Alpha Microprocessors SROM Mini-Debugger User's Guide

This document is the "Alpha Microprocessors SROM Mini-Debugger User's Guide," published by Compaq Computer Corporation in April 1999.

Purpose: It describes how to use the SROM Mini-Debugger (mini-debugger) to perform fundamental hardware debugging for Alpha Microprocessor-based systems, specifically focusing on AlphaPC 264DP, 164SX, and 164LX motherboards. It is intended for hardware developers.

Primary Function: The mini-debugger provides basic hardware debugging capabilities via the Alpha microprocessor's SROM serial port. It's designed for initial hardware bring-up, allowing users to test and debug cache, memory, and I/O subsystems until the board is functional enough to support more comprehensive monitors.

Key Features & Capabilities:

• Basic Hardware Debugging: Provides essential tools for low-level hardware diagnostics.
• Memory and Register Access: Enables examining and depositing data in memory locations and internal CPU registers.
• Memory Testing: Includes a simple write-read-compare memory test.
• Image Loading & Execution: Supports loading external images into memory and transferring control to them for execution.
• Command Language: Features a case-independent command language where only the first two characters are significant. Numbers are input and output in hexadecimal. Commands can generally be aborted with Ctrl/C.
• Serial Communication: Operates over a serial port connection to a host system (terminal, PC, Windows NT, or Tru64 UNIX), supporting variable baud rates and processor speeds.
• Onboard Machine Check Handler: Useful for debugging memory faults by displaying register contents upon a machine check.

Usage: Users connect to the debugger via a serial port and interact using its command set. The guide details the necessary hardware setup, how to establish serial connections with various operating systems, how to start the mini-debugger, and provides a comprehensive list and examples of its commands for flag management, memory operations (read, compare, copy, fill), CPU register access, and program loading/execution.