Debugging the debugger

The debug monitor was developed principally using simulation. With the debug monitor being simulated in the Virtual Workshop, a Virtual Workshop extension directed the serial I/O of the debug monitor to one of the PC's serial ports. In a second instance of the Embedded Development Studio, the Virtual Workshop operating in remote debugger mode was used to debug a sample program. This used the second of the PC's serial ports. The two serial ports were then connected together. This configuration allows source level debugging by simulation of the debug monitor.

The Virtual Workshop extension that handles the debug monitor's serial i/o is included in the bin directory of the debug monitor project. This is set up to use COM2 at a baud rate of 19200 and a configuration of 8:N:1 with no handshaking. If you step into the debug monitor in simulation mode it will automatically use this extension and use COM2 for it's I/O.

The normal timeouts for communicating with the debug monitor are not appropriate for when running with a simulating debug monitor. The timeouts can be changed via the Comms Settings menu. Select the Debug tab and enter alternative timeout values or simply click on the Set Simulation Timeouts button. Use the Restore Defaults button then you have finished simulating.