Re: [avr-gcc-list] Avr-gcc

[Joerg Wunsch]

As D I Freeman <address@hidden> wrote:

>Very simple question, and apologies if this is answered elsewhere,
>but is it possible to get the avr-gcc compiler to work on a solaris
>on intel box?

Why not?  The only problem you're faced with is that there's probably
no precompiled package for it.  But as long as you've got access to a
compiler (either pre-installed, or you're allowed to install a Solaris
gcc there), that's fine.

The entire GNU tool suite is pretty portable.  It runs on more
operating systems and hardware architectures on earth than you could
imagine...

I did it once myself, just for testing, using the commercial Solaris C
compiler.  Using gcc is supposed to work at least as well.

If you fail to get it compiled, I might give it another try, and can
offer you some precompiled .tar.gz files for installation.  But I'm
currently working in a different location than the Solaris machines
I've got access to, so please give it a try yourself first.  It'll
also boost your self-confidence that you can manage compiling
3rd-party software on any Unix. ;-)

The only thing you probably cannot do under Solaris out of the box is
accessing a parallel port directly, so any ISP programming tool
wanting to use cheap parallel-port attached ISP hardware will not be
able to use that.  However, the current access method as it is
implemented in avrdude and uisp is way PC-minded, so for different
parallel port hardware, you'd have to rewrite that part anyway.
(Perhaps together with a custom operating system driver.)  Still,
accessing programmers attached to a serial port (like AVR910-style, or
STK500) should work under Solaris as well, since the serial
communications interface in Unix is standardized (termios), and both
avrdude and uisp use this standard.

> My uni are being silly and trying to give me solaris not debian.

Why silly?  It's not that Linux is the only good Unix around.  Solaris
has its strengths as well, and unless you've got a PC-class Solaris
machine (Ultra5/10, SunBlade 100), the hardware is rock-solid.  It's
not that you couldn't get rock-solid hardware in the PC range too (I'm
just about to replace a central Internet server that has been running
flawlessly 365*24*7 since 1997, and the hardware wasn't even new by
that time), but it's much harder to find than good Sun hardware.

Understand it as a challenge, Linux is already on its best way to
replace Windows by just forming another unilateralism, so keeping the
diversity of Unices up is IMHO a Good Thing[tm].
-- 
J"org Wunsch                                           Unix support engineer
address@hidden        http://www.interface-systems.de/~j/