Standalone toolchain, LSP and DAP servers/configurations for ARM and non-ARM architectures.

[Lorenzo_Mch_IT]

First, apologies if this is the wrong forum to ask this, but it's the closest one I could find.

Anyway, because of the proliferation of different IDEs (lots of Codewarrior variants, lots of Eclipse variants and now Visual Studio Code) provided in many different  all-in-one packages with specific toolchains and other tools, some products have quite old development tools with all the obsolescence issues it causes.

I was wondering if NXP is planning to internally standardize the interface between IDEs and toolchains/SDKs and maybe release IDE agnostic packages with toolchain+LSP+DAP so external developers can use that with their favorite IDE or integrate with other developer tools/environments not directly supported by NXP.

This would be extremely useful when using non-ARM architectures because some of their NXP-provided development environments are quite old and limited compared to the latest IDEs, and I guess it would also reduce costs and the work burden on NXP software developers.

Is it feasible or are there (for example) third-party license issues not allowing this ?

[Xu_Zhang]

hi,Lorenzo_Mch_IT

NXP  released the MCUXpresso for Visual Studio Code plug-in in July 2023, enabling vscode users to quickly develop NXP based MCU projects in a familiar code editing environment.
Here are the links:
https://www.nxp.com/design/software/mcuxpresso-software-and-tools-/mcuxpresso-for-visual-studio-code...

BR

Xu Zhang

[Lorenzo_Mch_IT]

Problem is that AFAIK MCUXpresso for Visual Studio Code plug-in official support is only for some ARM based products.

And other NXP cpu architectures are not supported at all (MC56Fxxxx DSCs based on 56800/EX and /EF cores, MCUs based on PowerPC cores, etc. etc.).

[Alice_Yang]

Hello @Lorenzo_Mch_IT 

Which device do you use?

[Lorenzo_Mch_IT]

Currently used NXP products:

• Digital Signal Controllers (mostly 56800EX cores, like MC56F84xxx). 
• PowerPC-based MCUs/MPUs (MPC51xx, for example MPC5125).

The most recent tools for DSCs are still based on the Codewarrior toolchain packaged with a customized Eclipse IDE (with plugins for Eclipse 4.2 that are incompatible with newer Eclipse releases).

My point is that if NXP releases standalone packages for these devices with toolchains + LSP + DAP it would be possible to use VS Code (and potentially Eclipse and other IDEs like Qt Creator) with these other NXP products (and take advantage of all the plugins and tools developed for such IDEs).

I guess it would also make life easier for NXP's developer too (you don't have to worry about IDEs, just provide the de-facto standard interfaces for them).

[Alice_Yang · Accepted solution]

Hello @Lorenzo_Mch_IT 

 Sorry for these legacy products, there is plan to acheive this.

BR

Alice