New debugger - UCDebug

I spied this: https://github.com/fuentesp/UCDebug

Might be of interest to some on here?

Fascinating, and also originates in Spain at University of Cantabria which isn’t on my “known RISC OS hotspots” list. All of which is brilliant because it means that more people are doing stuff with RISC OS :)

Note that on my Iyonix it gives:
Error : &0081A43A
Message: Build settings used to create this program require at least an ARM Architecture 6 CPU at runtime.

Whilst it would be nice if it reported such (eg. check for VFPsupport in the !Run file or something), it’s to be expected that new software would probably be targetted to modern hardware.

Indeed, I’d argue that we’re really creating a rod for our own back with hardware that is (approx) 15 years old. Would you believe that even the Beagleboard/ARMini (ARMv7) is roughly 10 years old?

Certainly, with a ROD hat on, our software projects will target ARMv7+ unless they’re simple enough that there would be no benefit from embracing the newer hardware.

Would you believe that even the Beagleboard/ARMini (ARMv7) is roughly 10 years old?

And, yet, a more up to date core than the original Pi. ;-)

our software projects will target ARMv7+ unless they’re simple enough that there would be no benefit from embracing the newer hardware.

Unless you’re using assembler or expecting NEON or somesuch, why are you targeting new hardware? Wouldn’t it be better to target the most recent incarnation of RISC OS?

That’s my approach. Things are written to work on RO5. If it works on older, good. If not then “tant pis” as the French would say…

UCDebug seems to be targeted specifically at ELF binaries and is one itself. (Filetype ELF isn’t recognized on my RO 5.24 Pi2. I guess I’d need the whole GCC4 toolchain.)

Just found a tutorial on youtube for !UCDebug Mind you it is in Spanish but you will give you a indication of its capacities.

The author also has an other youtube video about RISC OS on the raspberry pi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NXbGvGWqqU&list=PLpO-92iY38cgHCAPzYX2_5DJ1iwb9f6ne also in Spanish ofcourse.

Hi everyone! I am one of the developers of the code, and the person in charge of the GitHub repository. I would like to give some insight about the current design decisions:
- This debugger was born due to a teaching project to update the curriculum of the computer architecture courses in the B. Sc.s in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Cantabria. The project has transitioned the lectures and lab lessons from MIPS to ARM for two main reasons: it is a more attractive architecture, and it allows students to work on their own with a limited budget (as stated in the comments, it is mainly targeted at the Raspberry Pi).
- We chose RISC OS because we wanted an OS that gave plenty of allowance to play with the hardware, to be suitable for an educational environment without having to resort to bare metal. Similarly, we selected the Raspberry Pi 1B+ instead of newer models because of the available documentation. However, we found that the native debugger is not exactly user-friendly. Hence, our effort to develope a debugger with a GUI.
- Since our resources are somehow limited (currently it is only 3 people, plus the head of the project and a few beta-testers) and this is still an ongoing project, we have focused on the hardware that we are using in our courses. However, it would be interesting to further develope to support other cases, although I am unsure whether older HW should be in that path. That said, to run in Iyonix it might be sufficient to comment the use of VFP instructions in the assembler code (it can be ignored if you do not plan to use the VFP) and removing those flags at the Makefile. And we will have a look at adding a checking in the Makefile/compile files to warn a user off.
- On a similar note, the tutorial is currently only in Spanish because it was made for our students, and in a bit of a hurry. Since the version described is a bit old, we should update it and we will definitely translate it to English. Documentation is also lacking.
- Once the debugger has reached a bit more maturity, we would also like to explore the possibility of offering it as an official package (available in PackMan). I would like to thank you (also in behalf of my colleagues) for the comments and feedback. As you have said, more people are currently using RISC OS, and we would like to be part of the community. :)

Kool. Though before I try it there is still the question of AIF support? Everything I write on RISC OS is compiled to AIF, no ELFs here (unless you count NetSurf and gcc toolchain itself).

Glad to see another region embracing the use of RISC OS where it fits.

It is great to see RISC OS being of use in your university course. I hope your students find it fun.

This is fantastic – I’m really happy to learn about this project!

The 8 page paper by Pablo et.al. is here. Its title translates to “Low-cost technology to motivate the student”, so one cautiously hopes that his students are motivated to use more of low-cost RISC OS than just this machine code debugger!

The paper is in Spanish, but Google Translate makes an almost perfect job of rendering its Abstract into English — mirroring, of course, what Pablo says in his post above.

The video of Pablo’s excellent talk at the London Show is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AT5TnfUgxs&t=1s

I am writing an article summarising Pablo’s talk about !UCDebug for Archive magazine. If anyone here can provide an example of its use in anger, e.g. a couple of real life screen shots, that would add relevance to the article. Any offers?