AVR MacPack

Features

• Universal binaries, runs on PowerPC and Intel Macs.
• Includes gcc (the GNU C compiler) in versions 3 and 4.
• Does not depend on Xcode for building AVR code.
• Comes with a short HTML manual.
• Runs on Mac OS X 10.3 and higher.
• Comes with an uninstall script.
• Includes the same patches for new devices as WinAVR does.
• Includes gdb for debugging with simulavr and avarice.

For a list of included software packages and versions see the Release Notes.

Getting Started

Since this AVR MacPack consists of command line tools only (except the HTML manual which is linked to your Applications folder), you need to know some basic command names. So let's demonstrate AVR MacPack with a trivial project, a blinking LED implemented on an ATMega8. This project is described in more detail in AVR MacPack's manual.

First we decide to use gcc version 3 (because it generates more efficient code) and create a new project:

bash$ avr-gcc-select 3
Current default compiler: gcc 3
bash$ cd Desktop
bash$ avr-project Demo
bash$ cd Demo
bash$ ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   3 cs  cs  102 Nov 22 18:29 Demo.xcodeproj
drwxr-xr-x   4 cs  cs  136 Nov 22 18:29 firmware
bash$ cd firmware
bash$ ls -l
total 24
-rw-r--r--   1 cs  cs  4139 Nov 22 18:29 Makefile
-rw-r--r--   1 cs  cs   348 Nov 22 18:29 main.c

The command avr-project creates a minimum firmware project which is configured for an ATMega8 with internal RC oscillator at 8 MHz. Now we have something to start with. We edit main.c and implement the blinking loop:

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <util/delay.h>

int main(void)
{
    DDRD = 1 << 4;           /* make the LED pin an output */
    for(;;){
        char i;
        for(i = 0; i < 10; i++){
            _delay_ms(30);  /* max is 262.14 ms / F_CPU in MHz */
        }
        PORTD ^= 1 << 4;    /* toggle the LED */
    }
    return 0;               /* never reached */
}

Now we compile the code and send it to the device:

bash$ make
avr-gcc -Wall -Os -DF_CPU=8000000 -mmcu=atmega8 -c main.c -o main.o
avr-gcc -Wall -Os -DF_CPU=8000000 -mmcu=atmega8 -o main.elf main.o
rm -f main.hex
avr-objcopy -j .text -j .data -O ihex main.elf main.hex
bash$ make flash
avrdude -c USBasp -p atmega8 -U flash:w:main.hex:i

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ############################################ | 100% 0.19s
...

bash$ make fuse
avrdude -c USBasp -p atmega8 -U hfuse:w:0xd9:m -U lfuse:w:0x24:m

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ############################################ | 100% 0.19s
...