Debugging Beagle with an XDS100

Debugging Beagle with an XDS100

As the Beagle Board is a very low cost development board ($149), many users would like to be able to debug it with a low cost emulator (<$100).

For debugging the Cortex-A8 core, see Linux Debug in CCSv5.

The article below walks through the steps to be able to debug the DSP on the Beagle Board using a free version of Code Composer Studio v4. We will try to mention the costs wherever necessary and any potential pitfalls that you might run in to.

Materials Needed

Item	Supplier	Cost	Example
Beagle Board	Digi Key	$149	DigiKey
SD/MMC Memory Card	Various	$13.99 (2GB)	Best Buy
SD/MMC USB Reader	Various	$18.99 (6-in-1)	Best Buy
USB100	Various	$79	Spectrum Digital

Download and Install CCSv4

You can find the details and download locations for Code Composer Studio CCSv4 Here. You MUST use CCSv4.0.2 or later in order to be able to debug Beagle with an XDS100. Prior versions of CCS4 contain a bug that prevents this from working properly.

Preparing the Device for Debug

At the time of this writing, debugging of ARM devices is not supported on the XDS100. The focus of this article will be on how to debug the 64x+ core on a Beagle, while bypassing the ARM with the debugger. At board power up, the 64x+ core is held in reset by the ARM. In order to debug the 64+, it must be brought out of reset by an application on the ARM. The details of exactly how to accomplish this will be left to the user.

Automatically Releasing the 64x+ From Reset At Boot Time

Boot the Card and Automatically bring the 64x+ out of reset. At the current time, these details are left to the user.

This page needs additional information about Steps to automatically release Beagle Board from reset at Boot.

Configuring CCSv4 To Allow Debug of 64x+

As of CCSv4.0.2, the release should contain a file called tixds100c64xp.xml in the %INSTALL_DIR%\ccsv4\common\targetdb\drivers directory. If that file is not there, you can create one by following the instructions Here.

CCSv4 target Configuration

Prior to launching CCSv4, extract the attached .zip file into the location where your .ccxml files are stored. Typically, this is in Documents and Settings\"Username"\user\CCSTargetConfigurations. Adding this file here will make CCS recognize this target when we launch the debugger a few steps later.

The .zip file can be found here File:BeagleBoardXDS100.zip

Connecting to the Target

Now that CCS configured and the DSP is automatically taken out of reset, boot the beagle board and launch CCS. Once CCS has opened, take the following steps.

1. Select the target configurations menu (View->Target Configurations)
2. Right Click on the BeagleBoardXDS100.ccxml listing (Under User Defined Boards)
3. Choose "Launch Selected Configuration"
4. Close the Target Configurations Menu
5. In the debug menu shown below, Select the 64x+ Device (It's likely already selected)
6. Select Target->Connect Target from the top menu.
7. The target should now be connected and halted. You should be able to open memory and disassembly windows and debug as you would any target with any emulator.

See Also

• http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard/wiki/BeagleBoardShoppingList