Tektronix has announced two new support packages for its TLA series logic analysers. The new tool sets, which, according to the company, join more than 535 processor and bus support packages already serving the TLA family, support the Intel Pentium 4 processor, which is ideally suited for high-end computer designs, and also the use of its TLA series logic analysers into the digital communications market.
With Pentium 4 processors expected to become a building block for emerging Internet technologies, high performance graphics and business applications, digital designers are now developing systems with Pentium 4 devices. The new Pentium 4 support package addresses the needs of digital designers preparing for the transition to Intel's high-performance microprocessor by simplifying the task of acquiring and analysing both processor code and bus transactions.
"With the introduction of Intel Pentium 4 support, Tektronix continues its ongoing commitment to providing leading-edge verify and debug products for computer system developers," said Craig Overhage, Vice President, Digital Systems Business Unit.
The TMS114/TMSSw1 Pentium 4 support package includes a hardware 'interposer' board, software setup files and clocking instructions, as well as software disassembly and analysis tools. The new product will help engineers spot problems early in the design process, when they are easier to trace and resolve. Users can view processor activity and instructions in easily understood symbolic syntax or high-resolution timing bus waveforms, says Tektronix.
Communications development tool
"The second toolset provides solutions to speed communications infrastructure products to market," says Overhage, "The evolving communications infrastructure will depend on new embedded processor and bus technologies to deliver the promised next-generation features. These new TLA series support packages give our customers the tools they need to bring 'next generation' products to market in time to meet rising demand for new communication capabilities."
The new support packages simplify the verification and debug process for challenging high-speed communications bus designs, including complex multibus devices. The GBE-2500 Gigabit Ethernet and FCS-2000 fibre channel support packages include capture hardware and interconnect cabling as well as analysis software that provides detailed views of protocol commands, states and timing waveforms.
Tektronix has also enhanced its support packages for the Motorola PPC7400 and MPC8260 devices, both of which are expected to play a key role in next-generation communications infrastructure elements. The support packages for these devices have been upgraded with new instruction trace reconstruction (ITR) features that provide the engineer visibility of what is happening in the internal cache. An additional support package is available that addresses the Motorola M-Core 2107 processor, a device intended for use in information appliances.
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