So....what do I do?

[Lawro]

VisualGDB is for me the best option for coding on SBC targets. But it does come at a cost and not everyone can afford it.

The next best option is to use Visual Studio's cross platform development options for Linux.

This provides almost all the functionality that VisualGDB does, Edit and debug on the PC, console screen display, but only build on target so it can be a slow build.
It can be a bit clunky to set up, but there is a default raspberry project that can be used to get started, and most default linux projects will work on other machines. Do not use the Raspberry config, if you are not using a raspberry, not all ARM systems are the same,  it don't work like that

It needs a tiny bit more understanding of the build process to get set up, so its best to use the 30days free VisualGDB trial to get familiar with what is happening during a build process, and this will be more understandable.

Its also a bit of nightmare if you have more than one device listed for it, but assuming most people are normal and not like me with 20 different system to target, if you have 1 system its ok, it just makes you jump through strange hoops to add others.

A few of the book and Magpi projects will be converted to this system to demonstrate how to get going.

Visual GDB is expensive for sure, but I can understand why it is considering what it does. By the by, which is the version we'd need to buy for your book?

I'd imagine we wouldn't need the Ultimate version, but then the Embedded version doesn't support the Pi according to their website.