What IDE debugging tools are available form OMAP35x?

Juan,

If ARM Cortex-A8 dev. work is the concern, do you know the pro-cons btw CCS v3.3 and RealView Dev. tools? Is CCS as capable in Cortex-A8 (including NEON) code gen/profiling/simulation/debugging. etc?

Also wondering, I remembered I saw some CCS v3.3 Beta versions that can be configured to support OMAP35x-based emulation, but no option to compile/build for Cortex. Is it in need of an upgrade?

thanks a lot.

CCS can be used to debug both ARM (at low level) and DSP; however, CCS 3.3 is not Linux Aware hence you can only debug ARM at a very low-level.  CCS v4 Beta (now available) has some Linux awareness but it is still fairly new and in Beta so I am not sure I would recommended quite yet.  For more information on CCS v4, see http://tiexpressdsp.com/index.php/Category:Code_Composer_Studio_v4

Realview has very good support for ARM CortexA8 and NEON and it is Linux aware, but you cannot use it to debug DSP.

Juan,

thanks for your reply and pointer.

I've been running CCS v3.3.38.2 with Code Generation Tools v4.5.2 (TMS470 ARM) with following flags:

-g -pdsw225 -o3 -fr"$(Proj_dir)\Debug" -d"_DEBUG" -me -mf -mv7a8 --abi=ti_arm9_abi --neon --gcc --verbose --vectorize

However, I can not use ARM NEON intrinsics in the code. Header file arm_neon.h can not be found in CGT or in CCS installations.(also checked CGT v4.4.16)

I searched forum and seems people use arm_neon.h/neon intrinsics only under linux/code soursery-type environments.

Does this mean the CCS v3.3's compiler support for Cortex-NEON only in vectorization and assembly-generation, but not NEON intrinscis? and therefore better follow Linux/code sourcery/RealView path as suggested above?

If it's the case, will CCS v4 bring change on this front?

Thanks.

Juan,

I am using omap-l137. What is your recommended linux aware debugging tool (CodeSourcery or Devrocket)?

Thanks,

Davidz

David Zachariah said:

I am using omap-l137. What is your recommended linux aware debugging tool (CodeSourcery or Devrocket)?

This is a though one; OMAP-L1 is based on ARM9, hence both tools should have good supoort for this part.  I would recommend you contact both vendors and see what they have to offer with regards to support and experience working with OMAP-L1 customers.

Juan,

It looks like Timesys offers package somewhere between CodeSourcery and Devrocket. Do you have any comment with regard to Timesys (Timestorm IDE)?

Thanks,

Davidz

not really too familiar with timesys offering, but I did find the following article which appears to have a promotion code near the bottom that will allow you to try this tool for free (hopefully promotion code still works)

http://www.dspdesignline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217701932

We bought a subscription for $7K last November which is the only way you to use their eclipse based tool (Timestorm).  The tool integrates kernel and rootfs configuration into the IDE.  They also have a facilty for you to click and choose kernel versions and packages online and they build it for you so lots of headaches can be avoided.  However what they have is what they have so if you need packages outside list you are on your own.  The timestorm IDE tool is very capable but creates a learning curve of its own and has bugs in the code or documentation.  Also the subscription has to be renewed each year or the tool stops working.  I have found them to be EXTREMELY unresponsive to my questions.  We have hired a Linux consultant and moving to open embedded. 

For application level coding Timestorm is very efficient.  You can create project, write some app code, and start debugging on the target, much like MS Visual Studio.

Dick