If you happen to’re into programming microcontrollers, you doubtless already understand how helpful debuggers will be. Not solely are you able to execute your code step-by-step, however you’ll be able to see the values of each variable, and think about and alter any a part of reminiscence arbitrarily. JTAG is commonplace on all ARM Cortex chips, and plenty of different microcontrollers as nicely. Nonetheless, some JTAG debuggers will be very costly. This JTAG Hat turns any Pi 2/3/4 (and presumably 5) right into a JTAG probe with a number of frequent connector varieties.

By utilizing software program like OpenOCD and GDB (the GNU debugger), you’ll be able to hook up with the Pi out of your laptop computer to remotely debug a related board, or you’ll be able to SSH into the Pi and debug instantly from there. It might probably energy the board from the Pi’s 3.3V provide and likewise has level-shifting buffers to hook up with targets from 1.8-5V.

Moreover, it has an on-board measurement of the goal voltage and present draw, which will be extraordinarily helpful when attempting to optimize a undertaking for low energy draw. It might probably do absolutely anything any JTAG probe can: from programming flash, to watching the state of I/O pins, to resetting the processor remotely. In order for you a terrific general-purpose JTAG debugger, and you’ve got a spare Pi helpful, it is a nice solution to get a cheap but highly effective debug probe!