See MIPS Run, 2nd Edition

Chapter 12 Debugging MIPS Designs—Debug and Profiling Features

When you build a low-cost, low-power embedded device or consumer gizmo, it makes sense to squeeze out every feature that doesn’t contribute to the final application.

Or does it?

In marketing terms, the way to make money out of these kinds of devices is to be there first: As the devices become familiar, prices drop rapidly (as has happened with DVD players, for example). Product lifetimes are short, so development timescales must be compressed.

There’s a tension here: A cut-to-the-bone hardware system is a hostile base for development and test. The economics of SoC chips offers a way out. Most SoCs can accommodate a few percent more transistors used for predefined functions with ...