John Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺

Right now I'm pretty frustrated with #Microchip .

Off and on for the last few years, I've been using its #MPLAB X IDE (integrated development environment) to develop and debug embedded software using its #microcontrollers , until recently with good results.

They pushed an update that breaks a few things.

The new version requires *a lot* of screen real estate, so I can't run it on the laptop computer I've been using. It basically needs a desktop computer with at least one giant display.

As far as I can tell, Microchip also publishes every older version of its development software for Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, and Linux platforms, but it doesn't publish what the minimum (or recommended) system requirements are for any of them.

When I contacted them asking for this, their response was almost as friendly and helpful as "screw you".

Apr 29, 2024 at 6:17pmWeb
Show threadewhacApr 29, 2024

@johnlogic I've used that particular IDE a couple of times.

IMHO, all those IDEs are good for is selecting the right include files for the SoC/microcontroller in use, and maybe composing the pinmux data. Beyond that, I immediately start looking for where the compiler(s) are located, and try to cobble my own Makefiles (or export them) so that I'm not locked in to their garbage. This becomes especially important if you want to use your preferred editor with LSP integration.