Post by thread:[PIC:] Emulators

Good day to you! I'm a real beginner in PIC programming, but I'm really trying my best to learn and be good in PIC programming. Please, would anyone be willing to teach me what an emulator is for? Thank you very much. Best regards. ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

An emulator allows you to use your PC to run the program that would normally run on the PIC. It should allow you to run the program at something like normal speed, and also to run each instruction slowly so that you can see how the program works. Emulators also allow you to examine the chip's registers and outputs as the program runs, and some emulators also simulate hardware (like LEDs etc.) plugged into the chip. This all saves you having to build a circuit, program the chip and then not know why your program doesn't work. If you have a nice new browser, you can try out the Emulator and Assembler I've written that runs online. It's at: http://www.feersumtechnology.com/picem/ I hope this helps. A.T. "Jose S. Samonte Jr." wrote: {Quote hidden}> > Good day to you! > I'm a real beginner in PIC programming, but I'm really trying my best to learn > and be good in PIC programming. > Please, would anyone be willing to teach me what an emulator is for? > Thank you very much. > Best regards. > > ____________________________________________________________________ > Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- Email: spam_OUTAndyTakeThisOuTfeertech.demon.co.uk Tel: +44 780 1104989 (mobile) Web: http://www.feertech.demon.co.uk Tel: +44 1223 510994 (home) -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

>A PIC emulator is a program that pretends to be a PIC so that you can run a >PIC program on it to see if it will work on a real PIC. With the bonuses of >seeing what happens to ports, RAM and internal settings (like the status >register) at each program step. What I normally call an "emulator" is an "in-circuit emulator", which is a piece of hardware that plugs into your circuit in place of the micro. It then becomes the micro, but is under the control of your pc (usually via MPLAB). It is intended to behave just like the real thing, with the troubleshooting benefits of being able to stop execution (break points), look at file registers, etc. A program (i.e. done only in software) that does this is called a "simulator" in MPLAB. I like the simulator when working on code elements that only affect the file registers (e.g. math routines). However, for anything that affects the ports and other peripherals, the emulator is the only way to go (if you can afford it - they're not cheap). -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

Actually, at Microchip, an In Circuit Emulator is a hardware devices that "emulates" the actual PICmicro that will be embedded in the application, and which generally runs at full speed, and can deal with all the peripherals that the actual microcontroller has. It connects to the target firmware and allows debugging, tracing of instruction flow, timing of real-time events, and often has complex circuitry to respond to real time events so that breakpoints can be set when particular events or sequences of events occur in a real time application. Simulators, on the other hand, are software programs that "simulate" the actual operation of the PICmicro. Simulators can be made to run very fast, but usually, if they are asked to do complex things like keep track of timers, respond to simulated I/O, and so forth, run much slower than the actual silicon. Simulators are mostly useful for checking out software algorithms and for "sanity checking" your basic program flow. Some people, as you can see from the responses so far, also refer to simulators as "emulators," so when talking about hardware emulators, you'll just see the term "ICE" for In-Circuit Emulator. A trade-off between the two is In Circuit Debuggers which uses some special capabilities built into the target micros to do debugging with the real silicon. These can run in real time, but do not have the sophisticated capabilities of In Circuit Emulators. These are simpler to implement, and as a result, much cheaper than hardware emulators. You'll see these for some of the newer Microchip flash parts, such as the 16F876. Darrel Johansen -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

That is a SIMULATOR. An EMULATOR is real hardware that plugs into your circuit. SIMULATORs are often very inexpensive or free (One comes free as part of MPLAB and is very good). EMULATORs usually cost big $$. Andy Andrew Toone <.....andyKILLspam@spam@FEERTECH.DEMON.CO.UK> on 01/18/2001 02:06:23 AM Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU> To: .....PICLISTKILLspam.....MITVMA.MIT.EDU cc: (bcc: Andrew Kunz/TDI_NOTES) Subject: Re: [PIC:] Emulators An emulator allows you to use your PC to run the program that would normally run on the PIC. It should allow you to run the program at something like normal speed, and also to run each instruction slowly so that you can see how the program works. Emulators also allow you to examine the chip's registers and outputs as the program runs, and some emulators also simulate hardware (like LEDs etc.) plugged into the chip. This all saves you having to build a circuit, program the chip and then not know why your program doesn't work. If you have a nice new browser, you can try out the Emulator and Assembler I've written that runs online. It's at: http://www.feersumtechnology.com/picem/ I hope this helps. A.T. "Jose S. Samonte Jr." wrote: {Quote hidden}> > Good day to you! > I'm a real beginner in PIC programming, but I'm really trying my best to learn > and be good in PIC programming. > Please, would anyone be willing to teach me what an emulator is for? > Thank you very much. > Best regards. > > ____________________________________________________________________ > Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- Email: EraseMEAndyspam_OUTTakeThisOuTfeertech.demon.co.uk Tel: +44 780 1104989 (mobile) Web: http://www.feertech.demon.co.uk Tel: +44 1223 510994 (home) -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads