2.3. Get Started

2.3.1. Linux

This instructions are for Ubuntu 10.10 / Debian / Fedora, but it should be easy to adapt them to other systems.

2.3.1.1. Prepare System

You need to setup your development environment, but since you are interested in an AVR simulator, you should have done this already ;-)

  • gcc
  • make
  • gcc-avr
  • avr-libc

Ubuntu 10.10 / Debian:

sudo apt-get install gcc make
sudo apt-get install gcc-avr avr-libc

To build the simulator you also need the ELF package:

sudo apt-get install libelf-dev

And the Open GL Utility Toolkit for the GUI examples:

sudo apt-get install freeglut3 freeglut3-dev

Fedora:

yum install elfutils-libelf-devel gcc make avr-binutils avr-gcc avr-gdb avr-libc

2.3.1.2. Install simavr

  1. download

    First of all you need to get the simavr sources. direct download link: http://gitorious.org/simavr/simavr/archive-tarball/master Or clone it with GIT.

  2. extract

    copy the package to your development directory and unpack it:

    tar xfvz simavr-simavr-master.tar.gz

  3. build simavr:

    cd simavr-simavr
make all

  4. test your installation:

    make -C tests run_tests

2.3.1.3. Run Your AVR Firmware

./simavr/run_avr firmware.afx

or:

./simavr/run_avr -m atmega88 - f 8000000 firmware.hex

e.g.:

./simavr/run_avr ./tests/atmega88_example.axf

2.3.1.4. Debug with GDB

TBD

2.3.2. Windows

Since simavr was written for Linux it’s a bit tricky, but still possible to run it under Windows.

2.3.2.1. Prepare System

You need to setup WinAVR and Cygwin.

WinAVR If you have not already, install WinAVR. (This tutorial supposes you are using WinAVR-20100110.) http://winavr.sourceforge.net

Cygwin Get setup.exe from the Cygwin homepage: (Cygwin 1.7 or later) http://www.cygwin.com

run the setup and select the following packages:

  • binutils
  • gcc
  • gcc-core
  • gdb (optional)
  • libelf0-devel
  • make
  • libglut-devel
  • freeglut
  • x-start-menue-icons (if you want to test the graphical examples)

2.3.2.2. Install simavr

  1. First of all you need to get the simavr sources

    direct download link: http://gitorious.org/simavr/simavr/archive-tarball/master and copy the package to your development directory Or clone it with GIT.

  2. extract

    open the Cygwin shell (start Cygwin) Switch to the directory you have copied simavr. Be aware that this is a Linux like command shell, so files are case-sensitive and there are no drive letters. Windows drive letters will become /cygdrive/_driveletter_ e.g. X: –> /cygdrive/X/...:

    cd /cygdrive/X/my_development_directory
tar xfvz simavr-simavr-master.tar.gz
cd simavr-simavr

  3. prepare simavr

    Open _Makefile.common_ in your simavr directory with your favorite text editor. Search for AVR_ROOT := /usr/lib/avr change this and the following lines to:

    AVR_ROOT := ${AVR32_HOME}
AVR_INC := ${shell echo ${AVR32_HOME} | sed 's/\(.\):/\/cygdrive\/\1\//'}/avr
AVR := ${AVR_ROOT}/bin/avr-
#CFLAGS +=  -fPIC

    Search for the following block:

    AVR_ROOT := /usr/lib/avr
AVR_INC := ${AVR_ROOT}
AVR := avr-
CFLAGS +=  -fPIC
endif

    change it to:

    ifneq ($(AVR32_HOME),)
# use WinAVR
AVR_ROOT := ${AVR32_HOME}
AVR_INC := ${shell echo ${AVR_ROOT} | sed 's/\(.\):/\/cygdrive\/\1\//'}/avr
AVR := ${shell echo ${AVR_ROOT} | sed 's/\(.\):/\/cygdrive\/\1\//'}/bin/avr-
else
AVR_ROOT := /usr/lib/avr
AVR_INC := ${AVR_ROOT}
AVR := avr-
CFLAGS +=  -fPIC
endif
endif

    If you have problems reading _Makefile.common_ because your editor is not able to handle UNIX texts, you can use unix2dos Makefile.common in the Cygwin shell.

    Open tests/Makefile and change libsimavr.so to libsimavr.a for the test_% target:

    test_%: ${OBJ}/test_%.o ${OBJ}/tests.o ${simavr}/simavr/${OBJ}/libsimavr.a

    In the header file: simavrsimsim_core.h find the declaration of _avr_sp_get() and add an inline:

    inline uint16_t _avr_sp_get(avr_t * avr);

    in simavrsimsim_io.c you need to add a (int) type-cast in line 199:

    while (!isalpha((int)*kind))

    Alternatively, you can download from another repository which is already “Cygwin ready”, but may be some releases behind the main repository. https://gitorious.org/simavr/orcas-simavr/archive-tarball/master Or clone it with GIT.

  4. build simavr

    Make sure that the AVR32_HOME environment variable is set to your WinAVR directory: Open a Cygwin shell and enter:

    echo $AVR32_HOME

    You should get something like:

    C:\WinAVR-20100110

    If not, set the environment Variable in your Windows settings and restart the Cygwin shell.

    Switch to the simavr directory in the Cygwin shell. Now you can build the simulator:

    make all

    If you get an error message: This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way. Try to reinstall Cygwin.

  5. test your installation

    in the Cygwin shell:

    cd tests
./run_tests
cd ..

    If you get an Permission denied error, the executable-flag of run_tests might not be set correctly. Fix it with:

    chmod a+x run_tests

  6. OpenGL – graphics with Cygwin

    Start a Cygwin X Window: From the Windows Start menu select: Cygwin-X -> XWin Server This may take some Section

    onds and a new X Shell should appear. In the Windows icon tray there is a new symbol: a big X for Cygwins X server. If no new window with an X Shell opens, the X server is probably already running: right click on the X in the system tray -> Applications -> xterm In the X Shell switch to the simavrexamplesboard_ledramp directory and call:

    cd /cygdrive/X/my_development_directory
cd simavr-simavr/examples/board_ledramp
./ obj-i686-pc-cygwin/ledramp.elf

    A new window with a LED ramp will open. Click this window do give it the focus. Now you can use the keys as prompted: ‘SPACE’, ‘q’, ...

2.3.2.3. Run Your AVR Firmware

Compile your AVR program just as you would do for a real hardware (AVR Eclipse Plugin, AVR Studio, ...). Then open a Cygwin Shell and run your firmware with simavr:

./simavr/run_avr firmware.afx

or:

./simavr/run_avr -m atmega88 - f 8000000 firmware.hex

e.g.:

./simavr/run_avr ./tests/atmega88_example.axf

2.3.2.4. Debug with GDB

TBD

2.3.3. Virtual PCB with simavr

One of the great thinks of simavr is, that you can build up your virtual board around the AVR. See the examples directory on how to build your own virtual periphery devices and how to connect them to the AVR with IRQ callbacks.

The main interface between simavr and virtual periphery are callback functions.

2.3.3.1. avr_irq_register_notify()

You can register a callback function with:

avr_irq_register_notify( avr_io_getirq(avr, AVR_IOCTL_IOPORT_GETIRQ('B'), 0), my_pin_hook, my_params);
  • avr_io_getirq(avr, AVR_IOCTL_IOPORT_GETIRQ(‘B’), 0) gets the corresponding IRQ for port B pin 0
  • my_pin_hook is the callback function that should be called when the IRQ has been triggered
  • my_params is a pointer which is passed to the callback function, this can be a pointer to some structure or, using some C tweaks, an integer.

e.g.:

for (i = 0; i < 8; i++)
   avr_irq_register_notify(
     avr_io_getirq(avr, AVR_IOCTL_IOPORT_GETIRQ('B'), i),
     pin_changed_hook,
     (void*)i);

2.3.3.2. avr_connect_irq()