Boston, MA. Embedded Systems Conference, September 5, 2001 -- Green Hills Software today announced the Green Hills Probe™, the industry's fastest and most intelligent hardware debug probe for 32-bit, 64-bit, and multiprocessor SoC embedded systems. The new probe, together with Green Hills' MULTI® 2000 source-level debugger and IDE, greatly simplifies the debugging of sophisticated embedded programs by streamlining host/target communications and handling many debugging functions previously handled by the host.

The Green Hills Probe utilizes an embedded 32-bit processor and reconfigurable logic to achieve host/target download speeds that are up to 100x faster than its competitors. The probe's built-in intelligence also enables it to provide advanced target read/write and control facilities, and host a built-in web server that simplifies setup, status, and diagnostics. The Green Hills Probe supports a variety of host connections, including USB, Ethernet and Serial. It also supports most major processor architectures, including custom multi-core SoC designs.

"Green Hills has been solving embedded developers' compiler and debugger problems for nearly 20 years," said John Carbone, vice president of marketing at Green Hills Software. "Leveraging that expertise has enabled us to create an intelligent debug probe that, when used with our debugger, provides unmatched performance and functionality. What's more, embedded designers can now purchase their compiler, debugger and probe from the same supplier."

The Green Hills Probe is a high-speed debug probe that provides access to and control over target processors. Using the Green Hills Probe, the host-based MULTI debugger can upload data from the target processor, run, halt, and reset the processor, read/write the processor's registers and memory, single-step through code, and set breakpoints. The probe is also hardware upgradeable to support trace operations, which enable the MULTI debugger to acquire target data and program flow information without having to halt the processor.

The Green Hills Probe's tight integration with MULTI's debugger greatly reduces latency for common debug commands. It also enables the probe to deliver the fastest host/target download speeds of any debug probe. For example, the Green Hills Probe supports download speeds of up to 167 kbyte/sec on a StarCore processor, more than 10x faster than the nearest competitor. To maximize interaction speed and download flexibility for a wide variety of processors, including custom hardware, the probe supports target JTAG/BDM clocks ranging from 10 kHz to 50 MHz in 0.10% increments.

The Green Hills Probe works with Solaris, Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000, HP/UX, and Linux hosts, and connects to the host debugger via an Ethernet, USB, or RS-232C serial port. The probe connects to the target processor via industry-standard debug ports such as JTAG, EJTAG, COP, BDM, and EOnCE.

The Green Hills Probe supports most major embedded CPU and DSP architectures, including PowerPC, ARM, MIPS (4kc/5kc), StarCore, and Lexra. It also supports SoC (system on chip) designs, including those with multiple homogeneous and heterogeneous cores. In multi-core SoC applications, the probe accesses the cores in daisy chain fashion through a single JTAG port.

The Green Hills Probe operates from a 7 to 15V external dc supply, and consumes no target power. The probe can be used with target systems operating from 1.5V to 5V, and can be connected/disconnected from the target system while it is running. Probe diagnostics are included in every segment, all the way down to the JTAG/BDM pin level.

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Incorporated in 1982, Green Hills Software, Inc., is a leading supplier of royalty-free real-time operating systems and software development tools for 32- and 64-bit embedded systems. Green Hills' royalty-free ThreadX® and INTEGRITY® real-time operating systems, fully integrated with its market leading compilers and MULTI® (IDE), provide a total development and run-time solution that addresses both deeply embedded and maximum reliability applications. Green Hills Software is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, with European headquarters in the United Kingdom. For more information on Green Hills Software products, please call 805-965-6044 or email inquiries to sales@ghs.com. Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.ghs.com.

Green Hills Software, the Green Hills Logo, and MULTI are registered trademarks and Green Hills Probe and INTEGRITY are trademarks of Green Hills Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.