2019-02-04
___P_r_o_g_r_a_m_m_i_n_g__a_r_d_u_i_n_o_s__w_i_t_h_o_u_t__a_n__I_D_E_

So on my OpenBSD box there has been an arduino package that did not
use the Java IDE for programming an arduino or such clones. It came
with a BSDMakefile and the toolchain and you could just run make /
make upload to programm your device.

But alas, the core libs have been outdated for quite a while. Running
cool libs like the fastled.io library was just not possible. Now the
package has been updated 'recently' to newer core libs. But the
makefile has been purged too!

After some poking I found the commit message of the port stating that
it now uses the arduino-makefile port, which is a general project for
building arduino code with a GNU Makefile.

This does include a 'serial monitor' and easy configuration, way
easier than before!

So a simple makefile for a fastled demo looks like this:

'''
ARDMK_DIR=/usr/local/share/arduino-makefile
BOARD_TAG    = uno
ARDUINO_LIBS = FastLED
USER_LIB_PATH = /home/ckeen/arduino/libs/
MONITOR_BAUDRATE = 115200
MONITOR_PORT = /dev/cuaU0

include ${ARDMK_DIR}/Arduino.mk
'''

And I have cloned the fastled lib into my $HOME/arduino/libs before.
In the directory beside the makefile a single .ino file is needed and
built automatically with a 'make upload'. This approach works nicely!

There are two caveats on OpenBSD / with arduino-makefile:

 - add yourself to the dialer group, for getting access to the
   /dev/cuaU0 device. 
 
 - the makefile does not do any preprocessing
   like the arduino IDE, so you will need to rearrange the sources
   of most sketches a bit to have the functions defined in the right
   order (or add forward declarations)

I can live with both and developing has been a charm with it!


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