Re: [avr-gcc-list] New Issues: AVRStudio and debugging with .COFFiles

[David Brown]

> Bryan Jarmain <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > Are there any recommended ELF debuggers that will work with an AVR
> > JTAG-ICE - preferably with a front-end? I am still using
> > Windoze. Or will I need to upgrade to Linix? ;-)
>
> Upgrading to a Unix might be the easiest option. :-)
>
> I have no idea about GDB frontends.  I've been using GDB for more than
> a decade now, so i'm simply used to the command-line frontend of it.
> Together with Emacs, it's a nice IDE for me.  Many commands can be
> abbreviated to a single letter, just hitting <Enter> repeats the
> previous command, so it's easy for example to single-step through a
> source.
>
> People seem to praise DDD as a nice frontend, but i've heard that it
> hasn't been ported well to Windows.  Insight is said to work there.
>
> You need avarice as the glue between the GDB and the JTAG box.
>

There has been a solid windows port of xemacs available for many years - I
have not tried it myself, but I suppose it can be used as a gdb front-end
just like on *nix.

I got DDD running on windows - with the latest cygwin environment, including
their X server, it's the same build procedure as under *nix.  It's slower to
build and slower to run than under linux on a similar machine, and you have
to do the building manually (most linux distros have ddd included or easily
available).  However, I did not get it to work properly with an embedded
system (I can't actually remember which target I tried - I think it was a
68332).  It not not seem to be happy with the slow connection.  Maybe I
could get things working better if I tried harder.

Anyway, I prefer gvd as a front-end for gdb.  Native ports are downloadable
(from "google gvd") for Windows or *nix, and it works happily with any gdb
back-end.  I use it for debugging msp430, avr and 68332 cards (at least, on
the occasions where I want a gui rather than the command-line gdb, which I
find faster and more convenient for a lot of debugging tasks than any gui
debugger I have tried).