AVR-Chat

Graham,

> --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Graham Davies" <YahooGroups@e...> 
> wrote:
> 
> > ... I will try GCC for now.
> 
> The subject of the thread does drift, doesn't it, but every post was 
> a good one. Thanks for the continued help.
> 
> I will sign up for the GCC for AVR list. I am familiar with 
> UNIX- style development environments and have used Makefiles 
> so I don't 
> anticipate problems I can't overcome with a little effort. On the 
> other hand, I'm using Windows now, so it's WinAVR I will go for.
> 
> I understand the point about unifying the stacks.  I've been using 
> the ZiLOG Z8 Encore!, which is also a modified Harvard architecture, 
> and the ZiLOG compiler also produces a lot of stuff on function entry 
> and exit.  But, the stack frame setup and teardown are intrinsic 
> subroutines so there isn't so much in-line code.  It is still very 
> slow, of course.

I have an Ecore! development system and the Zilog compiler *has*
improved since the early days.  But it's still not as good as it could
be.  Having said that, it's very decent for the price.  IAR have lost
interest in Zilog, I think, and are not providing Encore! compilers.

--
Paul Curtis, Rowley Associates Ltd http://www.rowley.co.uk
CrossWorks for MSP430, ARM, and (soon) Atmel AVR processors

--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Curtis" <plc@r...> wrote:

> I have an Ecore! development system
> and the Zilog compiler *has*
> improved since the early days.
> But it's still not as good as
> it could be.

True, but it's not as good as it needs to be either for serious work. 
I have reported many defects to ZiLOG and release after release goes 
by without fixes. I have sunk a lot of effort into that MCU - an 
RTOS, Flash Loader and Prototyping System - and I'm at the point of 
trashing it all. I sure hope the AVR and Atmel are a hell of a lot 
better. Trouble is, that stuff already exists for the AVR.

> ... it's very decent for the price.

True. It is nominally free (comes with the ZiLOG evaluation board), 
so it's hard to say it's not worth the price of nothing.

> IAR have lost interest in Zilog,
> I think, and are not providing
> Encore! compilers.

I tried to persuade the Director of third party tools at ZiLOG that 
he needed to consider bringing an outside source of a compiler on 
line but he was satisfied with their internal development.  ZiLOG 
want to do it all themselves. He is no longer at the company.

Graham.

I seem to recall that in the "early days" (late 70's), nobody used Zilog tools.
It was all third-party assemblers, and compilers. 
There must have been a reason for that. Probably the same as today.

Very apropos Atmel  - chip-makers should stick to making chips !

/Jesper

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Graham Davies" <YahooGroups@ecrostech.com>
To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 10:06 PM
Subject: [AVR-Chat] OT - ZiLOG Z8 Encore! (was ... AVR Studio not a complete ...)


> --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Curtis" <plc@r...> wrote:
> 
> > I have an Ecore! development system
> > and the Zilog compiler *has*
> > improved since the early days.
> > But it's still not as good as
> > it could be.
> 
> True, but it's not as good as it needs to be either for serious work. 
> I have reported many defects to ZiLOG and release after release goes 
> by without fixes. I have sunk a lot of effort into that MCU - an 
> RTOS, Flash Loader and Prototyping System - and I'm at the point of 
> trashing it all. I sure hope the AVR and Atmel are a hell of a lot 
> better. Trouble is, that stuff already exists for the AVR.
> 
> > ... it's very decent for the price.
> 
> True. It is nominally free (comes with the ZiLOG evaluation board), 
> so it's hard to say it's not worth the price of nothing.
> 
> > IAR have lost interest in Zilog,
> > I think, and are not providing
> > Encore! compilers.
> 
> I tried to persuade the Director of third party tools at ZiLOG that 
> he needed to consider bringing an outside source of a compiler on 
> line but he was satisfied with their internal development.  ZiLOG 
> want to do it all themselves. He is no longer at the company.
> 
> Graham.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
>  
>

I also worked on Z-80's in the old days. Used CP/M, Digital Research
compilers, then MS-DOS Assembler, etc. Burned EPROMS for firmware with hand
built hardware.  For my money Atmel and CodeVision make a good combo. It is
such a pleasure to fire up a new prototype board and have the display LCD
work and chip selects to other parts work without having to burn PAL chips,
edit DataI/O files and scope out the reasons why chip selects are not what
you want. ISP6PIN is so easy to download and test.

My recent failing of JTAGICE to work has not kept me from writing and
testing code. I used my ANT-16 USB logic analyzer last week to verify my spi
clocks and chip selects to several I/O parts. All in all its so much easier.
AVRs are so easy to use.

Al Welch

-----Original Message-----
From: Jesper Hansen [mailto:jesperh@telia.com]
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 2:52 PM
To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] OT - ZiLOG Z8 Encore! (was ... AVR Studio not a
complete ...)


I seem to recall that in the "early days" (late 70's), nobody used Zilog
tools.
It was all third-party assemblers, and compilers.
There must have been a reason for that. Probably the same as today.

Very apropos Atmel  - chip-makers should stick to making chips !

/Jesper

----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham Davies" <YahooGroups@ecrostech.com>
To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 10:06 PM
Subject: [AVR-Chat] OT - ZiLOG Z8 Encore! (was ... AVR Studio not a complete
...)


> --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Curtis" <plc@r...> wrote:
>
> > I have an Ecore! development system
> > and the Zilog compiler *has*
> > improved since the early days.
> > But it's still not as good as
> > it could be.
>
> True, but it's not as good as it needs to be either for serious work.
> I have reported many defects to ZiLOG and release after release goes
> by without fixes. I have sunk a lot of effort into that MCU - an
> RTOS, Flash Loader and Prototyping System - and I'm at the point of
> trashing it all. I sure hope the AVR and Atmel are a hell of a lot
> better. Trouble is, that stuff already exists for the AVR.
>
> > ... it's very decent for the price.
>
> True. It is nominally free (comes with the ZiLOG evaluation board),
> so it's hard to say it's not worth the price of nothing.
>
> > IAR have lost interest in Zilog,
> > I think, and are not providing
> > Encore! compilers.
>
> I tried to persuade the Director of third party tools at ZiLOG that
> he needed to consider bringing an outside source of a compiler on
> line but he was satisfied with their internal development.  ZiLOG
> want to do it all themselves. He is no longer at the company.
>
> Graham.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>





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