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TX386 is an entry-level in-circuit emulator for the members of the 80386-family, e.g. the 386EX. TX386 is operated by Soft-Scope for DOS or Soft-Scope for Windows, Products of Concurrent Sciences, Inc. (Csi).
TX386 contains emulation memory and may therefore be used standalone, i.e. no target hardware is required. This especially useful for evaluation purposes or at early project stages. The amount of emulation memory may be selected and ranges from 1 MB and 64 MB depending on the configuration ordered. The TX386 makes use of the monitor program by Csi. In combination with the TX386, however the monitor does not require target system memory, which differentiates TX386 from the Csi-tools-only approach, where target memory has to be supplied for monitor use. This monitor by Csi, together with a specific configuration of TX386, is software-loadable and stored in flash memory inside the TX386. After power on, the TX386 is thus ready to load the user application at once. If the configuration of the TX386 should change, or if a new version of the monitor program becomes available, only the flash memory has to be reprogrammed.
TX386 controls the connection of the lines RESET and READY from the target hardware to the emulation processor. If necessary, these lines can be interrupted to protect the emulation processor from erroneous signals from these lines. TX386 contains a hardware bus monitor, which is configurable to generate a READY-signal for the emulation processor, if after a 32 wait-states this signal is not generated by the target hardware itself. This prevents the emulation processor from being "hung" if it tries to access non-existing memory.
TX386 is connected by means of an adaptation board to the target, i.e. no communication channel is wasted to communicate with the host as it usually is the case when using a monitor. Adding in-circuit emulation features, the TX386 is a valuable tool for embedded system development. TX386 combines the leading debugger technology of Csi with the emulator know-how of Hitex.
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