Acronym Software Ltd : In-Circuit Debugger

Introduction

The Acronym Software In-Circuit Debugger (ICD) is a package of software and simple hardware which assists in debugging PIC 16F87X applications.
A typical example of a debug display is :


At the top left of the screen is the derivation tree for the PIC memory image. The PIC may be loaded with program and data segments from one or more .COD or .HEX files. In the former case, the .COD file contains details of thesources used for its construction. Double-clicking on a source file in thederivation tree brings up an editable display of the file.
Below the derivation tree is the status window. While debugging a program, this will display  the contents of PC, W and STATUS. It also shows the RAM address (if any) to be used by the next instruction, and its contents.
At the top right of the screen is the source window. This may be used for editing files,  and for stepping through source files in debug mode. It can also show a disassembly of the PIC program memory.
At the bottom of the screen is a Tab control, allowing the contents of RAM and EEROM to be displayed and altered. The contents of any values which have changed are displayed in red.

Hardware

The ICD is supplied with a simple piece of hardware, which plugs in between board under test and the processor chip

The board contains a 6-pin connector. A lead is supplied to connect this to a PC parallel port.

Resources

The ICD software currently runs on Windows (TM) 95 or 98 or ME. It uses I/O instructions, and will not therefore run on NT. If there is demand, an NT version will be produced.
ICD uses locations 1F00-1FFF on a PIC16F876/7, along with locations 7F and 16C-16F in the PIC RAM. Ports RB6 and RB7, and MCLR are controlled by the debug hardware. Power is obtained from the circuit being debugged. The Vpp voltage is generated and controlled by the debugger.
ICD connects to the PIC via the parallel port. The hardware consists of 1xTTL chip ad a few Rs, Cs and Ds.

Further Information

For further information on ICD, contact Acronym Software Ltd by completing the form below