Another difference in debugging Cell programs is the TotalView TID (Thread ID). An SPU thread has a negative number, differentiating it from the positive TIDs used for PPU threads. Negative TIDs on other architectures have a different meaning, representing a manager thread that is performing an activity in which you have little interest.

All SPU threads can be run synchronously or asynchronously. Like all threads within TotalView, you can use the CLI to place SPU threads in a named group and control these named groups separately.