Just saw a reference to this on another forum: Visual Studio Code (Beta) for Windows, Mac, and Linux:
https://www.visualstudio.com/pro... Official release expected mid-2017.
I am almost afraid to hold my breath! Would suffocate, first! On the other hand, maybe there is hope! I sure do hope that Atmel is keyed into this!
M$ is also releasing MS SQL Server for Linux! This is right on par with Hell Freezing Over!
Jim
Point ... counterpoint
Apple Xcode
Be around one who's an Apple fanboy or fangirl ... you'll know what I mean 
There's an embedded version that has a lot of boards with debuggers for :
GDB is stated with one GDB server (OpenOCD).
So, might be possible to add AVR-GDB to this IDE with some effort; there is an AVaRICE (AVR GDB server) and an AVR GDB client on Mac OS X.
Debugging is in a terminal window with a possibility that debugging will be integrated into Xcode.
Big manual (511 pages, 78MB)
There's an AVR framework for it that's an alternative to Arduino; boards :
https://www.adafruit.com/products/2772, Adafruit Feather M0 Basic Proto
https://learn.adafruit.com/proper-step-debugging-atsamd21-arduino-zero-m0?view=all
http://embedxcode.weebly.com/la_selectdownload-ygzuzhx8ggabc4w.html, embedXcode, Download
http://embeddedcomputing.weebly.com/cosa-an-alternative-framework-for-avr-boards.html
https://github.com/mikaelpatel/Cosa/tree/master/boards
Edit : SEGGER
embedXcode
Projects
http://embedxcode.weebly.com/projects.html
...
Office Chairiot MK-II
...
The creator is in Arizona ... land of free spirits 
Visual C++ Team Blog
C/C++ extension for Visual Studio Code
March 31, 2016
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/03/31/cc-extension-for-visual-studio-code/
...
Today we are announcing a Preview of a product for your C/C++ editing and debugging needs on Linux and OS/X: the C/C++ extension to Visual Studio Code.
...
... this preview version of the C/C++ extension introduces a better language service experience with support for code-navigation and the ability to debug C/C++ applications ...
...
Debugging your C/C++ application in Visual Studio Code
...
The debugging experience currently only works out-of-the-box for Linux – Ubuntu 14.04 (x64).
We are working on OS X support as well ...
...
GDB and MI commands
...
"Microsoft is sharing code between Visual Studio and Visual Code. This extension requires .Net because of the debbuger engine ..." - Felipe
...
(wrt Clang)
"Our LLDB support in the extension isn’t quite ready for public consumption, but watch the extension for future updates.
It is currently possible to point this extension to very recent builds of lldb-mi (3.8 or 3.9) but that scenario hasn’t been tested and has some known issues." - Jackson Davis
...
"It’s not that C/C++ code is not supported on Windows, it’s just that the debugging portion of the extension currently doesn’t support Windows debugging.
The primary reason for that is exactly that the debugger engine uses GDB MI which doesn’t help with debugging standard COFF, PDB all that much." - Ankit Asthana
...
"The same tag-parser which parses symbols in your source code and provides the code-navigation features on Visual Studio on Windows has now been ported over to Mac and Linux which we hope provides the fastest code-navigation experience :). " - Ankit Asthana
...
http://lldb.llvm.org/ (The LLDB Debugger)
InfoWorld
Bossie Awards 2016: The best open source application development tools
Sep 21, 2016
Visual Studio Code
...
... C++ ... support IntelliSense, outlining, and linting, but not refactoring.
...
VS Code runs on OS X, Linux (both Debian and Red Hat distros), and Windows.
VS Code on Windows requires .Net Framework 4.5.
...
Visual Studio Marketplace
Native Debug
by webfreak
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=webfreak.debug
GDB, LLDB & Mago-MI Debugger support for VSCode
...
Using
gdbserverfor remote debugging (GDB only)...
Federico Zuccardi Merli
9/4/2016
I'm using this for embedded debugging, through OpenOCD and other gdb servers. No major issues, ...
...
westfw posted this https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/no-mac-os-x-version-atmel-studio-7#comment-2053951
More :
The Visual Studio Blog
Announcing the new Visual Studio for Mac
by Miguel de Icaza (Distinguished Engineer, Mobile Developer Tools, Xamarin co-founder, GNOME co-founder)
November 16, 2016
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2016/11/16/visual-studio-for-mac/
...
... you’ll find the same Roslyn-powered compiler, IntelliSense code completion, and refactoring experience you would expect from a Visual Studio IDE.
...
- Highly optimized native code backed by the LLVM optimizing compiler
...
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/tag/visual-studio-for-mac/
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn
The .NET Compiler Platform ("Roslyn") provides open-source C# and Visual Basic compilers with rich code analysis APIs.
Just saw a reference to this on another forum: Visual Studio Code (Beta) for Windows, Mac, and Linux: ...
Visual Studio Marketplace
PlatformIO
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=formulahendry.platformio
...
Integrate PlatformIO into Visual Studio Code on top of PlatformIO Core. Cross-platform Build System without external dependencies to the OS software: 350+ embedded boards, 20+ development platforms, 10+ frameworks. Arduino and ARM mbed compatible.
Atmel AVR & SAM, Espressif 8266 & 32, Freescale Kinetis, Intel ARC32, Lattice iCE40, Microchip PIC32, Nordic nRF51, NXP LPC, Silicon Labs EFM32, ST STM32, TI MSP430 & Tiva, Teensy, Arduino, ARM mbed, libOpenCM3, ESP8266, etc.
...
via
https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/619
via
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/history.html#id1 (3.3.0 2017-03-27)
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/ide/vscode.html
The Visual Studio Code extensions relative to AVR :
PlatformIO PIO Unified Debugger is a value-added part of PlatformIO (PlatformIO Plus) for arm and Texas Instruments MSP430TM (AVR forthcoming)
Microsoft Arduino has an integrated debugger though only for Microchip SAM (EDBG) and two Microchip competitors.
FastArduino invokes macOS and Linux Microchip AVR GCC 3.5.4 though may be up to 3.6.1 approximate to the end of April'18.
Consider replying into Jim's thread when you are aware of other relevant or related Visual Studio Code extensions.
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=platformio.platformio-ide
https://platformio.org/pricing
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vsciot-vscode.vscode-arduino
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jfpoilpret.fastarduino
https://github.com/jfpoilpret/fast-arduino-lib#milestone-v11-30042018
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=tag%3Agdb&target=VSCode&category=All%20categories&sortBy=Relevance (Cortex-Debug, Native Debug)
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/platformio-do-or-do-not-thats-question#comment-2489536
Edits: target, AVR forthcoming, last URL
8-May: It's currently about two months behind.
Now current at 1.23 (Apr'18)
https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code.oss (license : free)
https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code
current at 1.24 (May'18)
https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_24
Hmm.. Have been digging into VSC the last few days but find it a bit challenging. Seems promising though to have an "all platform" solutions available but I think it is way to complex to set up to debug just a small 8bit AVR board. The .vscode folder and the several files and numerous tags that need to be understood and correctly setup in this folder, not to mention having to understand which extensions which needs to be installed and knowing how to use them, is a bit overwhelming for an mid-aged HW engineer used to do stuff built from command line or trough a simple IDE. Solvable, yes I think, but i guess the main problem is that VSC is initially aimed towards black box coders (meaning building applications running on an computer of which HW you don't care much for) and not to coders making their own embedded boards etc. Maybe I was a bit naive when I looked into this IDE, but I dare to be so. :)
I really like the GUI though, seems nice, but I would loved to have a tutorial, which gives every step needed to set up a project for for example atmega328pb.json based board from scratch. served on a silver spoon, describing all the tags, wigs and wags and their meaning . :) And also, why limit at IDE to specific development boards? I build all my boards from scratch and debugging on anything else than the end target board is out of the scope.
What would one foe example need to change in the atmega328pb.json file to debug over jlink and using GDB (if thats the best option).
I guess this file would replace the concept of the makefile but I cant see any reference of the compiler used (is it part of platformIO ?) or the debugger .
{
"build": {
"core": "arduino",
"extra_flags": "-DARDUINO_AVR_UNO",
"f_cpu": "16000000L",
"mcu": "atmega328pb",
"variant": "atmega328pb"
},
"frameworks": [
"arduino"
],
"name": "Atmel ATmega328PB",
"upload": {
"maximum_ram_size": 2048,
"maximum_size": 32256,
"protocol": "arduino",
"require_upload_port": true,
"speed": 57600
},
"url": "http://www.atmel.com/devices/ATMEGA328PB.aspx",
"vendor": "Arduino"
}
Sorry if the questions is too nooby, but I have no clue for where I am to start to Terra-forme VSC so that it becomes habitable for mid- aged HW engineers
Thanks for giving it a go.
What would one foe example need to change in the atmega328pb.json file to debug over jlink and using GDB (if thats the best option).
J-Link doesn't have AVR though does have an AVR competitor in Silicon Labs EFM8 (8051)
Might wait for the Arduino Uno WiFi rev2 (mega4809) to be added to the Microsoft Arduino extension as that may have mEDBG.
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/megaavr-0-series?page=1#comment-2470876
... but I cant see any reference of the compiler used ...
https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-arduino/blob/master/README.md#prerequisites
(is it part of platformIO ?)
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/ide/vscode.html
and the AVR debugging is a possible future enhancement :
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/platformio-do-or-do-not-thats-question#comment-2489536
mega328PB is in PlatformIO :
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/atmelavr.html#boards
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/atmelavr.html#arduino
http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/atmelavr.html#elektor
- Microsoft Arduino
DMC, Inc.
Arduino Programming with VSCode
by Tyler Brink
FEB 01 2018
https://www.dmcinfo.com/latest-thinking/blog/id/9484/categoryid/19/arduino-programming-with-vscode
...
What's Up With Arduino?
[an unwieldy IDE]
What is VSCode?
[multi-platform editor with Microsoft Intellisense and extensions]
Using VSCode for Arduino Projects
[1. install Arduino IDE and its drivers (serial, USB), 2. install Microsoft Visual Studio Code and the Microsoft Arduino extension, 3. bilnky and Arduino:Upload]
...
...
Thanks for the post! I was using Atmel Studio on the Windows side, but have begun moving to VS Code for Windows and Linux projects.
I am probably the only one here who likes Windows. I have to. Micro$oft is paying for my retirement. My wife worked at Microsoft Research for 10 years before they closed down the lab in Mountain View and laid everyone off. It turned out to be a dumb idea as all those really smart people moved a couple of blocks down the street to Google. Plus Microsoft stock is well up and her stock grants are making my retirement comfortable enough that I just ordered a Qmini-VIS spectrometer from RGB-Photonics in Germany. They cant make them fast enough for the people who buy in bulk to put a spectrometer in their products, and I have been waiting a month for delivery. Germany said they should be shipping to the distributor in San Francisco this week. It is a really cute and small instrument with pretty good specs. Saw it at the big Photonics show at Moscone center in SF in January. I hope it comes soon. I am really curious what the spectrum of the 6-LED lamp I am building. I also just got an AMS AS7262 six channel visible wavelength sensor on an Adafruit breakout board that I haven't had a chance to play with. I am having construction done on the back of my house to replace a rotted deck, and my workbench in the garage is in the middle of the activity. It's hard to focus with nail guns and impact drivers going of a few feet away.
I am probably the only one here who likes Windows.
My wife worked at Microsoft Research for 10 years before they closed down the lab in Mountain View and laid everyone off.
... Qmini-VIS spectrometer from RGB-Photonics in Germany.
Windows Software on Mac & Linux with CrossOver | CodeWeavers
Checked C - Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research still around though apparently smaller.
She says it is still just as big, but is all in Redmond, WA now, and has changed direction.
Cool!
It is very cool. I am enjoying the beegeebees out of it.
Here is a spectrum from my new Qmini
Not GDB for AVR as EDBG is already in the Microsoft Arduino extension.
Now AVR GDB via dwire-debug (debugWIRE) as that has an AVR GDB server.
GitHub - DeqingSun/Debugging-Arduino-Uno
https://github.com/DeqingSun/Debugging-Arduino-Uno#overview
...
So I used an Attiny85 both as ISP programmer and debugger.
...
https://github.com/DeqingSun/Debugging-Arduino-Uno#step-6-add-support-for-debugwire
...
Refering to this commit, add support of USBtinySPI and Uno into debuggerUsbMapping.json and usbmapping.json
[step 7 is blinky, step 8 is stop the GDB server and restore ISP]
Arduino - Visual Studio Marketplace
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/debugwire-usb-uart?page=1#comment-2584101
Digispark USB Development Board - Digistump (tiny85)
Edit: typo
Edit1: merged : https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-arduino/pull/685
Edit1: merged : ...
and released
vscode-arduino/CHANGELOG.md at master · Microsoft/vscode-arduino · GitHub
Version 0.2.23
-Release date: November 22, 2018
Added
- Add debugging support for uno #685
- ...
