Catalina/Blackcat problem
Tracam
Posts: 2
Hi, I am trying to debug in Catalina but when I try to run "Tools>Download to Hub Ram and debug with Blackcat", after I enter the Com Port number, I get a pop up window titles "Major oops..." and a message "The Propeller is running !!!" " The debugger cannot control a running program."
Can anyone tell me what is causing the problem and how to fix it. I can run and receive printf messages in release mode
Thanks
Can anyone tell me what is causing the problem and how to fix it. I can run and receive printf messages in release mode
Thanks
Comments
Welcome to the forums. Technically, you are not supposed to double post. It probably would have been better if you had bumped your previous thread. You likely didn't get a reply because nobody has anything helpful to contribute, and RossH (Catalina's creator) wasn't around.
I don't have any experience with Blackcat, so this is all guessing. Since the Propeller doesn't have interrupts, computer side programs have only one guaranteed option to gain control of the Propeller: a hard reset using the DTR line. This wipes out the RAM, however.
In the case of debugging, it's usually a two step process. First, you have to download the program with the debugging interface installed. Then, you have to "connect" the debugger to the Propeller. The computer would do this by sending a command to the Propeller, and the debugging interface on the Propeller would respond with a reply.
I suspect that your program is compiled and/or downloaded without that debugging interface. That's where I would look first.
The Propeller also has PropellerGCC, with a version of the GDB debugger in the p2test branch. It's described in this thread, which may provide some help for your situation.
Sorry I've not been around recently. In case you haven't solved it yet, the problem is most likely interference on the serial port between the debugger and the program itself - for example, if you are compiling your program to use the PC HMI option. This has caused problems for others who did not realize there is a potential conflict here - just recompile your program with another HMI option (e.g. TV or VGA).
Ross.