1. Introduction

The Rabbit 2000 a a new and powerful microprocessor. Both hardware and software design are easy with the Rabbit.

This kit has the essentials that you need to design your own a microprocessor-based system, and includes a complete software development system (Dynamic C). This Development Kit contains a powerful single-board computer (the Jackrabbit board). With this kit you will be able to write and test complex software. You will be able to prototype circuits that interface to a Rabbit 2000 microprocessor.

1.1 Kit Contents

The items in the kit and their use is as follows:

• CD-ROM with Dynamic C software and Rabbit 2000 documentation. You may install this software by inserting the disk into your CD-ROM drive. If it doesn't start automatically, click on "setup.exe." This software runs under Windows `95, `98 and Windows NT. We suggest taking the option to load the documentation to your hard disk. The documentation is in HTML or Adobe PDF format, and may be viewed with a browser.
• Jackrabbit controller board. This is a complete controller board that includes a Rabbit 2000 processor, 128K of flash memory and 128K of RAM (Random Access Memory). You can use this board to demonstrate the use of the Rabbit 2000.
• Prototyping Board. The Jackrabbit board can be plugged into this board. The Prototyping Board includes various accessories such as pushbutton switches, LEDs, and a beeper. In addition, you can add your own circuitry.
• Programming cable. This is a cable that is used to connect your PC serial port to the Jackrabbit board to write and debug C programs that run on the Jackrabbit board.
• Loose parts kit. This bag of parts contains parts that you can solder to the Prototyping Board for various demonstrations.
• Wall transformer. This is used to power the Jackrabbit board. The wall transformer is supplied only for Development Kits sold for the North American market. The Jackrabbit can also be powered from any DC voltage source between 9 V and 15 V. Higher voltages can be used, but may make the regulator rather hot.

1.2 Documentation

Our documentation is provided in paperless form on the CD-ROM included in the Development Kit. (A paper copy of this "Getting Started" manual is included.) Most documents are provided in two formats: HTML and PDF. HTML documents can be viewed with an internet browser, either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. HTML documents are very convenient because all the documents are hyperlinked together, and it is easy to navigate from one place to another. PDF documents can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat reader, which is automatically invoked from the browser. The PDF format is best suited for documents requiring high resolution, such as schematics, or if you want to print the document. Don't print a hardcopy from the HTML manuals because they have no page numbers and the cross-references and table of contents links only work if viewed on line. The PDF versions contain page number references to allow navigation when reading a paper version of the manual. To view the online documentation with a browser, open the file default.htm in the docs folder. When you open the default.htm file with your browser, you will see a page similar to that shown below.

1.3 An Overview of Dynamic C for the Rabbit

The Rabbit 2000 is programmed using Z-World's Dynamic C, an integrated development environment that includes an editor, a C compiler, and a debugger. Library functions provide an easy-to-use interface for the Jackrabbit board included with the Development Kit.

The Jackrabbit board included with the Development Kit is a powerful board that includes a complete Rabbit microprocessor system. A Prototyping Board that includes pushbutton switches, LEDs, and a beeper can be plugged into the Jackrabbit board. By writing programs that run on the Jackrabbit board, you can flash the LEDs, beep the beeper, and otherwise demonstrate the capabilities of the Rabbit. Schematics for both boards are included on the CD-ROM in PDF format.

The Jackrabbit board has a standard Rabbit programming connector, which is a 10-pin, 2 mm header. A programming cable is used to connect a PC serial port (COM port) to the Jackrabbit board. The programming cable has a level converter board in the middle of the cable since the programming connector supports CMOS logic levels, and not the RS-232 levels that are used by PC serial ports. When the programming cable is connected, Dynamic C running on the PC can hard reset the Jackrabbit board and cold boot it. The cold boot includes compiling and downloading a BIOS program that stays resident while you work. If you crash the target, Dynamic C will automatically reboot and recompile the BIOS if it senses that a target communication error occurred.

You have a choice of doing your software development in the flash memory or in the static RAM included on the Jackrabbit board. There are 128K in each memory. Versions of the Jackrabbit board are available that support only 32K of static RAM. If you use one of these boards, you must do development in flash memory. The advantage of working in RAM is to save wear on the flash, which is limited to about 100,000 writes. Note that an application can only be developed in RAM, but cannot run standalone from RAM after the programming cable is disconnected. All applications can only run from flash.

When using flash, the compile to a file is followed by a download to the flash. The disadvantage of using flash is that interrupts must be disabled for approximately 5 ms whenever a break point is set in the program. This can crash fast interrupt routines that are running while you stop at a breakpoint or single-step the program. Flash or RAM is selected on the Options-Compiler menu.

Dynamic C provides a number of debugging features. You can single-step your program, either in C, statement by statement, or in assembly language, instruction by instruction. You can set breakpoints, where the program will stop, on any statement. You can evaluate watch expressions. A watch expression is any C expression that can be evaluated in the context of the program. If the program is at a breakpoint, a watch expression can view any expression using local or external variables. If the program is running and a call to the debugger is included in the user's code (runwatch();), it is possible to evaluate watch expressions using global variables only while the target program continues to run, slowed down only by the need to refresh a display in response to a <ctrl-U> command.