MPIDE / UECIDE with PIC32-MX220

[dsp]

Hi,

After having a lot of trouble getting pinguino-ide to run, I am interested to give MPIDE and/or UECIDE a try, before I'm getting used to legacy PinguinoIDE.

What would I need for that?
- Do I need a programmer? I hope not.
- What information do I need to give the IDE so it can talk to my board.

I have seen one awesome video showing how easy everything is. I don't find a folder with relevant files for the MX220 though. Is it possible to get support for this board in MPIDE or UECIDE?

cheers,
Dominik

[JohnS]

To use those you need to reflash the bootloader so yes need a programmer.

Very cheap ones are detailed on www.thebackshed.com if you want to save money.

Whatever you do, MX220 is a rather small memory board so keep it very simple.

John

[jwzumwalt]

PINGUINO MICRO DEVELOPMENT

FYI I bought two Olimex PIC32 Pinguino Micro boards 2 yrs ago. Every year I dust them off and hope that support for them has improved. This past week, I once again went looking around to see if there was a IDE with reasonable support. Here is what I have found. (Ben Franklin said someones opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it, and this is my opinion.)

The Olimex Pinguino Micro is a super concept... except what is advertised is not what is delivered! Olimex advertised a PIC32 Arduino compatible board - the only problem is a stable IDE with the bootloader they provide does not exist (folks use to call this VAPERWARE - a product sold with software that does not exist).

Pinguino-V11 - Rating (3 out of 10): http://pinguino.cc/ Pinguino-V11 is by far the nicest IDE concept I have seen.
BUT... It is extremely buggy I tried several versions and they all have bone crippling problems. From what I can tell, the Linux version may be OK but I tried it under Win7 64bit and it is pretty much useless. If this IDE was stable, it could be 10 stars!
+ It is the cleanest looking, feature rich IDE of all the open source I have tried.
+ There is an active blog and forum, questions are answered promptly
+ Supports line numbers and command completion.
There are too numerous bugs to mention, but here are a few.
- Lacks virtual com.
- Generic example code, not tested for specific cpu.
- If a program name is the same as an existing file or dir name, it will not compile.
- If a file is saved in a new directory and file name, the compiler still tries to edit and compile the old program.
- The name, "Pinguino IDE" is confusing to distinguish from generic software - it needs a name.
- It lacks a virtual com serial terminal.
- "Command Completion" stops working unexpectedly. You must reboot the computer to get it to work again.
- It is missing much of the command documentation
- Commands are not universal between CPU implementations, so examples do not always work.
- No significant development of the IDE or updates to the WIKI, criticism on the forum is deleted.

MPIDE - Rating (7 out of 10): http://chipkit.net/wpcproduct/mpide/
My evaluation of MPIDE is based upon using it for non-pinguino dev boards. However, previous experience with it has been good.
+ The most stable IDE for programming a PINGUINO MICRO I tried.
+ The forum/user group is very active and support is very good.
+ includes virtual serial terminal.
+ sysadmin and experts do their best to support Pinguino questions.
- No command documentation.
- Does not support line numbers or command completion.
- MPIDE  requires a custom boot loader to be installed before Pinguino programs can be used.

UECIDE - Rating (6 out of 10): http://uecide.org/ is a branch off of MPIDE and is not very intuitive to use, it lacks command documentation and does not have auto edit completion. It also has some file naming problems but is usable. I found creating new projects manually was an easy workaround to the IDE problems. It lacks a USB bridge to UART (virtual com) but does have a basic serial terminal.
+ UECIDE allows code line number reference.
+ sysadmin and experts do their best to support Pinguino questions.
+ IDE development and support is very good.
+ includes virtual serial terminal.
- There are a few bugs including problems with SD cards. 
- If a program name is the same as an existing file or dir name, it will not compile.
- If a file is saved in a new directory and file name, the compiler still tries to edit and compile the old program.
- Does not support line numbers or command completion.
- The IDE environment, icons, layout, and colors were the worst of all the IDE's.
- The JAVA engine is very slow even on my 3.5ghz quad core desktop.
If it had a cleaner layout and theme, I would have given it 7 stars. 
Bottom line is it works but no frills. [/color]

MPLAB - Rating (7 out of 10): http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/family/mplabx/ It is hard to rate this because it is stable and has every imaginable tool but is the least user friendly of all the IDE's.
+ The libraries, tools, and coding are exhaustive
- Only PIC CPU's and programmers are supported.
- The programming environment is difficult to setup without a mistake
- Programming is designed for professionals with industrial applications.
- It will take a beginner several days to learn the proper use of the IDE.
- No support for Pinguino questions.

There are many other open source or free programmers that do not have a development environment. An Internet search will reveal the latest versions and information.