Q: I want a simple cost effective JTAG solution for programming a image to flash connected to a i386EX.
I have checked the web and it seemes that most flash programmers do not support the x86. Is that right?
We have an old solution based on an old APP note from Intel :
Our main problem is speed! It seemes that writing to the parallell port takes a lot of time in e.g XP OS.
Br. Hakon
Did you see the section of that applications note where they mention the existence of hardware based JTAG controllers that are up to 16 times faster than twiddiling the parallel port bits with software? You could buy one of those. They were ISA cards when the note was written, but they are mostly USB today - some are parallel port, but using it to transfer data in parallel to an external hardware serializer.
Another option might be to dispense with JTAG (or use it only to program a small bootstrap routine) and then download the bulk of what you want to program through a faster interface to a program running on the 386EX, and have that program the flash (if you can control the necessary signals while the 386EX is awake and executing code, instead of being a slave to the JTAG TAP interface)
Any point in investing time in this issue given the death of the i386EX?
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required