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This page contains links to some of the applications (mostely freeware) that I use on my Apple iBook G4 (12"). Furthermore it contains a short guide on embedded programming on a Mac.


Usefull Applications
 Development

 Eagle

http://www.cadsoft.de Usefull if you occacionally make schematics and/or PCB's.

 Eclipse

http://www.eclipse.org Abseloutly the best Java IDE out there.

 MacCVSClient

http://www.heilancoo.net/MacCVSClient My current CVS GUI client.

 ZTerm

http://homepage.mac.com/dalverson/zterm A nice terminal (if you use USB-Serial adapters).

 Editors

 BBedit

http://www.barebones.com The best rated Mac editor... I don't use it (too clumpsy).

 TextWrangler

http://www.barebones.com A free and stripped down version of BBedit.

 TextMate

http://macromates.com My current favorite, especially if you are used to use UltraEdit or Programmers Notepad in Windows.

 Emacs

http://www.mindlube.com/products/emacs Perhaps I should just start using Emacs...
 TeXShop http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop My current TeX editor (remember to download TeXLive-teTex).

 Internet

 Firefox

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox Rediscover the web on your Mac.

 Thunderbird

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird A nice mail client from the makers of Firefox.

 Utilities

 DesktopManager

http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net Get virtual screens on your Mac. Switch using the 'Cube' transition.

 OS X Package Manager

http://www.osxgnu.org/info/pkgdelete.html Install-delete-create OS X packages. I mainly use it to uninstall application.

 Pacifist

http://www.charlessoft.com Let's you open package files (.pkg), browse them and install individual applications (if you accidental damages e.g. a system application).

 QuickSilver

http://quicksilver.blacktree.com WYSIWYG ASAP application launcher with many usefull plug-ins.
 TinkerTool http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html Tweak OS X.
 WinSwitch http://wincent.com/a/products/winswitch Make Fast User Switch more fancy.

 

 

 

Embedded programming on Mac OS X (not completely tested yet)

Installing the GNU gcc compiler, AVR-libc and AVRDUDE
The guide below should help on installing the software needed to compile and program an AVR (please check for the availability of newer version).

1) Download binutils-2.16.tar.bz2 from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/.
2) Decompress the downloaded file, compile and install it (you'll need an admin password):

./configure --target=avr
make
sudo make install

3) If you plan using AVaRICE you need to build libbfd.a from binutils, do as follows (installs into "/usr/local/powerpc-apple-darwinX.X.X/avr/lib" depending on your Mac OS X version, e.g. in 10.4 X.X.X would be 8.0.0):

cd bdf
./configure --target=avr --disable-nls --enable-install-libbfd
make
sudo make install

4) Download gcc-3.4.3.tar.bz2 from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-3.4.3/.
5) Again, decompress the downloaded file, compile and install it (you'll need an admin password):
./configure --target=avr --enable-languages=c
make CC="cc -no-cpp-precomp"
sudo make install
6) Download avr-libc-1.2.0.tar.bz2 from http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avr-libc/.
7) Again, decompress the downloaded file, compile and install it (you'll need an admin password):
./doconf
./domake
sudo ./domake install

8) If you plan on using avrdude, download avrdude-4.4.0.tar.gz from http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/.
9) You guessed it, decompress the downloaded file, compile and install it (you'll need an admin password):

./configure
make
sudo make install

10) If you plan to debug your AVR download gdb-6.0.tar.gz (had no luck making 6.3 compile) from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/.
11) Decompress, compile and install (you'll need an admin password):

./configure --target=avr
make
sudo make install

12) You would probably also want to install AVaRICE (can also be used to program the devices, see below). Download avarice-2.3.tar.gz from http://avarice.sourceforge.net/.
13) Now, decompress, compile and install (you'll need an admin password):

./configure "LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/powerpc-apple-darwinX.X.X/avr/lib -lbfd" "CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/powerpc-apple-darwinX.X.X/avr/include"
make
sudo make install

14) You are now ready to program AVR's. Please see the guide below for sample programs and makefiles.

Programming the AVR using an USB port
My initial idea was to make a cheap In-System-Programmer (ISP) like the pony-stk200 cable. Lack of time, led to purchase of the Propox JTAGcable II (http://www.propox.com/) which is reasonable priced at 47 USD.

I got some updated drivers from FTDI Chip (great support!!!) which you can download from here (FTDIUSBSerialDriver.pkg.hqx) which support the device. The AVR's can now be programmed using AVaRICE, someway like this,

avarice --erase --program --file $(FILENAME).elf --jtag /dev/cu.usbserial-FTL5XFYQ

In order to program both the Flash and the EEPROM you need to use the .elf file. This file should generated auto-magically if you use the makefile from Jörg Wunsch's Mfile (http://www.sax.de/~joerg/mfile/).

Debugging using the serial port
If you wish to debug or log using the serial port, a USB-Serial adapter is adaquate. It can be hard to find one that support Mac OS X. I bought a cheap adapter (kr. 129,-) from TJ Data. Unfortunetely the driver CD didn't include a Mac OS X drivers. But after doing some detective work (looking in some C and header files) I found out that the chip used was manufactured by Prolific (PL-2303). This chip is actually used in many of the cheap USB-Serial (or PDA, RS232, ...) adapters. Mac OS X drivers can be downloaded below

  • Download Mac OS X v10.3.x drivers (v1.0.8)

The serial port should now be accessible as something like "/dev/cu.usbserial0".

 

Updated 28.01.2005 by Frodi Hammer (frodi@mip.sdu.dk)