About MPLAB X

[gabriel]

Hello:
is there an advantage for MPLAB X over classic MPLAB 8.84, for a windows user?

thank you

[sarah90]

It is build on oracle netbeans and that is a real solid base, and it is multi platform. It is the path for the future: so you need to switch someday.

I tried MPLAB X when it was just available and found it quite unstable and much bigger that MPLAB. I stayed with MPLAB since then. I was told here that is has much improved since then. I will try it out again.

[Gallymimu]

It has gotten a lot better.  For large projects the code insight and intelligent highlighting is pretty nice.

The core microchip related stuff in mplab X is still pretty badly broken.  I use it in a production environment and find myself banging my head against the wall pretty frequently.

For example, sometimes watch variables don't update when they should.  Breakpoints don't always break.  Enumerations don't show in the watch window (they show as numbers only).  The XC8 compiler is also a bit of a mess as they have blended C30 and HTC and it hasn't come together that well yet.

That said I'm using it and not dropping back to version 8 but it is painful.  They are slowly cleaning it up.

I guess my recommendation is that if you have just a couple source files that are small stick with 8, but if you have a large project with a dozen source files using X might be worthwhile.

Also, make sure you have a potent computer.  Netbeans seems to be a real hog.  my core 2 duo notebook and my Athlon X2 system are VERY sluggish with mplab X and I find them almost unusable.  Athlon 965 and i7 notebook do okay.

[metal]

Don't forget that you have to wait ages when you change project properties, it just hangs there and you must wait..

[sarah90]

"painful"  "real hog"  "wait ages"

Does not sound that convincing to me. I may be sticking to mplab a little bit longer.

[pickit2]

Don't forget that you have to wait ages when you change project properties, it just hangs there and you must wait..

have you tried running in a large ram drive.

[Gallymimu]

Honestly I'd at least play with it and start getting used to it even if you don't use it for a full project.

One of the things I LOVE about it is preprocessor real time processing, i.e. enabled and disabled #ifdef sections show highlighted or darkened depending of if they are compiled or not.  I find that SUPER useful.  Refactoring is also great and works well, formatting tools does a good job, bookmarks, multiple tabbed windows, and navigation to implementation and definitions (note these are ALL netbeans features and not stuff from microchip which is why the work well ).  Those all are wonderful for big projects as I mentioned.

Posted on: November 23, 2012, 11:57:12 23:57 - Automerged

have you tried running in a large ram drive.

It's not a file system speed issue, purely a CPU hog.  I believe it is due to the nice bloated java core.

I don't get the properties slow down though Metal.  How fast of a computer are you running.  I just went through a bunch of settings and the slowest one was about .25 seconds for the menu item to populate.

[metal]

i've got i5 750 2.67GHz. strange, you dunt have that problem, although I remember I installed latest java build at the time of mplabx installation. I imported a small project minutes ago and tried changing settings, when I press apply it hangs, what do you think the cause for this problem is, Gally?

Posted on: November 24, 2012, 02:50:35 02:50 - Automerged
btw, I have java7, update 9.

[Cain]

It is build on oracle netbeans and that is a real solid base, and it is multi platform. It is the path for the future: so you need to switch someday.

If the future is slow and bloated Java programs (it's not only MLAB X) I think I stay in the past and hope Microchip will have common sense and continue to support MPLAB

[metal]

what do you understand from the phrasal verb 'phase out'?

[Gallymimu]

i've got i5 750 2.67GHz. strange, you dunt have that problem, although I remember I installed latest java build at the time of mplabx installation. I imported a small project minutes ago and tried changing settings, when I press apply it hangs, what do you think the cause for this problem is, Gally?

Posted on: November 24, 2012, 02:50:35 02:50 - Automerged
btw, I have java7, update 9.

oh that's weird, you've got a fast system...  Okay I messed with it a little more and I got it to hang at apply for about 1 second but still not very long.

I wonder if it is linked to the compiler or debugger chosen.  I'm working with XC8 and ICD3 right now, but I've used XC16 and Real Ice and not really noticed a difference (though I wasn't looking for it either)

I'm running JAVA 6 update 33, win7 pro x64.

I did remember seeing some issues for MPLAB X with certain JAVA versions but I don't recall what those issues were.

Posted on: November 24, 2012, 02:52:24 02:52 - Automerged
Either way it is WAY too slow for such a small amount of data being committed to the settings for the project properties.

Incidentally did you know you can make the compilation process multithreaded?  It helped the speed of compilation a LOT for me.

under options/embedded/project options there is a checkbox for "parallel make"

That doesn't address your project properties problem but it is a huge boost to compilation speed.

Posted on: November 24, 2012, 02:55:47 02:55 - Automerged
I don't know if this info is still valid or not as it is mentioned for MPLAB X 1.0:

Requirements and Known Issues

- Version 1.00 of MPLAB® X IDE is not compatible with versions of Java from the 1.7.0 branch.
-MPLAB X IDE requires a version from the 1.6.0 branch, of which 1.6.0_31 is the latest and may be found here at the time this was written.
-There have been some incompatibilities reported with Java version 1.6.0_25, so it is best not to use this version.
-If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you need to install the 32-bit version of Java for MPLAB X to function properly. Multiple versions of Java may reside on one system and MPLAB X may be directed to use a specific version (detailed below). If you have the 64-bit version installed, the last line in the command line output above would read: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-bit Server VM… or similar.

[gabriel]

Thanks you guys, I generally do small or medium projects, I'll stick on 8 version as long as it fulfill my needs. It starts faster and I'm quite familiar with it, although I'm conscious that I should re-consider my opinion after some time.

thank you

[sarah90]

You could try to allocate more memory to the java vm with the -Xmx option. Java tends to slow down when it fills up inside due to the increased garbage collection.

[metal]

These options are found in mplab_ide.conf file, I played with them couple of weeks ago, the -Xmx option makes the response of the IDE a bit faster, but when it comes to saving project properties. I think someone can open a ticket with microchip (damn it I was going to write microsoft) and they will solve it.

[Toxible]

In my opinion MPLAB X is a great IDE. The graphic interface is brillant. It has a lot of function and menu, but if you use it for a week or so, you will learn. In the new version, microchip has fixed some problem with Java and now work great for me! 

[Parmin]

The X is running on Java, so it is no longer platform specific,
I heard that you can run MPLAB X off Mac, Linux or even java running droid.

I did not use these so I am not sure if the above is correct.

[Ichan]

I am still using MPLAB 8 + HT-PICC + HT-PIC18 + C30, will wait until most people say the new one is perfect - avoiding it messing up current projects.

-ichan

[chicowood]

I agree with most of the comments about MPLABX here....slow and buggy, but some nice features too. I am using both MPLABX and MPLAB 8. I start a project with MPLABX and then when I hit the inevitable bug/brick wall/quirk, I swap over to MPLAB 8. I've banged my head too much on MPLABX to keep trying to make it work usefully. But I keep trying because it's obvious this is where Microchip is taking us.

One thing: I have a terrible time getting it to work with Proteus simulation. Lots of "Can't connect to Proteus", "Can't write CONFIG byte", or just plain hangs.

Has anyone gotten MPLABX + Proteus simulation to work reliably? If so, what's the trick?

[Interprog]

Proteus work with MplabX well. You must change the port under ->Project Properties ->Proteus VSM Viewer -> Debugger Monitor IP Port Number -> 8000

I hope it help you

[chicowood]

Glad to hear it works for you.

For me, not so good. I've tried both port 8000 and 8001 (default). The most common error I get is:

Starting Proteus...
Connected
Error writing CONFIG_MEMORY
Disconnected

It's as if the design file were write-protected or has permissions problems, but I've checked all that.

The same Proteus files can be emulated under MPLAB 8, but it always hangs on MPLAB X.

Any ideas?