Jon Hulatt wrote:
> They could, with the point that Bob Ammerman made a few minutes ago on
this
> thread. It is allowed under the GPL to include other portions of code
in the
> full package which are not covered by GPL. The GPL bits can of course
be
> re-released (according to GPL), but the whole package thereby cannot.
>
> A possible example of how this could work would be if the Compiler was
> GPL'ed, but the linker was proprietary. Then you would have to spend
your
> $800 on a license for the linker.
>

The source code for a beta version of C30 is already up on Microchip's
web site.  I haven't looked at it too closely, but it's basically GCC
with files added for dsPIC support.  Having never built GCC, I can't say
if all of the source files needed to compile a dsPIC program are in
there, but both compiler and linker support appear to have been added.

The source can be downloaded from a link at the bottom of the the MPLAB
download page.
http://www.microchip.com/1010/pline/tools/picmicro/devenv/mplabi/mplab6/index.htm

Look around on Microchip's website, it seems to me that one of their
strategies is to include a library for filtering, FFT, vector
operations, and other DSP tasks with the compiler (priced at $895 on
buy.microchip, although I assume that's a preorder).  There also seems
to be some sort of digital filter design software avilable for $295.

DSP Library URL (demo available now):
http://www.microchip.com/1010/pline/tools/dspic/demos/dsplbry/index.htm

Daniel Imfeld

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