstart and fired up Side. It ran Hello.c loading to RAM, EEPROM and the Debug version (I really like the quick little debug terminal!)

Great! Thanks for that.
What is in your PATH? I.E. In DOS command window type: echo %PATH%

1) LPT1 is one of my serial port options (obviously preparing for the long awaited USB/Parallel Propeller module)
2) the first output to the debug terminal contains some garbage characters before first "Hello World" - maybe an stdio initialization issue in propgcc? maybe a debug terminal issue.

1) LPT1? Ok, I see how that can happen. Will fix.

2) This is really a QuickStart problem; it causes all kinds of havoc. The same problem can happen in Spin.
Put a 10K resistor between P30 (TX) and VDD. The garbage will stop.

jazzed: 0.3.2 seems to have solved most of the issues i was having. Debug/run still do not work as expected though, possibly the prop is resetting after it has been programmed causing it to loose its program? When i burn it works as expected, however it does seem to take maybe 3 seconds for the prop to start output any data over the serial. Again maybe the prop is resetting, but able to load from eeprom.

Ok, this is good news because 0.3.2 has a change where I needed data. I'm at a loss as to why debug (F8) and run (F10) don't work for you - I still have some configuration things to look at though. I take it that you have no wires connected on your PPDB.

The Propeller EEPROM boot is always slow, so 3 seconds is reasonable.

[mindrobots]

My path:

C:\Users\rp1537>echo %PATH%
C:\Program Files\ActiveState Komodo Edit 6\;C:\Python27
Perl\site\bin;C:\Perl\bin;C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\bin;
ndows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\Wind
ogram Files\Enterprise Vault\EVClient\;C:\Program Files
ntegration\Carefx\Fusionfx;C:\Program Files\Encentuate\
ft Research KinectSDK\;C:\Users\rp1537\AppData\Roaming\
 Files\ATT Connect\OutlookAddin\Outlook;C:\propgcc\bin

I had added the C:\propgcc\bin previously to use propgcc, if that's where you were headed. I do have a netbook with Win7 that hasn't had propgcc on it. I can install your IDE on there in a bit to see if everything goes well and it sets everything up properly on a clean system.

[jazzed]

I had added the C:\propgcc\bin previously to use propgcc, if that's where you were headed. I do have a netbook with Win7 that hasn't had propgcc on it. I can install your IDE on there in a bit to see if everything goes well and it sets everything up properly on a clean system.

Actually I was looking for mingw on your path. Guess I could have just said that.
If you could do a virgin install test, that would be helpful. Thanks.

[Ken Gracey]

Great job, Steve. We're looking at this front-end as a possibility for moving our PropGCC beta forward while we evolve Eclipse. I ran this code on a PropBOE:

#include "propeller.h"

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    int mask = 0x3fffffff;
    int freq = CLKFREQ>>1;
    DIRA = mask;
    for(;;) {
        OUTA ^= DIRA;
        waitcnt(freq/2+CNT);
    }    
}

and did some simple tests:

- ran it in a COG
- ran in LMM
- tried to run in XMM, but no driver was used (OK)
- tested different optimizations, no failure
- didn't try the option check-boxes for Math Lib, pthread, etc.

Have a few questions/comments:

(a) How is the .side panel updated with the current program? [nevermind, found the button]
(b) Really impressed how it encompassed the PropGCC compiler in the installation. Made the setup simple.
(c) GCC-produced error files make sense. Nice to have access to them.
(d) After download is complete, be sure to empty the progress bar with the % indicator (reads 100% when finished)
(e) The terminal pane opens when my code is downloaded. Why?

Ken Gracey

[jazzed]

Have a few questions/comments:

(a) How is the .side panel updated with the current program? [nevermind, found the button]
....
(d) After download is complete, be sure to empty the progress bar with the % indicator (reads 100% when finished)
(e) The terminal pane opens when my code is downloaded. Why?

Thanks for trying this Ken. Hoping this passes the "easy button" test.

I'm curious. How did you choose the c:\program files\... directory for your project? Was that the first folder it showed?
There are several nice programs in the demo directory including Dave Hein's cool vgademo program.

Item (a) Yes. there is a set project button. It takes the name of your file and makes a project with it.
One thing to note is the .side panel reflects the project file, so if you want to open another project, look for a *.side file in the project directory.

Item (d) Noted. Will do.

Item (e): User interpretation? That's probably from clicking the "blue play button" function F8.
Use the "green right arrow button" F10 just to load and run.


--Steve