CodeTAP, a source-level, runtime debugger for embedded systems using Intel's 8OC186/C188EA, XL, EB, and EC microprocessors, has been released by Applied Microsystems. CodeTAP provides a transparent window into the internal functioning of the processor for runtime debugging in the target environment. It requires no target memory space, I/0 ports, or interrupts, and quickly plugs into the target.
The components that make up CodeTAP are a Target Access Probe, an RS232 Communications Adapter, and the VALIDATE/Soft-Scope III windowed source-and assembly-level debugger. CodeTAP supports Intel, Microsoft, and Microtec Research C compilers and provides access to high-level data structures, arrays, and dynamic variables. It also provides eight hardware breakpoints, and software breakpoints are unlimited. You can single-step or operate at full clock speed up to 20 MHz with no wait states.
CodeTAP is available for PC hosts and costs $5995. Reader service no. 20.
Applied Microsystems Corp. 5020 148th Ave. NE Redmond, WA 98073-9702 800-426-3925 or 206-882-2000
Now available from DiagSoft is QAPlus/WIN, diagnostic software for systems running Windows 3. QAPlus/WIN provides tools for analyzing, testing, and tuning Windows configurations for optimum system performance.
You can view and edit files through more than 40 screens. The Windows section provides Windows-related configuration and setup information and allows you to edit specific files. QAPlus/WIN also includes a context-sensitive help system.
To test the entire system, you click on one of ten icons on a master test screen, selecting the motherboard, multimedia components, fax/modem cards, hard or floppy disk drives, keyboard, COM ports, printers, mouse, joystick, and so on. QAPlus/WIN follows a default or user-scripted series of pass/fail checks on each system component, then generates a summary of the errors encountered.
QAPlus/WIN retails for $159.95. Reader service no. 21.
DiagSoft Inc. 5615 Scotts Valley Drive, #140 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 408-438-8247
Open has released Aspect, software that allows a single application source to work with Motif, Open Look, Windows, and Macintosh. It also features a windowing system for character terminals that emulates a graphical user interface.
Aspect does not simulate look and feel, but instead works directly with the native toolbox. It provides a C-callable Application Programming Interface and an Interactive Design Tool (IDT) used to graphically design the user interface. The IDT and its resource database also let you delay binding parts of the user interface until run time, making it possible to customize the application's user interface without recompilation.
We spoke with a company that is using Aspect to build an interface for their UNIX product. They were impressed with the intuitive editor for the resource definition language, which they claimed boosted programmer productivity without compromising functionality. In addition, they believe Aspect has the most refined event-driven, object-oriented architecture for an open, portable API.
Aspect for Motif is shipping on several UNIX platforms; additional platforms and models will follow soon. Prices start at $795. Reader service no. 22.
Open Inc. 655 Southpointe Ct., Suite 200 Colorado Springs, CO 80906 719-527-9700
Two new C++ class libraries are now available from Rogue Wave Matrix.h++ and Linpack.h++. They extend C++ to include numerical algorithms previously available only in Fortran.
Both libraries are compatible with Rogue Wave's other C++ class libraries, Tools.h++ and Math.h++. Matrix.h++ includes all the functionality of Math.h++: general matrices, vectors, statistics, complex numbers, Fast Fourier Transformation, and so on. It adds specialized matrix classes such as banded, symmetric, positive-definite, Heritian, and triagonal, while taking advantage of Math.h++'s optimized low-level assembly routines.
Linpack.h++ includes all of Matrix.h++ and all the functionality of the original Fortran version: solutions of systems of equations for a variety of matrix types, solutions of over- and underdetermined systems of equations, incremental least squares solvers, and more.
Prices start at $199 for Matrix.h++ and $299 for Linpack.h++. Reader service no. 23.
Rogue Wave Software Inc. 1325 NW 9th St. Corvallis, OR 97330 503-757-2311
The Xenix 386 version of C4, Axon Development's object-oriented programming environment, has just been released. C4 combines the fast application development and prototyping facilities of a 4GL with the efficient packaging and reusability of object-oriented code.
C4 can be used as a low-level, general-purpose language as well as a high-level, application-oriented development system. Prebuilt building blocks make it easy to include advanced user-interface features such as mouse support, pop-up menus, dialog boxes, cut-and-paste, hypertext, file browsing, and ad hoc reporting. C4 supports incremental development: You can quickly build working prototypes, complete with menus, file access screens, reports, and so on. Easy development is further enhanced by the interactive programming environment, "instant" compiles, and flexible database features, including variable-length untyped fields and the ability to add fields at any time.
The Xenix version is compatible with MS-DOS versions and costs $1295. Reader service no. 24.
Axon Development Corp. 102-294 Venture Crescent Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 6M1 Canada 306-652-8202
Franklin Software is shipping RTX51, a real-time, multitasking operating system adapted to the I/O and memory characteristics of the 8051 family. RTX51's functions include preemptive and non-preemptive task scheduling, task prioritization, intertask communication, multiple-event management, internal and external ROM and RAM management, and access to all 8051 hardware, including timers and serial I/O.
RTX51 performs round-robin and preemptive task switching for up to 256 tasks and up to four scheduling priorities. An OS Wait function suspends task processing and waits for an interrupt, time-out, or message from a task or interrupt. Communications capabilities include a BITBUS interface available as an RTX51 task, allowing quick and easy design of microcontroller networks.
RTX51 uses Franklin C51 compiler features such as register parameter passing, reentrancy, typed pointers, and mixed-memory model capabilities that reduce code size and increase execution speed. RTX51 includes the BL51 Linker, which checks boundary conditions and creates task description tables.
An abbreviated version, RTXTINY, is available to run on single-chip 8051s without xdata memory requirements.
RTX51, including the BL51 Banking Linker and source code for RTXTINY, costs $1995; RTXTINY alone sells for $995. Reader service no. 25.
Franklin Software Inc. 888 Saratoga Ave., #2 San Jose, CA 95129 408-296-8051
Tom Swan's latest book, Turbo Pascal for Windows 3.0 Programming, has been published by Bantam. This is a guide to developing Windows 3 applications using the latest version of the Turbo Pascal compiler and is endorsed by Borland. The book includes detailed examples of event-driven programming code and gives insight into accessing Windows 3 features from the Turbo Pascal resource toolkit, using the Object Windows library, and controlling the Graphics Device Interface. Turbo Pascal for Windows 3.0 Programming has 768 pages and costs $29.95 (ISBN # 0553-35293-8). Reader service no. 26.
Bantam Electronic Publishing 666 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10103 212-492-9545
Interactive has released version 3.0 of its UNIX System V/386, Release 3.2 operating system. The new version has a redesigned user interface, additional hardware support, performance improvements, and internationalization support and retains compliance with ANSI C, USL SVID, POSIX 1003.1, and FIPS 151-1 standards.
The user interface features pull-down menus, pop-up dialog boxes and forms, and context-sensitive help. It is consistent throughout system installation, kernel configuration, disk copying, printer configuration, application installation, and addition of users. Furthermore, the Kernel Configuration package has been rewritten to be modular and extendable.
The International Supplement allows vendors to display their applications in the appropriate language for each environment--there's no need for a separate copy of the application for each language. The supplement contains over 30 popular UNIX system utilities so that users can, for example, sort text files using their local dictionary. Also included is a guide with all reference information on internationalization features.
The operating system has been optimized in the following manner: The High Performance Device Driver supports up to six controllers/host-board adapters and up to 32 devices connected to each controller/adapter; the Fast File System provides performance improvement when mounting and unmounting large file systems; the Very Fast File System has been added for high-speed sequential reading and writing of very large files; and a CD-ROM File System lets you read files on a CD-ROM as if they were part of the Interactive UNIX file system.
Single-user systems cost $495; multi-user extensions are $400. Reader service no. 27.
Interactive 2401 Colorado Ave., 3rd Floor Santa Monica, CA 90404 213-453-8649
The Modula Collection, a module library for Sun's Modula-2 compiler, is available from Odegard Labs. It includes high-level modules with comprehensive support for streams; multiprogramming, including lightweight processes; networking; static- and dynamic-length strings; and abstract data types such as bags, sets, stacks, queues, sequences, and dictionaries. There is a comprehensive interface to UNIX system calls and data structures and a manual that includes module dependency diagrams.
The Modula Collection runs under SunOS 4.1.1 and requires Sun Modula-2, Version 2.3. $2000 buys a one-three user license; additional users cost $500 each. Reader service no. 28.
Odegard Labs Inc. 100 Bush St., Suite 625 San Francisco, CA 94104 415-434-4242
X-arRAY is the new Fortran callable library for 386/486 PCs from Davis Associate . With it, you can allocate, access, and manipulate up to a gigabyte of extended memory using Microsoft Fortran under MS-DOS. X-arRAY does not require DOS extenders, 32-bit compilers, MS-Windows, or flat memory model operating systems.
X-arRAY allows you to move DOS files or data in conventional memory to and from extended memory; pass data arrays between independent job steps through extended memory; obtain extended memory allocation analysis using a new external command; operate directly on data arrays in extended memory using X-arRAY primitives; and create arbitrary functions using combinations of X-arRAY primitives.
X-arRAY also affords automatic selection of an appropriate extended-memory allocation method and keyboard interrupts for status reports during protected mode operation.
Dr. Barton Lane of Plasma Dynamics in Belmont, Mass. told DDJ that he believes X-arRAY to be the only way to efficiently access extended memory from Microsoft Fortran. "It gives the clearest explanation of allocation methods for extended memory that I've seen," he added.
X-arRAY's introductory price is $49.50; the regular price will be $99. Reader service no. 29.
Davis Associates Inc. 43 Holden Road West Newton, MA 02165 617-244-1450
Driver 488/WIN from IOtech is an IEEE 488 driver in the form of a dynamic link library for integrating IEEE 488 instrument control into Windows applications. Driver488/WIN allows multiple IEEE 488 tasks to simultaneously access the same IEEE 488 interface board without confusing it with each instrument. Asynchronous events are dealt with according to Windows' event-handling system.
Driver488/WIN supports Microsoft C, QuickC, and Visual Basic and Borland's C, C++, and Pascal products. It includes WINtest, an application that creates code and tests command lines and can run concurrently with other editors and development systems. Driver488/WIN can be configured to control IOtech's 8- and 16-bit IEEE 488.2 interface boards for PC, AT, and EISA bus computers. Driver488/WIN is available with the Personal488/WIN package for $395; with Personal488AT/WIN for $495; or separately, for $195. Reader service no. 30.
IOtech Inc. 25971 Cannon Road Cleveland, OH 44146 216-439-4091
Decos/Graphics is a graphical window management system in a C library from Decos Software Engineering. Decos/Graphics features a complete window management system; dialogs containing list boxes, push buttons, radio buttons, edit fields, and scroll bars; icons; font control; a text editor to link to your programs; drawing functions; and more.
Decos/Graphics is for DOS machines and costs $795. A separate font and icon editor is $195. Reader service no. 31.
Decos Software Engineering Inc. 115 East Boca Raton Road Boca Raton, FL 33432 407-367-0407
Copyright © 1992, Dr. Dobb's Journal