FPGA Central

I'm doing a project using the 56300 family. I haven't programmed for this
chip family in many years. It used to be that the C compiler was Gnu based
and not very good. I've used other C compilers over the years for other chip
families with good results (except for time critical code which I eventually
code in assembly).

What are the vendors for quality C compilers for the 56300 besides Tasking?
Is there anything reasonably priced? The client for this project currently
does all coding in assembly, so I don't want to spend a ton of money before
I can demonstrate the productivity benefits of C for non time critical DSP
code.

Also, I've had very good luck on other projects writing PC based fixed point
C models for algorithms, using matlab as a "partner tool" for analysis and
test vector generation, and then porting that code to a DSP. I use a DSP
simulator to verify identical behavior between the PC and DSP based
implementations. I can continue to use this process to verifiction as I
translate the time critical code portions of the DSP implementation into
assembly. On the DSP simulator, I usually use C file IO libraries that run
in the simulator, but read and write test vectors on the PC.

I'd like to continue to use this strategy, but it requires at very least a
solid DSP simulator, and preferably a C file IO library that works in
concert with the simulator. I've downloaded the free "Suite56" simulator,
and that looks functional, but it also looks dated and unsupported. Does
anyone sell development suites which include the option to do the sort of
simulator based development that I'm describing? I don't see any reference
to a simulator on the Tasking site, although I am waiting for a call back
from the sales staff of their distribution company.

Another option is to use a hardware DSP emulator to do what I do with
simulator, streaming data into and out of the Jtag port. I am also
interested in vendors that support this type of operation, even though the
JTag port is usually a big data bottleneck.

Thanks for any help!

Please reply to my email address as well as the list?

- Andy Voelkel

"Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
<snipped>
> and that looks functional, but it also looks dated and unsupported. Does
> anyone sell development suites which include the option to do the sort of
> simulator based development that I'm describing? I don't see any reference
> to a simulator on the Tasking site, although I am waiting for a call back
> from the sales staff of their distribution company.

We use Tasking tools at my company and it comes with a simulator. I'm not
aware of any other company that sells development tools for Motorola DSPs
(and still supports it). We also use the JTAG emulator when working with the
hardware (which is most of the time).
I'm not sure why you had trouble finding information on the simulator
(probably due to terminology used).
http://www.tasking.com/products/dsp/dsp56xxx/
talks about the CrossView Debugger which can connect to a simulator or a
JTAG emulator.
Also the last line on this page indicates that you get the simulator with
the basic EDE and you need to get the emulator as an extra option.

Cheers
Bhaskar

> Another option is to use a hardware DSP emulator to do what I do with
> simulator, streaming data into and out of the Jtag port. I am also
> interested in vendors that support this type of operation, even though the
> JTag port is usually a big data bottleneck.
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Please reply to my email address as well as the list?
>
> - Andy Voelkel
>
>

That is great news about the tasking tools. I assume that since they say
they support "file system
simulation", that means that I can write calls to fopen, fread, fwrite, etc.
in my DSP code in order
to read and write files that are actually on the PC, and all this will work
in the simulator as well
as the emulator? That would be the best of all worlds!

- Andy


---- Original Message: -----

"Bhaskar Thiagarajan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:424de26c$0$43981$[email protected]..
> "Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
> <snipped>
>> and that looks functional, but it also looks dated and unsupported. Does
>> anyone sell development suites which include the option to do the sort of
>> simulator based development that I'm describing? I don't see any
>> reference
>> to a simulator on the Tasking site, although I am waiting for a call back
>> from the sales staff of their distribution company.
>
> We use Tasking tools at my company and it comes with a simulator. I'm not
> aware of any other company that sells development tools for Motorola DSPs
> (and still supports it). We also use the JTAG emulator when working with
> the
> hardware (which is most of the time).
> I'm not sure why you had trouble finding information on the simulator
> (probably due to terminology used).
> http://www.tasking.com/products/dsp/dsp56xxx/
> talks about the CrossView Debugger which can connect to a simulator or a
> JTAG emulator.
> Also the last line on this page indicates that you get the simulator with
> the basic EDE and you need to get the emulator as an extra option.
>
> Cheers
> Bhaskar
>
>> Another option is to use a hardware DSP emulator to do what I do with
>> simulator, streaming data into and out of the Jtag port. I am also
>> interested in vendors that support this type of operation, even though
>> the
>> JTag port is usually a big data bottleneck.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>> Please reply to my email address as well as the list?
>>
>> - Andy Voelkel
>>
>>
>
>

Hi Andy,

I'm working on a project where I'm implementing filters in various
DSP's and when I came across the 56300 family I had a hard time, like
you, finding a compiler/simulator. So I'm wondering if you ever found
out if Tasking's EDE contains a simulator? What I would like to do is
compile my C project, containing calls to fread() to get data to send
to my filter and finally simulate the program, counting clock cycles.
It kinda sounds like what you're trying to do, so I'm wondering if you
had any success?

I must say, being used to TI's Code Composer and Microchip's MPLab,
that Tasking's enviroment got me a little confused.

Thanks for any help!

/Torsten

"Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> That is great news about the tasking tools. I assume that since they say
> they support "file system
> simulation", that means that I can write calls to fopen, fread, fwrite, etc.
> in my DSP code in order
> to read and write files that are actually on the PC, and all this will work
> in the simulator as well
> as the emulator? That would be the best of all worlds!
>
> - Andy
>
>
> ---- Original Message: -----
>
> "Bhaskar Thiagarajan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:424de26c$0$43981$[email protected]..
> > "Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]..
> > <snipped>
> >> and that looks functional, but it also looks dated and unsupported. Does
> >> anyone sell development suites which include the option to do the sort of
> >> simulator based development that I'm describing? I don't see any
> >> reference
> >> to a simulator on the Tasking site, although I am waiting for a call back
> >> from the sales staff of their distribution company.
> >
> > We use Tasking tools at my company and it comes with a simulator. I'm not
> > aware of any other company that sells development tools for Motorola DSPs
> > (and still supports it). We also use the JTAG emulator when working with
> > the
> > hardware (which is most of the time).
> > I'm not sure why you had trouble finding information on the simulator
> > (probably due to terminology used).
> > http://www.tasking.com/products/dsp/dsp56xxx/
> > talks about the CrossView Debugger which can connect to a simulator or a
> > JTAG emulator.
> > Also the last line on this page indicates that you get the simulator with
> > the basic EDE and you need to get the emulator as an extra option.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Bhaskar
> >
> >> Another option is to use a hardware DSP emulator to do what I do with
> >> simulator, streaming data into and out of the Jtag port. I am also
> >> interested in vendors that support this type of operation, even though
> >> the
> >> JTag port is usually a big data bottleneck.
> >>
> >> Thanks for any help!
> >>
> >> Please reply to my email address as well as the list?
> >>
> >> - Andy Voelkel
> >>
> >>
> >
> >

Torsten,

I was googling around for info on what other people are doing with th
TASKING DSP56 software (I am trying to find other case study info on ho
various projects have been ported from the GNU tools to TASKING), and thi
thread showed up in the results.

I know it's been quite a while since you posted, but since you asked
question and no one else has answered I thought I would.

The TASKING DSP56 software comes with a tool called CrossView Pro which i
an Instruction Set Simulator and In-Circuit Debugger. Most users of th
tool actually connect to the physical chip via JTAG or a Parallel Por
cable from their PC and can download, run, step through code, se
breakpoints, view and edit register content etc. etc.

The debugger does indeed have a terminal window which means you can rea
and write data to the host using C stdio (i.e. printf, scanf, etc.) Bu
the compiler and libraries allow you to write your own re-director fo
stdio anyway, so you may opt to have things written to or read from say
an RS232 port.

Yes, I am from Altium and I am a support engineer for the tool (though
am fairly new to it, I must admit), so I hope this doesn't seem too muc
like a "pitch" but I just wanted to help out with the information I d
have.

Hope it helps you and whoever else happens to read this thread...

Best Regards,
Ben Jordan.

>Hi Andy,
>
>I'm working on a project where I'm implementing filters in various
>DSP's and when I came across the 56300 family I had a hard time, like
>you, finding a compiler/simulator. So I'm wondering if you ever found
>out if Tasking's EDE contains a simulator? What I would like to do is
>compile my C project, containing calls to fread() to get data to send
>to my filter and finally simulate the program, counting clock cycles.
>It kinda sounds like what you're trying to do, so I'm wondering if you
>had any success?
>
>I must say, being used to TI's Code Composer and Microchip's MPLab,
>that Tasking's enviroment got me a little confused.
>
>Thanks for any help!
>
>/Torsten
>
>"Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in messag
news:<[email protected]>...
>> That is great news about the tasking tools. I assume that since the
say
>> they support "file system
>> simulation", that means that I can write calls to fopen, fread, fwrite
etc.
>> in my DSP code in order
>> to read and write files that are actually on the PC, and all this wil
work
>> in the simulator as well
>> as the emulator? That would be the best of all worlds!
>>
>> - Andy
>>
>>
>> ---- Original Message: -----
>>
>> "Bhaskar Thiagarajan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:424de26c$0$43981$[email protected]..
>> > "Comcast news server" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> > news:[email protected]..
>> > <snipped>
>> >> and that looks functional, but it also looks dated and unsupported
Does
>> >> anyone sell development suites which include the option to do th
sort of
>> >> simulator based development that I'm describing? I don't see any
>> >> reference
>> >> to a simulator on the Tasking site, although I am waiting for a cal
back
>> >> from the sales staff of their distribution company.
>> >
>> > We use Tasking tools at my company and it comes with a simulator. I'
not
>> > aware of any other company that sells development tools for Motorol
DSPs
>> > (and still supports it). We also use the JTAG emulator when workin
with
>> > the
>> > hardware (which is most of the time).
>> > I'm not sure why you had trouble finding information on th
simulator
>> > (probably due to terminology used).
>> > http://www.tasking.com/products/dsp/dsp56xxx/
>> > talks about the CrossView Debugger which can connect to a simulato
or a
>> > JTAG emulator.
>> > Also the last line on this page indicates that you get the simulato
with
>> > the basic EDE and you need to get the emulator as an extra option.
>> >
>> > Cheers
>> > Bhaskar
>> >
>> >> Another option is to use a hardware DSP emulator to do what I d
with
>> >> simulator, streaming data into and out of the Jtag port. I am also
>> >> interested in vendors that support this type of operation, even
though
>> >> the
>> >> JTag port is usually a big data bottleneck.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for any help!
>> >>
>> >> Please reply to my email address as well as the list?
>> >>
>> >> - Andy Voelkel
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>