February 2005, Issue 175

A Look at the M16C Lineup

SKP SAMPLES

Four new SKPs are available (see Table 3). All evaluation kits are programmed via the RTA-RoUSB-MON, which is a USB programmer/in-circuit debugger. (This uses a Renesas 740 family USB microcontroller.) The debugging monitor will require, in most cases, 128 bytes at the top of RAM and 1.5 KB just below the user-fixed vector area to do its thing. Power for the SKP comes from the USB connection, so a bulky external power supply isn’t needed. This USB2.0 programming adapter can write 256 KB of flash memory in approximately 25 s. It connects to the microcontroller via a 10-pin ribbon cable and makes use of Renesas’s standard boot program.

KD30 handles debugging on the PC. This debugger, in conjunction with the USB programmer/debugger, allows the program being tested to be single-stepped or run with software breakpoints. You can view and alter program code, both register banks, flash memory, and RAM. Multiple watch windows are available to display local and global variables.

KD30 supports call stack, input and output windows, and real-time OS status. One of the most powerful functions in KD30 is the script function. Scripts can help automate the debugging process. KD30 can be invoked from the HEW environment, which integrates tools such as the editor, compiler, assembler, linker, librarian, and the debugger.