I have both IDE 1.8 and 2.3.6 . ( there are some parts I don't like about 2 : serial monitor, not liking FTDI boards, pop ups telling me to update etc, but I'm trying to get used to it
Is there a way the can both share libraries and , if possible, board manager files ?
thx
Don't they share libraries and board files by default ?
they do.
With Separate installs the defaults are in sub folders of each version, so different locations. Can I move to one location ?
2.3 has \ Users...\documents\Arduino\Libraries
1.8 has \ program Files(x86) \Arduino\libraries
haven't looked at board file locations
what do you call separate installs ?
As in going to Arduino web site installing 2.3 , then going back and installing 1.8
Hi @hammy.
Arduino IDE 1.x also uses this folder by default. If it is not using that folder, then it means you have the "Sketchbook location" preference set to some path other than \Users...\documents\Arduino. Both IDEs use the libraries installed in the libraries subfolder of the sketchbook folder. Both IDEs install libraries to that folder when you use Library Manager or the "Add .ZIP Library..." features.
This is only intended to be used for the fundamental "built-in" libraries that are included in the Arduino IDE installation. It is true that Arduino IDE 2.x won't use the libraries from that location, but this is not actually a problem. If you want both IDEs to share the same installation of those libraries, just install the libraries via Library Manager. It will install them to the libraries subfolder of the sketchbook folder.
If you have installed any libraries in the libraries subfolder of the Arduino IDE 1.x installation, then that was a mistake on your part (unfortunately you will find some instructions to do this around the Internet, even though it is completely unnecessary). You should instead install libraries to the libraries subfolder of the sketchbook folder.
Perfect thanks ptillisch - I have moved the sketch location for both versions , so that should work - the original " bult in" libraries for 1.8 are still in the old default position -but I can now ignore those.
Can I some how do the same location for board files ?
Both IDE versions already use the same locations for boards platform installations by default.
Are you finding that they use different locations? If so, this means you have a custom configuration of one or the other IDEs. We can help you to adjust the configuration so that they share the same location if that is the case.
Not if you have a standard install of IDE 1.x and have never updated the AVR board package (as far as I remember).
That is normal operation. It will only be different if YOU change something. The only part NOT shared is the very basic builtin libraries and theyare not anything you can control externally in any case.
I often have both IDEs open at the same time, sometimes even with the same sketch. Obviously, in that case, the sketch has to be read-only for one of them.
Remember, simplicitly the IDE is nothing more than a fancy graphical interface over top of the command line that does the actual work, there is nothing in the IDE that goes into your sketch other than the builtin stuff like stdio.
I put together a minimum sketch and a couple of 'builtins' there is much more. I hope this sheds some light on how things work.
Might be worth saying this has come about from a fresh install of Win11 on a new drive -with the aim of making things a bit more tidy . Amazing how much stuff to put back !!
As @sterretje pointed out, the Arduino IDE 1.x installation comes with a bundled copy of the outdated version 1.8.3 of the "Arduino AVR Boards" platform. This platform is installed under the hardware subfolder of the Arduino IDE 1.x installation.
However, Boards Manager of both versions of the IDE installs platforms under C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Arduino15\. This is true even for updates you make to the "Arduino AVR Boards" platform using the Arduino IDE 1.x Boards Manager, and for the installation of the latest version of the "Arduino AVR Boards" platform Arduino IDE 2.x performs automatically on the first run. So even though it is true that there is a platform in a location that is specific to Arduino IDE 1.x, as long as the relevant configuration of both IDEs is standard, that platform won't actually be used after you install Arduino IDE 2.x (and likely wasn't even being used before that since it is likely you would have updated the platform at some point), and so it is not actually relevant.
As with libraries, you can find advice on the Internet to manually install platforms to the hardware subfolder of the Arduino IDE installation. And as with libraries, this advice is bad since the intended location for manual platform installations is the hardware subfolder of the sketchbook folder, where both IDE versions will recognize the platform.
Further to above.
I agree on Serial, long standing issue but does not effect me much. My DIY boards does not have Serial to USB at all so does not use the monitor.
Same on FTDI - I have no boards with that chip.
The update popups can be stopped by turning off checking for updates in the advanced settings. You then do manual checking when you decide (also in advanced settings).
To elaborate on this:
arduino.checkForUpdates in the "Search Settings" field of the "Settings" tab.And on this:
You can check for new versions of Arduino IDE by selecting Help > Check for Arduino IDE Updates from the Arduino IDE menus.
You can check for new versions of boards platforms and libraries by the following procedure: