Hi Gilles,

Thank you for the post and fair observations. You are right that the debugger currently only implements step between breakpoints. 

I will try to give a few "off the cuff" notes that might or might not be relevant....

It isn't just the Arduino that does not have debugging it is also the Arduino implementation of the Atmel Mcu. So there isn't any debug for Arduino. No JTAG or anything else unless you get a soldering iron and hack your board.

The Visual Micro debugger provides a lot of what is missing but does not provide all of the features of a hardware debugger. However, as you have intimated, it does provide a lot of features and many that are not provided by hardware debug systems. 

If you decide to persist with the debugger feel free to ask for prompts or how to do stuff. We are working on the next gen of the debugger at the moment, it looks like it will have step capability so it's always good to hear what it important to users of different experience levels.

Thanks again

nb: Existing debugger users, your license keys will be valid for the next gen tools 

Hi,

Thanks for the information and the link. 

Yes there are many articles on the web about how to hack the Arduino hardware for debug but it is not the purpose of this project because it would be too complex for most users. Using Serial with Arduino is a well proven and robust mechanism that is also very flexible.

We have a number of forum members who have tried these other options and find that fuses on the boards need to be altered often causing the hardware to become useless. The feed back is that the Serial debugger is easier and less risky.

My understanding is that whilst the Atmel SAM processor has a hardware debug port Arduino have not made it possible to use. 

Our next gen might be a few months or more, it will still use serial so that users can just plugin and debug. This means that no additional hardware or hacking required. The next gen should also be more aware of data types and be able to get/set any data without needing to specify watch expressions prior to compile.

In both versions, we also hope to see better integration with the Atmel/VS debugger system and ability for things like "inspecting last known values" when hovering over variables in the code editor. 

In all of that if we find a robust and simple solution for users to perform hardware debug and can see how we could enhance the Atmel debug system we would be interested to explore this route.

Hi Gilles,

If you find any information about how to use the debug port of the Due this would be VERY useful. Thanks!