NECTO Studio 2.5.0

Published: 28/12/2022 | Post categories: Compiler releases

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NECTO Studio 2.5.0

 

Dear NECTO Studio user,
NECTO 2.5.0 is here!

Welcome to the December 2022 release of NECTO Studio. This update brings cool new features added to mikroSDK. We have decided to pleasantly surprise our long time users by adding support for an old but battle-tested display, ILI9341. With the addition of this display, adequate touch panel library has been implemented as well. So clean the dust of your trustworthy mikromedia boards and displays and experience them in a new light in NECTO Studio. Additionally, we have added the generation of library named header files, so you won’t have to waste time searching for the adequate header name.

Along with the mikroSDK improvements and additions, we want to present significant advancements in compilers for PIC and AVR with improved compile and link speed time of up to 300% for large projects. And that's not all. We have also improved programming and debugging speed over WiFi interface for various MCU architectures. 

NECTO Studio has survived some colossal changes. Just to name a few:
 

 

  • New features in mikroSDK 2.7.1
  • Improved speed of programming and debugging
  • Improved compile speed

Continue reading to see what new features and improvements the software department worked on.

NEW FEATURES

We have worked hard to add new features to mikroSDK 2.7.1 while listening to what the users want and need. For this version, the following features are added, with many more yet to come.

  • One Wire implementation for AVR
    • Full module support
  • ILI9341 TFT implementation added
    • Added 8/16 bit implementation

  • MIKROE Touch Panel implementation added
    • using transistor logic
  • API layer touch panel has reduced footprint if MIKROE Touch Panel implementation is used
  • Added 15 new hardware to mikroSDK
  • Added header generation based on actual library name
    • For example, in order to include MikroSDK.Driver.OneWire library header, simply type
      • #include "MikroSDK.Driver.OneWire"
    • Implemented for whole SDK project for easier file access

IMPROVEMENTS

We perfectly understand that the speed of the developing process is critical. Fast and reliable software is what cuts you the development cycle, shortens the time of the delivery, and most important: it saves you a ton of nerves. That's why one of our primary focuses of this release was simply - speed. Take a look at what we have done:

1. Compilers

  • Improved speed of compile and linking time for mikroC AI for PIC from 30 % up to 300% for large projects
  • Improved speed of compile and linking time for mikroC AI for AVR by 30 % up to 300% for large projects

2. CODEGRIP & GDB

  • Improved speed of programming and debugging over WiFi interface for PIC family microcontrollers by up to 216%
  • Improved speed of programming and debugging over WiFi interface for ARM family microcontrollers by up to 29%
  • Improved speed of programming and debugging over WiFi interface for RISC-V family microcontrollers by up to 340%

codegrip improvements

3. mikroSDK

mikroSDK has undergone a series of improvements. Just to name a few:

  • Uart write/read APIs changed to use actual byte sized data
  • AVR low level UART IVT
    • Added option to switch between IVT and ORG mapping/access for interrupt service routines
  • Timer/PWM code optimized for AVR MCUs
    • Improved code readability
    • Added check for NULL pointers
    • Surplus code moved to MCU specific definition files
  • AVR ATmega UART implementation optimized for high-speed baud rate settings
    • High-speed mode used if regular speed mode error exceeds 2.5% as defined in documentation
  • pin_af_t redefinition issues
    • Reorganized for all ARM and RISC-V MCUs
  • CMake now sets defaults ADC resolution based on specific MCU, not only architecture
  • Added stop bit generation for AVR software I2C implementation

4. FIXES

While testing additional features, we came across some minor bugs. Also, we skimmed through our forums for issues you detected. So, thank you for letting us know what we can improve on. Some of the fixes include:

  • Fixed register addresses for AVR timers
  • Pin maps are no longer linked using weak directive
  • Added additional ports and pins to AVR GPIO implementatio
    • AVR GPIO implementation now functions correctly for all GPIO ports
      • Previously, all ports after H ( I, J, K ... ) didn't work
  • Removed 14 MCUs from mikroSDK due to insufficient memory issues (see changelog file for more details)
  • IVT redefined properly for ATXmega E5 MCU series
    • Resulted in addition of another USART module (USART2)
  • Opening existing click tests from mikroSDK project for EasyAVR v8 and v7 resulted in error
  • Opening mikroSDK as a project using a designer setup disables the option to switch to a regular type project
    • Now able to switch freely
  • One-Wire implementation for ARM used to overwrite read data bits/bytes
    • Fix implemented for all ARM MCUs
  • Unable to open specific CMakeLists.txt files from mikroSDK project

For a full list of changes, please take a look at the following document.

What's coming next?

  • NECTO Studio v2.6.0
  • AI QA system support in NECTO Studio
  • Speed up of other compilers
  • Complete speed up of programming & debugging via CODEGRIP and GDB including other families
  • NECTO Studio help update
  • and more

For a full list of all improvements and bug fixes please check out the RoadMap and Release changes on the NECTO Studio page.