kjj6198/vscode-avr-setup

A simple guideline to make avr programming possible in vscode

AVR Programming in vscode

This guideline will help you to program your AVR in vscode.

1. Tooling

To start pure AVR programming, you need to install the following tools:

• avr-gcc
• avr-objcopy
• avr-objdump
• avr-size
• avrdude

If you're using Arduino UNO, you might want to set your board to DFU mode, and use dfu-programmer to program your device. (instead of using avrdude), please refer to this guide for more information. In this case, the Makefile may not be suitable for you.

NOTICE: If you want to use arduino again, you have to download the firmware again

2. VS Code

To make sure C/C++ intelligence works, you have to define the includePath and defines in your .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json file.

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Mac",
            "includePath": [
                "${workspaceFolder}/**",
                "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/avr-gcc@9/9.3.0_3/avr/include/" // or replace with your own include path
            ],
            "defines": [
                "_DEBUG",
                "UNICODE",
                "_UNICODE",
                "F_CPU=16000000L",
                "ARDUINO=10805",
                "ARDUINO_AVR_UNO",
                "ARDUINO_ARCH_AVR"
            ],
            "compilerPath": "/opt/homebrew/bin/avr-gcc", // don't use clan-gcc or some variable won't be resolved 
            "compilerArgs": [
							"-mmcu=atmega32u4" // I'm using atmega32u4 but you can use any other AVR mcu
            ],
            "cStandard": "c17",
            "cppStandard": "c++98",
            "intelliSenseMode": "macos-clang-arm64"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
}

3. Makefile

This Makefile is used to compile the source code. Some commands available:

• make xxx.hex: for example, if you type make hello.hex, it will compile the hello/*.c files and generate the hello.hex file in hello folder. If you don't like this structure, you can modify the Makefile.
• make flash filename=xxx.hex: It'll first search the xxx.hex file and then use avrdude to flash the device. The avrdude argument can be modified in the Makefile by changing PROGRAMMER_TYPE and PROGRAMMER_ARGS. NOTICE: you might want to change the tty to the correct port!
• make size filename=xxx.hex: It'll search the xxx.hex file and then use avr-size to get the size of the hex file.
• make clean: It'll clean the .o files and the .hex file for all folder.