[Techtalk] Getting a later revision package from Synaptic

[Michael Fisher]

On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 8:20 PM, Akkana Peck <akkana at shallowsky.com> wrote:

> Michael Fisher writes:
> > This is probably easy for most of you out there but I seem to having
> trouble
> > with it. I am getting involved with the Arduino micro-controllers and
> there
> > is a version of gcc especially for them. I am running the recently
> upgraded
> > Ubuntu 8.04 and when I try to install the gcc-avr package it says the
> only
> > version available is 4.2.2-1. I need a version 4.3.2 or higher. Is there
> a
> > way to force Synaptic to give the highest version available?
>
> Why do you need 4.3.2 or higher?  I've built a couple of small
> Arduino projects on Ubuntu 8.04 with tools available there.
> Packages I have installed: avr-libc, avrdude, binutils-avr, gcc-avr.
> avr-gcc is version 4.2.2. It gives tons of warnings but I'm told
> that's normal by the only other person I've found who actually
> uses avr-gcc instead of the Java Arduino tools. avrdude gives
> scary-looking warnings too, but apparently that's also normal.
> I get the impression that most of the software effort goes into
> the Java tools (but I find avr-gcc a lot easier to use).
>
> Admittedly my Arduino is a year old (a Diecimila) -- do the
> newer ones need a newer gcc?
>
> If you really do need a newer package, sometimes you can find a
> repository that has newer software for an older distro, and can
> add it as an extra line in /etc/apt/sources.list. Such repositories
> usually either have "ppa" or "backports" in the name somewhere.
>
> You can also try directly downloading the packages intended for
> a newer Ubuntu -- for example, go to
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/gcc-avr
> (I found that by googling for ubuntu jaunty gcc-avr)
> Download the .deb and try installing it with dpkc -i filename.deb.
> But you may need to download some other debs to meet its requirements.
>
>        ...Akkana
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Here is what I found on the Arduino website regarding the version of gcc:
avr-gcc (aka "gcc-avr"), version 4.3.2 or later

   - Version 4.3.0 has a major
bug<http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=35872> which
   affects multiplication of long int's. This is the default version in Ubuntu
   Intrepid (8.10). Check using "avr-gcc --version" and upgrade if necessary.
   - Versions prior to 4.3.0 do not support the ATmega328 (which comes on
   the Arduino Duemilanove). People running distributions like Hardy Heron
   (Ubuntu) or Etch (Debian) and previous will need to upgrade their version of
   avr-gcc.

I will try to d/l the newer version from the link you found. Thanks for the
help and I will send feedback on what I find.

Mike
-- 
Michael Fisher
desNotes at gmail.com
Sent from Odessa, Florida, United States