American Arium has added ARM and XScale target processor support to two JTAG emulators that work with Linux-based embedded designs. Arium's SC-1000A or LC-500 JTAG emulators and the “Linux-aware” SourcePoint 6.1 software that drives them enable programmers to debug kernel and application code simultaneously,… according to Arium, even on headless systems lacking network or serial connections.

(Click for larger view of SC-1000A JTAG emulator)

The SourcePoint software utilizes Debug Communication Channel (DCC) hardware to communicate over the JTAG port with code on the target, eliminating the need for a serial or network connection. It includes a graphical user interface based on SlickEdit.

Additional features listed by Arium include:

• Symbolic, source-level debugging of Linux kernel code
• Source-level debugging of Linux embedded applications, including the ability to start or stop Linux processes, attach to a process, view source and symbols for a process, and set breakpoints within a process
• Specialized breakpoints to stop the execution of a process without stopping the processor or causing it to enter debug mode
• Real-time execution trace of ARM-powered and Intel XScale processors by allowing the user to cross-reference trace information back to original source code
• Linux console hosting devices from within SourcePoint, eliminating the need for a serial port or video device on the target and simplifying the debugging of” headless” targets

“There is immense value to driver and kernel developers to see their source code execute on a line-by-line basis and see inside processor functions,” said Product Marketing Manager Todd Selbo.

CEO Larry Traylor said, “In the past, there was no easy way to debug interactions between applications and the kernel because there was little or no visibility until kernel and console drivers were working. With Arium's flagship SourcePointh debugger, developers can see everything from the launch of kernel boot code through the beginning of the initial process, even on 'headless' targets.”

 
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