do cheap (but reliable) ethernet jtag probes exist? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: incf
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2025, 03:35:11 pm
content: Sometimes it is nice to debug a device remotely over ethernet.Do cheap (but reliable) ethernet jtag probes exist?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2025, 03:46:47 pm
content: IMO the cheapest option is to use a SBC such as a RPi, connect your favorite JTAG probe to it, connect the RPi to your LAN and run openocd on it.It will be accessible from anywhere on your LAN. openocd runs as a server.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2025, 05:40:11 pm
content: Not really cheap, but we have a couple ofDigi AnywhereUSBthat have been extremely reliable with anything we've thrown at them, including debug and streaming trace sessions. I regularly debug in a VM with Jlink, USB-CDC adapter, flash drives, USB ethernet adapter, and occasionally a USB webcam all connected to one of them via a USB3 hub and never had an issue. They're well worthwhile if you want something to remotely connect the USB devices you already have and "just work".

author: voltsandjolts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 06:55:36 am
content: A cheaper alternative toDigi AnywhereUSBis the software only solution,VirtualHerewhich will share one USB device over the network for free, more needs USD50 license (or use multiple servers). An example of using it for remote debug ishere.

author: peter-h
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 07:18:38 am
content: You can run Cube IDE and the STLINK or whatever debuggers over RDP (over a VPN, obviously, due to poor RDP security). I once spent a week doing just that.What buggers you up is when the debugger loses its USB connection and you need to get somebody at the remote site to unplug and replug the USB cable

author: incf
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 09:57:38 am
content: Quote from: peter-h on May 14, 2025, 07:18:38 amI've run into that - I'm often only a few dozen feet away from the debugger, but still it is located in an inconvenient place.I've found on linux that even the usbreset command (while helpful 90% of the time) is not foolproof - sometimes the connection has to be physically broken and remade. That is one of the quirks of USB that makes me wish for something like a different type of probe (an ethernet one perhaps? which presumably would be more reliable)

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 03:08:14 pm
content: Quote from: incf on May 14, 2025, 09:57:38 amIME, that's not a quirk of USB generally, but with certain debug probes. I don't think I've ever randomly needed to cycle the USB connection on a JLink like I frequently had to with the ST-LINK. That said, one of the nice things about the AnywhereUSB hardware is you can remotely power cycle a port if a device does need a hard reset.Quote from: voltsandjolts on May 14, 2025, 06:55:36 amYeah, there are a number of software options that do the same thing, I've tried several of them and had fairly decent results, and still use them occasionally. But IME, the AnywhereUSB hardware is just that bit more reliable and transparent that I've never really had to think about it once it's set up, and that makes them worthwhile to me -- YMMV -- especially for remote hardware debugging.

author: voltsandjolts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 14, 2025, 03:26:31 pm
content: Quote from: ajb on May 14, 2025, 03:08:14 pmHah, nice featureUse one of the ports to power your DUT and you can remote power cycle it.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 16, 2025, 01:16:14 am
content: Apparently linux can share USB devices over Ethernet. A short search finds for example the "usb/ip" project. I have no experience with myself though.

author: fchk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 11:30:33 am
content: Maybe you need this:https://www.torrox.de/#wirelessdebugger

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 02:00:10 pm
content: Microchip's ICD5 has ethernet - I think it does JTAG for at least Microchip's devices

author: darkspr1te
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 08:40:31 am
content: heres some cheap solutionshttps://github.com/emard/wifi_jtaghttps://github.com/strongleg/xvcpihttps://github.com/rsd1987/NetOCDhttps://github.com/DangerousPrototypes/Ethernet_JTAGhttps://github.com/elagil/net-bmpdarkspr1te

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 11:07:13 pm
content: Run OpenOCD with your favorite interface (ST-Link etc) on an RPi, and connect to it over the network.