AVR-Chat

--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Ian Drennan" <ianid@s...> wrote:

> Please can someone explain when and
> why I will need to use an ICE ...

When and why are both the same. You will need to use 'an ICE' 
when/because you want to see the effect of your software on the 
actual hardware or when the hardware is affecting the operation of 
your software and you need to see how. In my opinion, this situation 
is bound to come up sooner or later in any serious embedded systems 
work. The simulator is great while you're interested only in what's 
going on inside the microcontroller. When you interact with the real 
world, it gets harder to use effectively.

> ... and how an ICE actually works.

See http://www.ecrostech.com, click on JTAG ICE for Atmel AVR and 
click on technical details.

> I intend using Mega8 and Mega16
> chips which I inderstand are JTAG
> supported.

ATmega16, yes. Not the ATmega8, though. It's only a 28/32 pin package.

Graham.