Hi All,
 
Our local Microchip office has recently promoted this IDE for PIC32s.
 
Are there any active users out there?
If so, can you provide your thoughts as to the quality and speed of this IDE?
 
I am currently on MPLAB8, Win7 32Bit mid range lap top.
 
Thanking you in advance.
 
FP

Sadly it seems dead to me.  My post was the first in Months.  I tried to install the plugins in Eclipse Luna on Windows and it did not work.  I have yet to try with Keppler or Juno.  I know they require Java 1.6 and it seems Luna requires 1.7.  I then did the install of the full IDE.  This mostly worked in Windows but their gdb did not run.  I was trying to test using the simulator beacuse the free version does not support the realICE which I have.  Based on the install I much perfer the Eclipse plugin approach since you use Eclipse as is.  The app version interface seems rather different without options to install plugins.  At least they are not in the same place.  If you are not familiar with Eclipse this may not be an issue.  I have been completely unsucessful in getting anything to work on my MAC even though I have only Java 1.6 installed.  I have post both here and sent an email directly to viosoft and have heard nothing.  Sadly, at this point it seems relatively unsupported with very little community interest.  Base on my experience so far I would stay away from it since I think you will be on your own with little help.  I did indicate my interest in purchasing the license if I could get it to work and still nothing.  I am looking at using the J-Link from Segger with a standalone Eclipse as an alternative.  This uses GDB from Code sourcery and the ARM plugin to connect with the GDB server.  There is a gui version of this for windows.  This now supports PIC32 so it seems more viable and I actually for a response on the forum there. 
 
Woody

I have gotten the simulator working by adding the path to the simulator to my system path.  The sim seems to work on a Win7 platform.  I have installed Juno to test plugins as this is still my perferred approach.
 
I decided to call Viosoft and they have received my issue on OSX and are working on the issue.  So there are some signs of life here.

woody244
I have gotten the simulator working by adding the path to the simulator to my system path.  The sim seems to work on a Win7 platform.  I have installed Juno to test plugins as this is still my perferred approach.
 
I decided to call Viosoft and they have received my issue on OSX and are working on the issue.  So there are some signs of life here.

Thanks for update.
 
Curious that Australian Microchip office has recently pushed this.
Perhaps some resources are being added to Arriba development/ support?
 
As it is I can't see myself going to MPLABX anytime soon.
Last time I tried with a large PIC32 project everything came to a grinding halt.
Nothing I've seen on the forums suggests that this has changed significantly.
MPLAB8 works fast and well for me but sadly, still unable to go with any new PIC32s.
 
FP

MPLABX has improved the PIC32 support, I just cant stand the Netbeans interface.  My biggest concern would be that you are still channeling through a microchip communications interface and the simulator would still be microchips.  You can always edit in Eclipse and use external makefiles for your projects.  I have had success with this, and I just create an external make project in MPLAB.  I hate having the second IDE open just for debugging.  I think you may find the segger approach will separate you completely from the microchip debugger path since it is Segger's J-link and they provide the gdb server.  You use the Code Sourcery GDB for windows to connect to their server.  It is small investment for the hobby/edu version of J-Link to test it out.  I am evaluating this for OSX but getting GDB for MIPS is less straightforward on OSX.  Both approaches should work though.
 
FYI, I am now in direct contact with Viosoft working my issue and they seem engaged.

woody244
MPLABX has improved the PIC32 support, I just cant stand the Netbeans interface.  My biggest concern would be that you are still channeling through a microchip communications interface and the simulator would still be microchips.

I'm one of these people who would rather spend time on the project rather than the tools.
So I'm not a mix and match person. The Microchip ICD3 interface is fine for me.
 
When I discovered MPLAB8 years ago i was impressed.
When I tried MPLABX I was disappointed. To me it had succumbed to the bloatware temptations.
The IDE is running on a computer that is spinnning at over 2GHz so simple editing and other functions should be faster than human speed.
 
FP
 
 
 

Well you missed MPLAB5, 6, and 7.  5 and 6 were terrible and thats when I started.  I think you'll find your adopting a relatively new architecture and the tools will always lag.  The recent versions of MPLABX are vast improvements over V1.  I tried and immediately went back to MPLAB8.  But now I can get by without MPLAB8 when working with pretty much any of the DSPIC and PIC32MX devices.  Support for the MZ is coming along and that chip is risky anyway.  Aribba is Eclipse based which is still a hefty Java app so its a matter of what features you like.  I use Eclipse at work all day so it familiarity helps my productivity.  I find managing projects and interfaces to version control via GIT are much further along than Netbeans.  It is just a horse of a different color so you may want to just hang with the MPLABX tools.  These are much simpler, no GDB in the background and stuff like that to worry about.  Also there will always be a much larger community for support with MPLABX than I think Arriba will ever achieve.  
 
Also since you are using the ICD3 you'll need to shell out about 500.00 US since the free edition only support simulator and PICKIT3.    
 
My goal is an Eclipse based environment since I already do all of my editing there and only use MPLABX to debug.   

woody244
Aribba is Eclipse based which is still a hefty Java app so its a matter of what features you like.

This is where I don't understand.
Any mobile app is compiled to native code and runs without lag.
Otherwise it's history.
 
Do/ Can these "hefty Java apps" (Arriba on Eclipse, MPLABX on Netbeans etc) get compiled to native code for the different operating systems?
 
FP

Can't say if they are compiled to native code or not.  They are at least compiled to Java Byte Code as I understand it.  I think you are looking at the problem from the wrong point of view.  These IDE's are doing a lot under the hood.  For example, each time you change a line of source, in the case of Eclipse I think each time you write a token, it goes and performs an error parsing, there is tagging going on in the background as well.  There are so many bells and whistles that it is difficult to even find how to configure them.  I liken the experience to needing to be a word power user as oppossed to just a user if you want to get the true performance out of these "modern" IDEs.  You can fairly easily turn off most of these features and I think you will find things speed up.  Although with a modern PC with sufficient memory I can say I dont really see any performance issues and SW developers will target what they can do based on this.
 
Most chip companies have adopted Eclipse as the base for their IDE as it provides so much and they just add their plugins.  For this they get multiplatform support which is something you dont get with most of the older free IDEs like MPLAB.   Microchip chose Netbeans beacuse they thought Eclipse was too complex for Embedded projects.  So that should give you an idea of whether Arriba is a good direction for you.
 
I hated Eclipse when I first used it as part of the Xilinx SDK, it has gotten better and now I rely on it for a lot of things.
 
There are other non Eclipse/Netbeans IDE's out there.  Usually not free and just as much work to integrate.  I think you will find given the time MPLABX is actually better at a lot of things than MPLAB8 in terms of editors go. Ultimately it is the direction Microchip has decided to go and most others are very similar so unless you want to handpick your tools you are pretty much stuck with it for better or worse.
 
Good luck

Thanks Woody,
 
Useful insights.
 
I  wish Microchip would explain the IDEs in this way instead of the 'bling' 'bling' 'feature' feature' 'feature' nonsense.
I want to know how it works and how it performs the basic tasks before anything else.
 
Perhaps the Arriba rep could expand on these aspects of their IDE?
 
FP