First post, by LightStruk
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Modern OS and firmware developers have many advantages that 1980s and early 1990s developers did not, such as JTAG debug interfaces built into the hardware, not to mention full system emulators in software. Being able to place breakpoints, inspect registers, and review memory locations at will makes modern embedded or low-level software development tolerable.
What did engineers do back then? Once the system is partially running, with a working screen and keyboard, one can make progress, but what if there's a problem before that point?
I can imagine several things they might have used, like 80h POST codes, beep codes, LEDs, or a serial console. Any of those are still fumbling around in the dark, though, effectively just printf("made it this far"). Did they have anything more sophisticated?