Out in Front: April 11, 1996

The modular Sherlock 960 emulator from Step Engineering allows designers to investigate software errors in i960 Cx, Hx, Jx, and RP designs. The device combines a generalized core of hardware and software with processor-specific feature cards and probes. The feature cards allow scaling of the device's capabilities and price (starting at $10,000). The probes use bond-out chip technology to achieve maximum emulator speeds.

Sherlock readily toggles between high-level language and bit-level hardware views of software execution. In addition to correlating source and assembly code, the device time-stamps execution traces, tracks register values and breakpoints, and detects memory-allocation errors. It can also perform real-time reconstruction of cache-based program execution.

The emulator can also function both as a logic-state analyzer and a performance analyzer. As a logic analyzer, Sherlock permits multiple-range breakpoints, 16 levels of triggering and storage control, and range match words. Its performance analysis includes frequency and time histograms of program execution and measurements of minimum, mean, and maximum execution times for program elements.

—by Richard A Quinnell

Step Engineering, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 733-7837.