problems with the global pointer

You can force a data item into (or out of) the 'small data' areas - accessed though %gp - using gcc __attribute__((section("name"))).

Data in sections .sdata, .sdata.*, .sbss, .sbss.* etc is accessed through %gp.

The linker script defines how the sections are actually mapped into memory. You'll probably need to edit the one the IDE uses.

There is also a bug (well missing optimisation) in gcc so it fails to uses %gprel(symbol+offset)(gp) when accessing structures that have been placed in the 'small data' area.