Sorry in advance for the attitude but am very frustrated at the moment and am not making progress.

Details:
ZDS-II 5.2.0 for eZ80Acclaim
Win7 Pro, SP1, 64-bit
Cpu eZ80F91 Rev B, USB Smart Cable Firmware Version is 1.60

Still trying to test code utilizing watchdog and NMI (see my other thread) and am having not so much fun.
A. Issues with ZDS-II
Why do you allow me to "Customize" the toolbar in ZDS-II but my customizations are not persistent/ remembered across sessions?

Why do the toolboars look different depending on whether I'm connected to the target or not?

The various inconsistent results I get have something to do with
1. Which toolbar I'm turning ON/ OFF.
2. Whether that toolbar was on the first toolbar line or the 2nd.
3. Whether I've merely switched between Connected and Not Connected to target or whether I've closed ZDS-II and reopened it.

Specifically I'm not interested in the Command toolbar cluttering up my workspace since I don't use it - the very purpose and definition of Customize. Nor do I regularly use the Find toolbar. Try various combinations of turning off one or both, moving one to the first line or second line before doing that, switching between connected and unconnected, closing and reopening.

Why, when I right-click on the open file in ZDS-II and select "Edit Breakpoints" does the "Go to Code" button not work? It's supposed to open the file containing the breakpoint, bring the file into view if it's not already and then place the cursor on the breakpoint line. It only works if the breakpoint file is NOT already open. Otherwise it does nothing.

B. Issue with USB SmartCable
Where on the Zilog website can I find Firmware Upgrades for existing development tools (like USB Smart Cable)?

Why, when I try to download the firmware upgrade that I already seem to have loaded in my bin folder do I get these messages in ZDS-II?
Upgrading USB Smart Cable firmware to version 1.60.
[WARNING] Please do not disconnect the USB Smart Cable until complete.
[ERROR] Error encountered while attempting to download the firmware
[ERROR] Firmware uppgrade failed.

Why do you still list FS2 (First Silicon Systems) as a supplier of third part tools (In Target System Analyzer) when FS2 no longer exists as such and the link on the website leads to a pretty strange place, like what remains of FS2's FTP server or something?

Thus endeth my rant. Not as bad as some others I've read but sill a little out of character for me personally. Submitted for what it's worth.

Hi Stephen

On your issues with the ZDS II, if you have not already, I would like you to open a trouble ticket in Customer support for the issues you are seeing, so that we can log the issues correctly to get them resolved. From the Zilog website, click on Support, Customer service. On the left side will be an option to create a support ticket. Some of the issues are never logged so they either are unknown or considered low priority, since there was no issues from customers.

For issue B:
Any firmware upgrades are included with the appropriate ZDS II download. We are investigating if it makes sense to provide the USB Smart cable drivers independently, given the Windows 64bit systems.

The USB Smart cable have specific firmware for driving them, which is different than the drivers for Windows. The only time that the firmware needs to change on the USB device is if the communication to the MCU changes (typically from an architectural change, which does not happen very often). The window drivers, however, did change when moving from 32 bit to 64 bit.

The downloading of the firmware is to the USB smart cable device, not downloading externally. If you are failing on updating your firmware, it maybe that the firmware is already at the 1.60 version. When you connect to the target, the USB Smart cable firmware is displayed on the debug window with the serial number.

The FS2 link was an oversight, I have started the process to have it removed, thank you.

Thank you Tom for your prompt and helpful reply.

I will happily open a Support Ticket as you suggest.

The USB SmartCable revision is at 1.6.0 as is the firmware update file I happen to have. I got on that path hoping that some of the problems I was having were maybe related to the SmartCable firmware and Win7 so I first, looked for drivers on the site and second, tried updating with what I already had, not realizing I was already up to date. I then got the error messages and decided to post them here.

May I recommend that if the error message I received was because the firmware is already up to date then a more meaningful error message would have been helpful. Words like "Warning", "Error" and "failed" are scary - and overstated - when the only problem is that the update attempt is unnecessary. For example: "[ADVISORY] Firmware update complete - your firmware is already up to date". I will include that suggestion in my support ticket as well.

Should I also include my comments about NMI and Watchdog Timer? Even if this is a current debugger hardware or eZ80 chip limitation I'd like to offer my comments as a new feature request for future debug hardware. That was the reason I was poking around looking for third party alternatives (sorry), hoping maybe another vendor's debug h/w doesn't suffer from this limitation. Unless of course, it's the eZ80F91 chip istelf that's the culprit...