RCM4010 Discretes on Port A

I have a project which is using a number of discretes inputs / outpus as well as two serial ports. I opted to use Port A for a number of my discrete inputs / outputs, but now have realized that it is not possilbe to use the Dynamic C software to monitor the program via execution as it uses Port A. Is this assumption correct? Also, will there be any issues / interference to the Port A communications (directly on the RCM) with discretes being switched on / off on the parent board? Thanks in advance… Rudy

Parallel port A is by default, set up as inputs as per chapter 8.2 in the R4000.pdf Core Manual.
8.2.1 I/O Pins
Parallel Port A uses pins PA0 through PA7. These pins can be used as follows.
� General-purpose 8-bit data input (write 0x080 to SPCR)
� General-purpose 8-bit data output (write 0x084 to SPCR)
� Slave port data bus (write 0x088 to SPCR)
� Data bus of the auxiliary I/O bus (write 0x08C to SPCR)
All Parallel Port A bits are inputs at startup or reset.
See the associated peripheral chapters for details on how they use Parallel Port A.

Programming port A is on PC6 / PC7.

An important note is that parallel port A, if used for discrete I/O, must be all input or all output.:rolleyes: