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David Cook ROBOT ROOM™ |
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BUGS WITH P&E ICS08GP ASSEMBLER
There's free assembler software available for the 68HC08 microcontrollers through a third party, P&E Microcomputer Systems.
Unfortunately, I've run across bugs which are potentially in the assembler. Although I've dutifully reported these problems, I've yet to receive confirmation or fixes from P&E.
Long Line Crash:
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Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 10:42 AM To: pemicro@pemicro.com Subject: 68HC908GP20/GP32 assembler Crash report Background: I have the M68ICS08 development kits for the 68HC908GP32 processor. I received the kit through the 8-Bit FLASH MCU Seminar Series. I downloaded and installed the ICS08GP Software for 68HC908GP20/GP32 Single File Install (32-bit) v. 1.32A. I'm using a Dell Dimension XPS T600 Pentium III 600 MHz with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6. I have successfully assembled and run other files using this configuration and your software. Issue: When assembling Crash.asm, the assembler crashes. I have attached the file that causes the crash. No other files are necessary. I have also attached a screen shot of the first error dialog and follow-up errors. 
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I haven't received a reply from P&E Microcomputer Systems regarding this issue.
It turns out this bug is documented under "Limitations" in CASM08Z - 68HC08 Assembler Help:
Make sure that the file you are assembling is no more than 102 columns of text in width.
You may wish to set the word wrap on your editor to this width.
If your file is wider than 102 columns, upon assembly you will receive the message "runtime error 202: stack overflow."
Workaround: If the assembler crashes on a long line, split the line with a return and continue on the next line. It's gotten to the point that I move the cursor down and press the "End" key for each line of each of my files to ensure that there aren't extra spaces or anything else causing any line to exceed 100 characters.
Shifted Right Data:
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Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 10:47 AM To: pemicro@pemicro.com Subject: 68HC908GP20/GP32 assembler FDB DIV 2 issue Background: I have the M68ICS08 development kits for the 68HC908GP32 processor. I received the kit through the 8-Bit FLASH MCU Seminar Series. I downloaded and installed the ICS08GP Software for 68HC908GP20/GP32 Single File Install (32-bit) v. 1.32A. I'm using a Dell Dimension XPS T600 Pentium III 600 MHz with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6. I have successfully assembled and run other files using this configuration and your software. Issue: When assembling FDBBin.asm, the assembler produces bytes that are shifted right (DIV 2) their actual values. I have attached the file that reproduces the condition. No other files are necessary. I have also attached the LST file that shows the result. 
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I haven't received a reply from P&E Microcomputer Systems regarding this issue.
Workaround: Code the data in hexadecimal or use binary in byte-size groups only. (Hardy har har.)
Braces and Preprocessed Math:
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Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 10:10 PM To: pemicro@pemicro.com Subject: 68HC908GP20/GP32 assembler preprocessed math issue Background: I have the M68ICS08 development kits for the 68HC908GP32 processor. I received the kit through the 8-Bit FLASH MCU Seminar Series. I downloaded and installed the ICS08GP Software for 68HC908GP20/GP32 Single File Install (32-bit) v. 1.32A. I'm using a Dell Dimension XPS T600 Pentium III 600 MHz with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6. I have successfully assembled and run other files using this configuration and your software. Issue: When assembling LongName.asm, the assembler produces different values depending on whether braces are used. It would seem that the braces should either be unnecessary or should generate an error message if missing. I have attached the file that reproduces the condition. No other files are necessary. I have also attached the LST file that shows the result. 
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I received the following reply from P&E Microcomputer Systems.
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From: Babak Kia Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 9:19 AM Subject: Re: 68HC908GP20/GP32 assembler preprocessed math issue David, Thanks for your email. I will look into this matter and write you back once we have resolved it. Regards, Babak Kia |
I haven't received any other replies or follow-up from P&E Microcomputer Systems.
Workaround: Use shorter names or put braces around expressions with longer names.