Table of Contents        Previous topic       Next topic       

I/O via Host PC->Overview

The Crossware ARM debugger allows the ARM program executing on the target board to communicate with it via the debug communication channel (DCC).  This is exploited to allow ARM programs to send and receive character I/O to and from the debugger and also to allow ARM programs to create,  read and write files on the host PC.

In addition, by simulating the ARM instructions that read and write to the debug communication channel, these I/O processes are supported during simulation too.

Special versions of putch(), getch(), fopen(), fread(), fwrite() and fclose() are provided in the Crossware library.  These will be automatically linked with your program if they are required and if you do not provide alternative versions.  These special versions will communicate with the debugger across the ARM's debug communication channel (DCC) using a Crossware defined protocol.

Note that the Cortex cores do not feature a debug communication channel and so this method of communication is not available when debugging microcontrollers that use a Cortex core.