Eclipse for SDCC

Although I use MIDE-51 as a major IDE, I still seek for the best (free) IDE for developing

 Microcontroller Programming. The combination of Eclipse, CDT and SDCC is an alternation tools for 8051 Microcontroller C Programming.

Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. Eclipse is used for Enterprise Development, Embedded and Device Development, Rich Client Platform, Application Frameworks and Language IDE.

The CDT is Eclipse's C/C++ Development Tooling project. It is an industrial strength C/C++ IDE that also serves as a platform for others to provide value added tooling for C/C++ developers.

The eclipseSDCC project aims to provide full support for the open source Small Device C Compiler (SDCC) from within the eclipse/CDT development environment. This allows embedded 'C' applications for 8051 and Z80 devices to be developed using the fully featured eclipse IDE. EclipseSDCC supports CDT managed make projects. In managed make projects CDT manages the build process by creating and maintaining the underlaying makefiles. CDT keeps track of source dependencies and can automatically rebuild the target when needed.

To install (for Windows)

1. It requires Java Runtime Environment (JRE), I download only JRE not SDK and install it.
2. Downlaod Eclipse SDK 3.2.1 for Windows (120 MB) and extract it to c:/eclipse. In the directory it contains eclipse.exe which is an executable.
3. Download CDT 3.1.1 (September 29, 2006) and extract it c:/eclipse, this will prompt to replace plugins and features directory.
4. If you have already installed SDCC for Window, skip this step. If you have no SDCC installed, read this first.
5. Download eclipseSDCC-1.0.0, when you extract the file, it contains plugins and features directory. Copy the two direct to c:\eclipse.

Now the installation have been completed and you can find its manual in c:/eclipse/plugins/net.sourceforge.eclipsesdcc_1.0.0/help/index.html.

Eclipse for SDCC is quite large when compared it MIDE-51. However, you can manage project in Eclipse whereas MIDE-51 still have no this feature in the present version. Here is a screen shot, you should see this dialog.

Related Links

• Installing Eclipse (pdf)
• http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2006/cmsc132/EclipseTutorial/install.html

Philips P89V51RD2 Microcontroller

I am using Philips P89V51RD2 as 8051 Microcontroller Unit (MCU). And I have been developing my code with Opensouce C Compiler SDCC. Please visit my Tools pagefor software preparation guides.

The P89V51RD2 is a 80C51 microcontroller with 64 kB Flash and 1024 bytes of data RAM. A key feature of the P89V51RD2 is its X2 mode option. The design engineer can choose to run the application with the conventional 80C51 clock rate (12 clocks per machine cycle) or select the X2 mode (6 clocks per machine cycle) to achieve twice the throughput at the same clock frequency. Another way to benefit from this feature is to keep the same performance by reducing the clock frequency by half, thus dramatically reducing the EMI.

The Flash program memory supports both parallel programming and in serial In-System Programming (ISP). Parallel programming mode offers gang-programming at high speed, reducing programming costs and time to market. ISP allows a device to be reprogrammed in the end product under software control. The capability to field/update the application firmware makes a wide range of applications possible.

The P89V51RD2 is also In-Application Programmable (IAP), allowing the Flash program memory to be reconfigured even while the application is running.

Features

• 80C51 Central Processing Unit
• 5 V Operating voltage from 0 MHz to 40 MHz
• 64 kB of on-chip Flash user code memory with ISP (In-System Programming) and IAP (In-Application Programming)
• Supports 12-clock (default) or 6-clock mode selection via software or ISP
• SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) and enhanced UART
• PCA (Programmable Counter Array) with PWM and Capture/Compare functions
• Four 8-bit I/O ports with three high-current Port 1 pins (16 mA each)
• Three 16-bit timers/counters
• Programmable watchdog timer
• Eight interrupt sources with four priority levels
• Second DPTR register
• Low EMI mode (ALE inhibit)
• TTL- and CMOS-compatible logic levels
• Brown-out detection
• Low power modes
  o Power-down mode with external interrupt wake-up
  o Idle mode
• DIP40 packages

Related LinksProduct Page: http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/
Data Sheet: P89V51RB2_RC2_RD2-03.pdf
Boot Loader: p89v_lv51rd2_bl_upd_v5.zip
FlashMagic ISP Software: http://www.esacademy.com/