Great Cow Basic, anyone use it?

[mramos1]

I saw this compiler some time ago. I'm looked at it again. Looking for some input for anyone that has tried it.

It does not comment the source code so debugging will be a bit of a pain. In the bug history I see "fixed AVR problems". Does it work on the Atmel as well as Microchip? That would be great.

Great Cow BASIC | Get Great Cow BASIC at SourceForge.net

 

[rajbex]

I know it works for microchip PICs. I tried for PIC16F628A and PIC16F873 a while ago. I remember I used LCD and A/D libraries, and it worked great. And there is an IDE version named Prithvi Dev Studio or something like that.

- Raj
Experiments with PIC16F628A

 

[mramos1]

I know it works for microchip PICs. I tried for PIC16F628A and PIC16F873 a while ago. I remember I used LCD and A/D libraries, and it worked great. And there is an IDE version named Prithvi Dev Studio or something like that.

- Raj
Experiments with PIC16F628A

The compile.bat work fine for me. Will look at the IDE, hope it is not just an editor. My thought is if it handle AVR too that is great. I have RVKBASIC and know Bob the author and I like it. But that would be slick for sure.

Thanks Raj

 

[nickelflippr]

Since using a Pickit 2 programmer, it is really hard to get fired up about using the AVR tools.

If you feel compelled to try GCBasic with the AVR then all that is required is to make a couple of .bat files and you will be ready to go. From past experiments (please note haven't tried this since a ton of compiler updates have been made this year).

(MAKEASMAVR.BAT)

@ECHO OFF
C:\progra~1\atmel~1\avr~1\AvrAssembler2~1\avrasm2 /c- /o- /q+ /l- /x- /w1 compiledAVR.asm
del compiledAVR.cod>nul
REM [-fI] [-Wie] [-Wiw]

(COMPILEAVR.BAT)

@ECHO OFF
C:
cd \PROGRA~1\GCBASIC

GCBASIC /NC %1 /O:compiledAVR.asm /A:makeasmAVR.bat /P:downloadAVR.bat

And a test program:
Just now compiled the led program, and it "appears" to be O.K on paper.

;Undocumented Atmel code
;10/10/2008
#chip mega168,8

dir PortB.0 out
dir PortB.1 out

start:
set PortB.0 on
set PortB.1 off
wait 100 ms
set PortB.0 off
set PortB.1 on

For waitsec = 1 to 4
wait 250 ms
next
goto start

 

[mramos1]

Thanks for the AVR information. Will see if the flags still apply.

I use all PICs today, but I have use the AVR for a lot longer (1200A was my favorite) and in assembler prefer AVR over the PIC. They are faster for me (the small ones I use) as well, not to start a PIC/AVR debate.

I like both, I just figured it would be a plus to have one compiler that did both (open mind/price and what I have laying around).

I have many ICD2's (serial and USB), an STK-500 and a dragon. I like Ford and Chevy too. Own an Explorer and a Vette. Each have their place for me.

Thanks for the AVR direction.

Mike

 

[nickelflippr]

Not sure how far you can go with AVR and GCBasic. I am sure a lot further than a year ago. There is about zero discussion on the forum about the AVR's, so hard to tell how many people are using them. Built an a-d module for an atmega, tried doing the TWI, and more or less flamed out there.

I could pass along the a-d module, if the current one doesn't work for you.

I see that Microchip is trying to soup up their smaller pin devices, so they are trying to make up at least some of the AVR performance gap.

 

[mramos1]

I still have some Mega AVR chips. Like the Tiny13 as well.

Really looking at it as something for the PICs, but the AVR drew my interest when I read the bug fix history.

I like both chips, here most are pic fans. All I use now, but the AVRs are great. I quit using them when I ran into problems with the Tiny11 programming and took them weeks to tell me they knew it had a problem.

Thanks for the info.