Virtual Board based on ARC nSIM

Introduction

The DesignWare® ARC® nSIM Instruction Set Simulator provides an instruction accurate processor model for the DesignWare ARC processor families. Such processor models take the software development out of your products’ critical path by enabling an early start as well as increased efficiency through enhanced visibility and control. A basic test environment for nSIM is implemented in embARC, where hostlink IO is used for message input and output. ARC related functions can be tested using nSIM such as internal timer, cache module, interrupt and exception module.

Note

Metaware license is required to install nSIM or Metaware IDE for nSIM simulation.

How to Run in embARC

For example, go to example/baremetal/arc_feature/timer_interrupt, then build this application for nSIM - 10 - arcem using MetaWare or ARC GNU toolchain. Here are the steps for running or debugging this application in nSIM.

Using the MetaWare toolchain

Here are the steps for MetaWare toolchain, running in nSIM environment.

• Step 1: Open one command terminal in this application folder.

• Step 2: Build and run this application using this command: gmake BOARD=nsim BD_VER=10 CUR_CORE=arcem TOOLCHAIN=mw run

The following output will be printed on the console:

-----------------------------------------------------------
 ____                                _ ____
|  _ \ _____      _____ _ __ ___  __| | __ ) _   _
| |_) / _ \ \ /\ / / _ \ '__/ _ \/ _` |  _ \| | | |
|  __/ (_) \ V  V /  __/ | |  __/ (_| | |_) | |_| |
|_|   \___/ \_/\_/ \___|_|  \___|\__,_|____/ \__, |
                                             |___/
                     _       _    ____   ____
       ___ _ __ ___ | |__   / \  |  _ \ / ___|
      / _ \ '_ ` _ \| '_ \ / _ \ | |_) | |
     |  __/ | | | | | |_) / ___ \|  _ <| |___
      \___|_| |_| |_|_.__/_/   \_\_| \_\\____|
------------------------------------------------------------

embARC Build Time: Apr  3 2018, 14:13:50
Compiler Version: Metaware, 4.2.1 Compatible Clang 4.0.1 (branches/release_40)
ARC timer and interrupt
interrupt number:8, extern interrupts:6, interrupt priorities:16, fiq enabled
timer 0 is present
cnt:2719
timer 1 is present
cnt:106634
timer0 interrupt with the highest priority(fiq if fiq enabled):1
timer0 interrupt with the highest priority(fiq if fiq enabled):2
stop timer0, cnt:20
timer1 interrupt:1
timer1 interrupt:2
stop timer1, cnt:19
enable timer 0 watchdog
---end----

Using the ARC GNU toolchain

If you want to run or debug embARC application using the ARC GNU toolchain, you also need to install nSIM tool.

• Make sure that you have installed nSIM tool to your OS, and you can run nsimdrv command in command line.

• For running or debugging embARC application using the ARC GNU toolchain, you need to run two commands in two command terminals, here take nsim-10-arcem core configuration for application example/baremetal/arc_feature/timer_interrupt.

  • Step 1: Open two command terminals in this application folder.

  • Step 2: Start nsim debug server using this command:make BOARD=nsim BD_VER=10 CUR_CORE=arcem TOOLCHAIN=gnu nsim

  • Step 3: Run or debug this application using this command: make BOARD=nsim BD_VER=10 CUR_CORE=arcem TOOLCHAIN=gnu run

  • Step 4: Exit the debug process by exiting these two commands.

The following output will be printed on the console:

-----------------------------------------------------------
 ____                                _ ____
|  _ \ _____      _____ _ __ ___  __| | __ ) _   _
| |_) / _ \ \ /\ / / _ \ '__/ _ \/ _` |  _ \| | | |
|  __/ (_) \ V  V /  __/ | |  __/ (_| | |_) | |_| |
|_|   \___/ \_/\_/ \___|_|  \___|\__,_|____/ \__, |
                                             |___/
                     _       _    ____   ____
       ___ _ __ ___ | |__   / \  |  _ \ / ___|
      / _ \ '_ ` _ \| '_ \ / _ \ | |_) | |
     |  __/ | | | | | |_) / ___ \|  _ <| |___
      \___|_| |_| |_|_.__/_/   \_\_| \_\\____|
------------------------------------------------------------

embARC Build Time: Apr  3 2018, 14:18:28
Compiler Version: ARC GNU, 7.1.1 20170710
ARC timer and interrupt
interrupt number:8, extern interrupts:6, interrupt priorities:16, fiq enabled
timer 0 is present
cnt:13357
timer 1 is present
cnt:195664
timer0 interrupt with the highest priority(fiq if fiq enabled):1
timer0 interrupt with the highest priority(fiq if fiq enabled):2
stop timer0, cnt:10
timer1 interrupt:1
timer1 interrupt:2
stop timer1, cnt:9
enable timer 0 watchdog
---end----

Note

For the ARC GNU toolchain, you need to run two commands to debug or run application in nSIM. Most middleware packages in embARC are not supported with nSIM since there is no external peripheral for nSIM.