RE: Coldfire V2 devices and serial debuggers

X-SpamDetect-Info: ------------- Start ASpam results ---------------
X-SpamDetect-Info: This message may be spam. This message BODY has been altered to show you the spam information
X-SpamDetect: *******: 7.000000 From3consonants=0.3, SpamUrl=4.1, Accept Orbs.0, X-Verify-SMTP present=0.6, Aspam=3.0
X-SpamDetect-Info: ------------- End ASpam results -----------------

Forgive my lack to astuteness with regards to how to respond to this list. I'm sure with your assistance I will figure it out soon.
 
Some more info.
 
I'm not using an RTOS and don't have really much of an OS. I boot, setup the HW and run my stuff. Most of my processing is done using state machines that are triggered by interrupts.
 
In the past, I used a CPU32 (68376) with (ten year old) SDS tools where I used their serial monitor. This allowed me to look at variables, single step code, etc. while the servo interrupt was running. The way I did this was by setting up the servo interrupt to run at a higher interrupt level and so when I broke into the monitor, it took over the PC but since it didn't block interrupts (since the servo interrupt level is higher, it will happily run while I'm poking around the debugger).
 
95% of the time I want to look at variables. Occasionaly I want to step through code - this happens when I need to debug the state machines.

I'm going to use a MC52223 device which has a BDM, serial (UART) and USB interfaces.
 
Tim, do you have TargetMon running with a serial port?
 
Oliver, I should clarify that I'm not too concerned about precise cycle times. My concern with BDM is that the tools I've read about, halt the CPU for hundreds of microseconds and that causes the servo loop to stop functioning and the motors do crazy things.
 
Thanks,
Harjit

---

From: coldfire@...
Subject: Digest from coldfire@...
To: zeetahhs@...
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:05 -0600



--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From: zeetahhs@...
To: coldfire@...
Subject: [ColdFire] Coldfire V2 devices and serial debuggers
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 22:09:54 -0800

Has anyone got a serial debugger running on a Coldfire V2 MCF52xxx device?
 
A while back I read that dBug supports the GDB protocol and dBug is a serial debugger. But all posts I have seen, seem to be about using a BDM based debugger.
 
The reason a serial debugger is prefered to a BDM based debugger is that I'm doing some robotics work and I can make the servo code run at a higher interrupt level than the serial debugger and this will allow me to debug code with servos running.
 
BDM is too intrusive and it will cause the servos to go nuts.
 
The CF debug docs say that BDM theoretically will steal cycles but everything I have read says tha the BDM debuggers halt the CPU...
 
Thanks in advance.
Harjit

---

Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. See how it works..

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:06:49 -0800
From: stout@...
To: coldfire@...
Subject: Re: [ColdFire] Coldfire V2 devices and serial debuggers

Hi Harjit,
 
 > Has anyone got a serial debugger running on a Coldfire V2 MCF52xxx
 > device?
 
Blunk's TargetTools includes a debug monitor, TargetMon, that connects
to the debugger (Insight/GDB) via Ethernet.
 
http://www.blunkmicro.com/tools-cf.htm
 
Currently, when a breakpoint hits, all tasks are stopped and only the
debug monitor runs, in polled mode with interrupts masked and still
communicating over TCP/IP, but we've had this running in an alternate
mode that just suspends the task that hit the breakpoint and lets other
tasks continue running.
 
We've had other requests from this, from customers doing motor control
as you are, and will be productizing this mode. If you are interested
in trying our software, we can supply this mode for you.
 
Best regards,
Tim
 
Harjit Singh wrote:

> Has anyone got a serial debugger running on a Coldfire V2 MCF52xxx device?
>  
> A while back I read that dBug supports the GDB protocol and dBug is a 
> serial debugger. But all posts I have seen, seem to be about using a BDM 
> based debugger.
>  
> The reason a serial debugger is prefered to a BDM based debugger is that 
> I'm doing some robotics work and I can make the servo code run at a 
> higher interrupt level than the serial debugger and this will allow me 
> to debug code with servos running.
>  
> BDM is too intrusive and it will cause the servos to go nuts.
>  
> The CF debug docs say that BDM theoretically will steal cycles but 
> everything I have read says tha the BDM debuggers halt the CPU...
>  
> Thanks in advance.
> Harjit
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. See how it works. 
> <http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_howitworks_022009>coldfire@... 
> Send a post to the list. coldfire-join@... Join the list. 
> coldfire-digest@... Join the list in digest mode. 
> coldfire-leave@... Leave the list.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Stoutamore, Principal Engineer
Blunk Microsystems, LLC
6576 Leyland Park Drive
San Jose, CA 95120-4558
Tel: 408/323-1758
stout@...
www.blunkmicro.com
------------------------------------------------------------

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From: list_ob@...
To: coldfire@...
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:26:44 +0100
Subject: Re: [ColdFire] Coldfire V2 devices and serial debuggers

Harjit Singh wrote:
 
[...]
 
> The reason a serial debugger is prefered to a BDM based debugger is 
> that I'm doing some robotics work and I can make the servo code run 
> at a higher interrupt level than the serial debugger and this will 
> allow me to debug code with servos running.
> 
> BDM is too intrusive and it will cause the servos to go nuts.
 
In most cases, a serial debugger will have more impact.
 
Do you want single step debugging of one task while the interrupt 
service routine is still running? This might indeed be harder.
 
If you only want to observe or maniplate variables during program 
execution, BDM is likely the better way.
 
> The CF debug docs say that BDM theoretically will steal cycles but 
> everything I have read says tha the BDM debuggers halt the CPU....
 
Coldfire V2 BDM is indeed more intrusive than the HC12 BDM is. 
Accessing memory stalls the pipeline, causing several cycles delay. I 
couldn't get Freescale giving me official numbers, but my 
measurements showed me that 4..6 cycles for every memory access are 
likely.
 
You will probably see such delays also when using DMA transfers.
 
With architectures like the Coldfire V2, you shouldn't rely on 
precise cycle by cycle instruction timing unless you know very well 
what happens.
 
Oliver
-- 
Oliver Betz, Muenchen
 

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:53:01 -0700
From: Matt.Waddel@...
To: coldfire@...
Subject: Re: [ColdFire] Coldfire V2 devices and serial debuggers

Hi Harjit,
 
Is this a platform that's running uClinux like M52277?  If it is, you can run
gdbserver/gdb via a serial connection.
 
Best regards,
Matt
 
Harjit Singh wrote:

> Has anyone got a serial debugger running on a Coldfire V2 MCF52xxx device?
>  
> A while back I read that dBug supports the GDB protocol and dBug is a 
> serial debugger. But all posts I have seen, seem to be about using a BDM 
> based debugger.
>  
> The reason a serial debugger is prefered to a BDM based debugger is that 
> I'm doing some robotics work and I can make the servo code run at a 
> higher interrupt level than the serial debugger and this will allow me 
> to debug code with servos running.
>  
> BDM is too intrusive and it will cause the servos to go nuts.
>  
> The CF debug docs say that BDM theoretically will steal cycles but 
> everything I have read says tha the BDM debuggers halt the CPU...
>  
> Thanks in advance.
> Harjit
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. See how it works. 
> <http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_howitworks_022009>coldfire@... 
> Send a post to the list. coldfire-join@... Join the list. 
> coldfire-digest@... Join the list in digest mode. 
> coldfire-leave@... Leave the list.

---

Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. See how it works. coldfire@... Send a post to the list. coldfire-join@... Join the list. coldfire-digest@... Join the list in digest mode. coldfire-leave@... Leave the list.