| [dsdp-tm-dev] RSE & Multicore |
Hi All,
I've been thinking of how to integrate multi-board/processor/core hardware configuration information into Eclipse, specifically through RSE. Please let me know what you think.
Starting at the top, the first change would be to create two new types of configuration data, System Definition and Connection Devices, to go along with the existing Connection. The idea is to use the System Definition to collect data that is inherent to all systems of a given type, including the types of connection supported by the system. A Connection Device is used to collect information for any extra hardware device providing the connection to the actual system, such as an Ethernet JTAG probe.
The existing Connection type is used to collect information specific to an actual physical system, which would include a reference to the appropriate System Definition, Connection Device(s), and Launch Config(s). It would probably make sense to have the System Definition and Connection Device be optional, in which case the existing AIX, Linux and Unix Connections would continue to work as-is.
Given these definitions, since a system represented by a Connection could contain multiple physical connections, I think it would be appropriate to rename this to System, in which case we'd have Systems, System Definitions, and Connection Devices. The Remote Systems pane might then look like this:
- CONNECTION DEVICES
- New Device
+ Ethernet Probe...
+ USB Probe...
+ My Probe 1
+ My Probe 2
- SYSTEM DEFINITIONS
+ New Board...
+ New Chassis...
+ My Board Definition
+ My Chassis Definition
- SYSTEMS
- New System
+ AIX...
+ Linux...
+ Unix...
+ My Board...
+ My Chassis...
- My Chassis
- My Board, Card Slot 1
- Processor A
+ Core 1 <--> My Core 1 Launch
+ Core 2 <--> My Core 2 Launch
+ Core 3 <--> My Core 3 Launch
+ JTAG Connection <--> My Probe 1
- My Board, Card Slot 2
- Processor A
+ Core 1 <--> My Core 1 Launch
+ Core 2 <--> My Core 2 Launch
+ Core 3 <--> My Core 3 Launch
+ JTAG Connection <--> My Probe 2
For one stop-shopping, we might want to mirror the relevant settings of the launch panel in the Remote Systems pane as well:
- LAUNCH CONFIGS
+ New
+ My Core 1 Launch
+ My Core 2 Launch
+ My Core 3 Launch
Why do we need all this? The separate Connection Devices info makes it easy to share System Definitions and/or Systems while using different instances of the same hardware. The System Definition makes it easy to share hardware information (like flash, memory layout, register layout, processor layout, etc.) with different combinations of hardware. The Systems info makes it possible to associate one or more launch configurations with one or more debuggable cores and one or more physical connection devices.
Does this make sense? Is this a logical next step for RSE?
Best regards,
Tom Hochstein
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.