On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Aaron Martin wrote:

> Sitting here please with myself for getting my development environment
> finally up, I can up with an idea:
>
> Consider that someone(people) develope or taking existing simulation
> software of a PIC 16xxx.  This software
> mearly drives I/Os, A/D, etc.. but only to the point of the pins on the
> chip, no further.
> Further, consider exporting a Windows API (say, a DLL) which allows the
> developer to "ATTACH" modules which
> can be wired up to the module, where they can connect to pins, and by
> default connect to the clock (so they can match
> timing, and work (or break) accordingly).  An example could be as simple
> as an LED,LCD, thermostat, etc.
>
> Next, consider that DLL has the ability to input to be driven with a UI,
> for example a thermostat may allow you to change
> the temp by moving a slider... an LED may have no inputs, and a LCD may
> display... All are driven through the input pins
> and use native x86 (or whatever cpu) code to display the results, which
> can be modeled against the CLOCK thats being
> driven in.
>
> The result:   A representation of a PIC where modules can be plugged in
> without actually existing, but code can be developed
> real-time for it...
>         Just an idea,
>             Aaron
>

I'll drink to that!

You oughta subscribe to the gnupic mailing list where we have discussed
these issues at one time or the other. gpsim, the gnupic simulator, is
striving towards these goals. The next release (which will be happening
any minute now) was intended to address these very issues. Needless to
say, it fell somewhat short of this lofty goal.

As it stands, gpsim handles stimuli in a very modular spice-like fashion.
"Stimulus objects" are created and "attached" to "nodes" which in turn may
be attached to pic I/O pins. The mechanism works quite well. The user
interface, well..., sucks. This is being resolved.

If you check out:

http://www.interstice.com/~sdattalo/gnupic/gpsim.html

in about 10 hours after receiving this message, you'll find version 0.0.14
of gpsim.

BTW, gpsim is right now a Linux thing. If you want dll's and windows, I'd
suggest plunking down a couple of Franklins for UMPS. It appears to be a
really nice program with a nifty user interface and within an order of
magnitude as fast as gpsim. You may find it here: http://www.vmdesign.com

Regards,
Scott