Re: [avr-chat] JTAG Debug

[Steve Franks]

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 5:27 PM, Peter LaDow <address@hidden> wrote:

Well, I've got a board based upon the ATmega2561 that I've just
received the boards for.  I'm now in the process of assembling the
boards, and soon will be debugging code I have for the device.  I've
used GCC and AVaRICE/GDB to do work in the past, and have enjoyed it.

The only problem now though is that I no longer have access to my
JTAGICE MkII.  I've switched jobs, and I had to give back my pod I was
using.  And looking at the price of the MkII, I'm shocked ($300!).
Well, I guess I shouldn't be since $300 is paltry for companies.  But
for the hobbyist, like me, it is a bit pricey.

So looking at the alternatives for debugging I find only the AVR
Dragon (at least on the Atmel site).  But the AVR Dragon only supports
debugging of devices with 32k or less of flash, which isn't
appropriate for my device.

So, are there other alternatives?  Or am I going to have to bite the
bullet and fork out the $300 for the MkII?

Seems to me I've heard of several clones out there, can't recall the name of any unfortunatly, but maybe a google search constrained to the site of the avr list archives, or avrfreaks.net would turn one up...

I'm not overly pleased with the jtagice anyway - I have 3 all with dead flex cables (I hope) that I haven't got around to fixing - debug devices should be a bit more durable...

There has also been some work in avrdude for supporting third party ftdi ft2232-based jtag tools for ISP, but I haven't heard any movement as far as debugging, and I think it has to be over spi, not jtag pins.  If anyone ever took up the gauntlet, the prefferred open-source tool for processor debugging at the moment is called "openocd" - gets alot of press in ARM (i.e. SAM7) circles.

Steve