MacSimAVR - Preview 3 now available

Welcome to MacSimAVR - the AVR simulator for OS X! With MacSimAVR you can load a hex file into a simulated generic AVR microcontroller and watch your code execute. You can set code breakpoints to stop the processor and examine the AVR registers, I/O ports and ram, and, you can also step through the code one instruction at a time or set it to auto step and adjust the speed from slow to fast.

What's new in this release

  • Instruction counter shows number of instructions performed - similar to cycles.
  • Simulation speed controller now works much better.
  • Start stop, step using keyboard.
  • Start stop, step using menu.
  • Memory locations modified by many instructions will be colored red.
  • A bug where views were cut off after hiding and showing the panels has been fixed.
  • Bottom Panels now reopen via their buttons if they were dragged closed.
  • Command W closes windows.

    • Disassembly Panel

  • Lots of improvements to the layout of the disassembled instruction.
  • 2 word instructions are now coalesced into one line with their data.
  • All instructions now show the registers used.
  • Much better tracking when creating a new breakpoint.

    • Breakpoints Panel

  • Contextual menu to enable/disable selection and to reveal the selected breakpoint in the disassembly view.
  • Delete breakpoints in bp panel using delete key.

IMPORTANT: This third release of MacSimAVR is still limited in a number of ways. There are currently no timers, interrupts, or EEPROM. The processor is 'generic' and has fixed size data and instruction memories. There are also a small number of instructions missing and a few of the implemented instructions will be buggy. Some other things missing are: no saving, so breakpoints and so on are lost between sessions; no way to change the contents of ram; and a lack of menus that do anything. However, the enclosed examples 'work' well and other small programs will probably also work as expected.

BUGS: There will be many though the application is quite stable - it probably isn't worth sending in bug reports just yet as a lot of the code is being continously modified. Suggestions are welcome though!

To Do and Suggestions

This link lists a few of the features that I hope to add to MacSimAVR over the life of the project.

Download

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MacSimAVR Preview 3

MacSimAVR Preview 3 should be considered 'alpha' quality software.

MacSimAVR requires OS X 10.5 and and Intel mac to run.

Download (1.6MB — Intel Only Binary)

MacSimAVR is currently free but the program will stop working in September. It is very much a work in progress and several updates ( at least ) should be forthcoming. At some point there will be a small charge made for the software. You can also help by making a donation now. See sidebar for a special offer.