Hello,

Thank you for your explanation and advice, now I think I understand better the difference between emulators and evaluation boards.

But now, I have a new question:

I am developing the firmware for a control panel. This control panel has the next components:
-LCD (320x240 pixels)
-Touch Screen
-USB Interface
-Serial Line interface
...etc

So it has the following controllers:
-W81E381AD microcontroller (8052+usb full speed)
-Weltrend´s touchscreen controller
-S1D13305 graphic controller (formerly SED1335)
-...etc

The problem is that I only have the whole control panel with all those components integrated in a single board. So I don't know how I can use an emulator or an evaluation board, because I should take the microcontroller off the board (it's surface mount device), and try to connect it to the evaluation board and well, according to some people, that would be too difficult, so I had to develop the firmware with no hardware help. Keeping in mind that this has been my first firmware development project I should say it has been a bit difficult for me.
But now, (although it is a bit late) I would like to know your opinion about taking the microcontroller off the board and trying to connect it to some evaluation board or trying to "attach" an emulator to the control panel. (I am a computer science student and I dont know much about electronics).

I know you won't be able to give me details, I only want a general opinion, and to know if it is worth trying to do it.

Thank you very much,

Xavier de Vicente