One way to think of the Tornado launcher is as a central plugboard which allows you to connect any Tornado development tool to any networked target.

Figure 3-2:  The Launcher as Network-Wide Plugboard

Figure 3-2 illustrates this concept. The launcher allows you to use targets just as easily regardless of their nature or their physical connection. Figure 3-2 shows several common variations on connections between a tool and a target:

• Tool is connected to a target on the local Ethernet subnet.

• Tool is connected over the local Ethernet to a target that is physically attached to a remote host.

• Tool is connected to a target that communicates directly with the local host over a serial line.

All this is possible thanks to the target server, a dedicated daemon which represents each development target to the development network. All details related to physical connectivity are handled by the target server. Someone must configure the target communications initially (see 2.4 Target Setup), but thereafter the target is immediately available to any authorized user on the local network, with no further cabling or configuration.

For reference information about the target server, see the entry for tgtsvr in C. Tornado Tools Reference or online (Help>Manuals Contents>Tornado Reference>Tornado Tools>tgtsvr).

To select a target server, click on any of the server names in the target list. The launcher highlights the selected target name, and fills the Information panel with a scrollable description of the target configuration and target server. Figure 3-3 illustrates a launcher with a target server selected.

Figure 3-3:  Launcher with a Selected Target

If no target servers are listed, or if none of the target servers listed represent the target you need, see 3.5.1 Configuring a Target Server below.

If you make a mistake, or if you wish to select another target, simply click on another target-server name. Any tools that you have already launched remain connected to the previous target (the plugboard analogy does not extend that far).

The information panel displays the following information about the selected target:

Name

A unique string identifying the target server, which matches the selected entry in the target list. Servers are shown as target@serverhost, where target is an identifier (frequently the network name) for the target device itself, and serverhost is the network name of the host where the target server is running.

Version

The target-server version number.

Status

This field indicates whether a target is locked (restricted to the user ID that started the server), reserved (for the user shown below in the User field) or unreserved. Anyone¹ may connect to an unreserved target.

Runtime

The name and version number of the operating system running on the target.

Agent

The name and version number of the agent program running on the target.

CPU

A string identifying the CPU architecture (and possibly other related information, such as whether this is a real target or a simulated one).

BSP

The name and version number of the Board Support Package linked into the run-time.

Memory

The total number of bytes of RAM available on this target.

Link

The physical connection mechanism to the target.

User

The user ID of the developer who launched this target server, or of the user who reserved it most recently.

Start

A timestamp showing when this target server was launched.

Last

The last time this target server received any transaction request.

Attached Tools

A list of all the tools currently attached to this target server. The list includes all Tornado tools attached to this target by any user on the network, not just your own tools.

Once you have selected a target server, click once on any button in the toolbar to launch a tool on that target. You can launch as many instances of a tool as you like, even attached to the same target. For instance, you may find it convenient to have one instance per application task of CrossWind, or to run different shells for different kinds of interaction.

You can also launch many of the Tornado tools from a UNIX shell (or shell script), specifying the target name as an argument. See the chapter that describes each tool for more information.

1:  You can also restrict your target servers to permit connections only by a particular list of users; see 3.5.2 Sharing and Reserving Target Servers.