Yes, I didn't respond to your "time-warp" comment because it completely misses the point of my inquiry. I'm not looking for a new MCU. I'm looking for a resident debug monitor, the primary function of which is to find problems that come up after the hardware is already in place.

I have occasional mod's that have to be made when configuration changes demand it. When I have a long-time client, who, like myself, has been using a system for many years, is, overall, happy with the way in which it has served, and needs a minor change, generally necessitated by the addition of new equipment, I don't rip out the entire control system in order to make the necessary mod's. I'm not going to replace an old Multibus-I system with a PC or whatever just to please folks born after the system was installed.

New systems require appropriate technology but the old ones that still function more or less satisfactorily don't need to be replaced.

Since most of my app's are in volumes too small to warrant majore design/fabrication efforts, I generally use off-the-shelf equipment whenever possible. Many new boards support JTAG, but that doesn't guarantee they fit the application.

Whenever an application requires considerable custom logic, I use soft-cores in FPGA. Those are unsupportable with the ICE hardware I already have, but certainly respond to JTAG. The fact that I have to tools with which to do that doesn't help with the older installations that have to be kept up as their environment evolves.

If you are happy to serve your clients by replacing existing hardware with new hardware unproven in that environment, then I suppose that's what you'll do. That doesn't work for all my clients. Just the downtime required in order to reconfigure a controller makes it difficult to modify the hardware. My clients don't want to idle their entire workforce just to accomodate the addition of another tool or system in their facility. When the old machines wear out, their electronics are replaced as well, but, so long as they're working, we nurse 'em along.

I haven't any problem keeping up with new stuff. However, those won't help me with maintaining the old stuff.

It's odd that when I asked whether there was a full-function debug monitor 'C'-source available for the 805x, all I got was comments ranging from "why?" to "how could you be so silly?" where a simple "No" would have done the job. Maybe that's why modern tools are so poorly engineered and supported. They're certainly well pitched.

RE