MIPS Mips Technologies, Inc. (MM)

First Silicon Solutions, a division of MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), today announced immediate availability of the FS2 System Navigator(TM), a comprehensive suite of EJTAG debug and trace tools for the MIPS32(R) 34K(TM) family of cores. The 34K cores are the first to implement the multi-threading capability of the MIPS(R) MT ASE, while leveraging the MIPS DSP ASE and high performance 24KE(TM) microarchitecture for reduced overall SoC die area, cost, and power consumption in high-performance, cost-sensitive embedded applications. Best-in-class Debug Solutions The 34K cores include the powerful PDtrace(TM) (Program and Data Trace) option for faster development and debug. MIPS Technologies' PDtrace system, coupled with the FS2 System Navigator, provides best-in-class debug capabilities for 34K-based designs by allowing customers to capture real-time trace for multiple VPE designs and view execution flow, load/store addresses and the associated data. With PDtrace, users can choose either on-chip trace capture or stream the trace data off-chip to the FS2 System Navigator. Off-chip trace streaming saves on-chip memory resources and provides for much deeper trace depths. FS2 is already working with several early adopter licensees on this new core architecture. "Having debug and performance analysis tools in place for early adopters of the 34K cores was critical to their success," said Jack Browne, vice president of marketing at MIPS Technologies. "FS2 System Navigator tools allow licensees to not only debug their design but also optimize their code for the 34K cores' multi-threaded architecture. Our early licensees are very engaged and happy with FS2's solution." "The 34K cores usher in many innovative debug features like debugging multiple Virtual Processing Elements (VPEs) where the debugger can halt and single step one VPE while allowing the other to continue running," said Rick Leatherman, vice president and general manager of FS2. "We've made code optimization a priority by providing zero overhead PC sampling with Thread Context (TC) resolution for fast hot spot analysis. To help ensure QoS for each hardware thread we've added real-time trace capture that includes color coded TC IDs for each trace cycle to easily distinguish which TC executed on each clock cycle." FS2 Debug is Fully Extensible The FS2 System Navigator tools support the complete MIPS32 and MIPS64(R) processor core families. They also provide support for multi-core debugging and interface to the FS2 MED(TM) (Multi-core Embedded Debug) system for more complex SoC designs. The FS2 debug environment is extensible to heterogeneous multi-core debugging applications, such as integrating systems analysis of multiple MIPS-Based(TM) and DSP cores, or trace of OCP, AMBA or custom bus interfaces. GDB/Insight Provide Powerful Debug Capability The FS2 System Navigator functions have been integrated with the GDB/Insight debugger distributed by MIPS Technologies as part of the GNU-based MIPS SDE toolchain. The seamless operation of FS2 tools with the GDB/Insight debugger ensures a comprehensive software development environment with sophisticated features, ease of use, and minimal cost to the developer. FS2 System Navigator software includes several features designed to fully support PDtrace and the System Navigator probes. These features allow the user to view the original GNU source code with function names and line numbers mixed into the assembly code. When viewing the trace display, the executed addresses are displayed along with assembly instructions. In addition to tracing code flow, the trace can also display load/store cycles, which are useful in seeing code and data flow as the code executes, and what conditional code and variable values caused the changes. FS2 System Navigator is available with USB 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet (optional) and IEEE Parallel PC interfaces. It connects to the target system using the standard EJTAG 14-pin connector for on-chip trace or a 38-pin Mictor connector for off-chip trace capture. The FS2 System Navigator family provides a wide range of compact, feature-rich, debug tools at affordable price points for all developers of MIPS-Based systems. Availability FS2 System Navigator for MIPS-Based cores is available now. Contact FS2 or visit http://www.fs2.com for information. About First Silicon Solutions (FS2) Founded in 1998, First Silicon Solutions (FS2) specializes in developing silicon IP, and designing test and debug technologies based on OCI(R) (On-Chip Instrumentation) for use in FPGA, SoC, SOPC, ASSP and ASIC devices. FS2 is a division of MIPS Technologies, Inc. FS2, OCI, MED and FS2 System Navigator are trademarks of First Silicon Solutions. MIPS, MIPS32, MIPS64, 24KE and 34K are registered trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. First Silicon Solutions is a division of MIPS Technologies, Inc.