ROM debuggers (was Re: PDP-11/44 boot prompt)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Sun Nov 1 23:45:36 1998

I wrote:
> I deliberately omitted the Lisa, Lisa 2, Lisa 2/5, Lisa 2/10, and Macintosh
> XL because they do have a ROM-based debugger. I've used it a lot lately.

"D. Peschel" <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Probably not entirely by choice, right? (as in, "Damn, here I am looking at
> the debugger again... stupid memory errors... stupid hard-drive setup...
> stupid copy protection...") :)

Actually very much by choice.

> Is it more or less useful than the one in the Macintosh?

Less. It lets you examine and modify memory, and jump. That's about it.

I wrote:
> 2. It is not clear that FORTH can be considered a debugger/monitor, any
> more than BASIC can.

"D. Peschel" <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu> wrote:
> hmm... FORTH gives you low-level access to memory; you could write all the
> features of "real" debugging monitors if they weren't already there (e.g.,
> hex dumps). I guess the potential is there, and it's there with FORTH a lot
> more than with BASIC.

FORTH is not really much more usable as a debug monitor than a typical
8-bit-microcomputer BASIC.

Both let you examine and modify memory in a crude fashion. You can write
programs in either to make this more convenient. Both let you start execution
of machine code at an address. But how do you single-step through the
machine code using either?
Received on Sun Nov 01 1998 - 23:45:36 GMT