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Hardware > 3rd party GBA hardware debugger

#12671 - ampz - Fri Nov 21, 2003 10:28 pm

This discussion have been up before, but since nothing have changed..
The official hardware debugger is expensive even for the licensed developers who are actually allowed to buy it.

I'am proposing a 3rd party hardware debugger, with full debugging capability. (breakpoints, memory readout, everything)
None of this slow flash crap, I'am talking a RAM based cart with a download speed of at least 1MB/s. It would be a great thing to have for debugging multiplayer and multiboot applications, and very useful for any kind of GBA development. It should use the GDB for a debugging environment.

This kind of hardware would of course be more expensive than a flashcart, but I think a 64M version can be done for USD500, assuming the market is a bit larger than just two or three, and that is kind of the question... Does the market exist?

#12674 - poslundc - Sat Nov 22, 2003 12:26 am

ampz wrote:
This kind of hardware would of course be more expensive than a flashcart, but I think a 64M version can be done for USD500, assuming the market is a bit larger than just two or three, and that is kind of the question... Does the market exist?


I think you've hit the nail on the head... while what you are proposing would be very cool, I think most homebrew developers would consider it to be much more of a luxury than they can afford, especially considering there are always workarounds and other ways to debug code if you're inventive enough. For those who want the features of GDB, they can at least have it in emulation with VBA, even if that's nowhere near as good as having the stub running on actual hardware.

Understand that I'm not disputing the merits of what you're suggesting; I just don't think you'll be able to sell it. When it comes down to it, you ultimately need a flash system (or at least a multiboot cable) if you are serious about homebrew GBA dev. You DON'T need a hardware debugger, though.

Dan.

#12676 - Dev - Sat Nov 22, 2003 12:39 am

This is what you're looking for... more or less.

http://www.charmedlabs.com/

#12677 - ampz - Sat Nov 22, 2003 1:05 am

Impressive... They have come far since the first Xport.