COFF to DSK Translator - Texas Instruments

Application ReportSPRA549COFF to DSK TranslatorAaron K. Aboagye and Behrang MohitC5000 DSAGAbstractDevelopment platforms available for digital signal processor (DSP) designers today are mainlythe evaluation module (EVM) and the DSP starter kit (DSK). Executable code generated on thesetwo platforms is not compatible and migration from one platform to the other is not straightforward.This application report presents a description of a utility designed to translate the executablesproduced by the tools used by the two platforms (COFF for EVMs and the DSK for DSKs), to helpreduce the amount of work required for migration from one platform to the other. Theprogramming of this utility was done in Borland C++ and testing was done on the White MountainDSP TMS320F206 DSK and the Spectrum Digital EVM.ContentsIntroduction............................................................................................................................................... 2Definitions................................................................................................................................................. 2Common Object File Format (COFF) .............................................................................................. 2DSP Starter Kit (DSK) .................................................................................................................... 2Translation Algorithm ................................................................................................................................ 3Using the Translator.................................................................................................................................. 4COFF-to-DSK Translator................................................................................................................ 4DSK-to-COFF Translator................................................................................................................ 4Error Handling................................................................................................................................ 4Testing ..................................................................................................................................................... 5Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 5Digital Signal Processing Solutions May 1999

Application ReportSPRA549IntroductionCurrently, there are two major development platforms for DSP designers using the TexasInstruments (TI) TMS320 DSPs. In this application report, we will focus mainly on theC2000 family of DSPs and the two platforms available, the evaluation module (EVM),produced by Spectrum Digital, and the DSP starter kit (DSK), produced by WhiteMountain DSP. Inexperienced DSP designers and beginners generally prefer to use theDSK because of its low cost and simple programming. However, the DSK has a limitationin the available on-board memory, 4K of data memory, and this, eventually, causesdesigners to upgrade to the EVM that features a full 64K of data memory.Both platforms utilize the TI 2xx instruction set for programming but there is a differencein the debugging environment. Development on the EVM requires the programmer tobuild executables using the 2xx assembler, linker, or compiler available from TI toproduce executables conforming to the industry COFF standard. Development on theDSK, on the other hand, requires the programmer to build executables using the toolsavailable with the DSK that produce executables conforming to the TI-tagged objectformat.This difference in executable formats inhibits a smooth transition back and forth betweenthe two platforms. This application report presents the 2XX COFF-DSK translator and themethodology used to translate executables from one platform to the other.DefinitionsCommon Object File Format (COFF)An implementation of an object file in a binary format that was developed by AT&T.COFF encourages modular programming and provides more powerful and flexiblemethods for managing code segments and target system memory. The COFF format isbased on multiple sections of both program and data memory.DSP Starter Kit (DSK)This kit includes the DSK board, the DSK development tools, and the debugger (CodeExplorer). The DSK files are in ASCII format and, unlike COFF, have only two sections:data and program memory. Names of sections and labels are not available in this format.COFF to DSK Translator 2

Application ReportSPRA549Translation AlgorithmIn this section, the main parts of the translation algorithm will be presented. The sourcecode was written in Borland C++. Detailed descriptions of the COFF and TI-tagged objectformats may be obtained from the TMS320C2xx Assembly Language Tools Users Guide(SPRU018).There are two versions of the COFF format, COFF1 and COFF2, and a version flag atthe start of each file indicates this version. These flags, C1 and C2, are used by theCOFF-to-DSK translator to determine the version and thus, the structure. A few caseswere observed where the tools produced files with different version flags and those casesare handled as errors in this version of the utility.The COFF-to-DSK translator works in two stages: it first reads the address information ofsections and then it writes the data into the DSK file. Each section in a COFF file has astart address and length and the COFF-to-DSK translator reads this information from thefile before the raw data is stripped off. The TI-tagged format only requires start addressesso once the translator has this information, it becomes a simple task of writing thehexadecimal data values into an ASCII file. Another important piece of information is theentry point to the executable code. The COFF file contains this information and is readand written to the DSK file, since it is required in both formats.The DSK-to-COFF translator uses the same two steps as the COFF-to-DSK translator,but generating the binary COFF file is not as simple. This is because the COFF formatrequires sectional information, which is not readily available in a DSK file. The translatorthus has to compute all the required information and build the COFF structured binaryfile. In writing the translator, it was assumed that any data in the DSK file locatedbetween 0x0000 and 0x0040 is an interrupt vector.The TI-tagged format has a checksum at the end of each line of data. The user’s guideprovides a method to compute this checksum and the translator adheres to this method.It was observed during testing, that the DSK files produced by the DSK tools do not havecorrect checksums. However, the Code Explorer debugger does not seem to evaluatethe checksums and neither does the serial flash loader so it is not a very significant factorfor proper functionality.COFF to DSK Translator 3

Application ReportSPRA549Using the TranslatorCurrently, the translation utility comes with two independent translators, COFF to DSK(coff-dsk.exe) and DSK to COFF (dsk-coff.exe). You need to run the appropriateapplication to perform either translation.COFF-to-DSK TranslatorOnce this application is executed, you will be prompted to do the following:ˆ Enter the Path and Name of the input COFF fileˆ Enter the Path and Name of the output DSK fileIf the utility is successful in opening the COFF file, the DSK file will be generated underthe specified path. In addition to the DSK file, a statistics text file will be generated whenyou run this program. This file has some information about the input COFF file such asnumber of words and physical address of each section in the COFF file. This statistics filehas the same name and path as your input COFF file with an extension of txt; forexample, if the file test.out is translated to test.dsk, the statistics file will be namedtest.txt. After the translation is successfully done, you may press any key to performanother translation or ‘q’ to quit the program.DSK-to-COFF TranslatorOnce this application is executed, you will be prompted to do the following:ˆ Enter the Path and Name of the input DSK fileˆ Enter the Path and Name of the output COFF fileIf the utility is successful in opening the DSK file, the COFF file will be generated underthe specified path. In addition to the COFF file, a statistics text file will be generated whenyou run this program. This file has some information about the input DSK file such asnumber of words and physical address of each section in the COFF file. This statistics filehas the same name and path as your input DSK file with an extension of txt; for example,if the file test.dsk is translated to test.out, the statistics file will be named test.txt. After thetranslation is successfully done, you may press any key to perform another translation or‘q’ to quit the program.Error HandlingIn case of an error in the path or name you enter, either program will prompt you to againenter the correct path or name. If you want to quit the program, you can press Ctrl+C anytime during execution.In case of an error in your input file, either program will prompt you about the section ofyour input file that has a problem and the program will then terminate.COFF to DSK Translator 4

Application ReportSPRA549TestingTesting of the translators was done in two stages. The first stage involved translatingcode written on each of the platforms to the other and running the code on the targetplatform to verify functionality. The second stage involved translating a DSK file to COFFand then back to DSK to verify that no errors occur and no information is lost betweentranslations. As expected, when this was performed in the other direction, COFF to DSKto COFF, the resulting COFF file had no labels in the code but execution was correct.ConclusionAs indicated in the testing section, the first release of the utility has definitely met theobjectives even though there is room for improvement. Improvement may includedynamic relocation of interrupt vectors and I/O configurations that will eliminate the needfor programmers to manually make these modifications before translation. Timepermitting, a better GUI will be provided.COFF to DSK Translator 5

Application ReportSPRA549TI Contact NumbersINTERNETTI Semiconductor Home Pagewww.ti.com/scTI Distributorswww.ti.com/sc/docs/distmenu.htmPRODUCT INFORMATION CENTERSAmericasPhone +1(972) 644-5580Fax +1(972) 480-7800Email sc-infomaster@ti.comEurope, Middle East, and AfricaPhoneDeutsch +49-(0) 8161 80 3311English +44-(0) 1604 66 3399Español +34-(0) 90 23 54 0 28Francais +33-(0) 1-30 70 11 64Italiano +33-(0) 1-30 70 11 67Fax +44-(0) 1604 66 33 34Email epic@ti.comJapanPhoneInternational +81-3-3344-5311Domestic 0120-81-0026FaxInternational +81-3-3344-5317Domestic 0120-81-0036Email pic-japan@ti.comAsiaPhoneInternational +886-2-23786800DomesticAustralia 1-800-881-011TI Number -800-800-1450China 10810TI Number -800-800-1450Hong Kong 800-96-1111TI Number -800-800-1450India 000-117TI Number -800-800-1450Indonesia 001-801-10TI Number -800-800-1450Korea 080-551-2804Malaysia 1-800-800-011TI Number -800-800-1450New Zealand 000-911TI Number -800-800-1450Philippines 105-11TI Number -800-800-1450Singapore 800-0111-111TI Number -800-800-1450Taiwan 080-006800Thailand 0019-991-1111TI Number -800-800-1450Fax 886-2-2378-6808Email tiasia@ti.comCode Explorer and TI are trademarks of Texas Instruments Incorporated.COFF to DSK Translator 6

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