NXP has released a new LinkServer v26.9.130. And it comes with a major new feature: it now includes power and energy measurement:
Additionally, it has a command line interface for this, making it ideal for AI agent usage or for automated tests in a CI/CD environment.
Continue readingSetting up the correct tools for a development environment can be complex and time consuming. I’m using DevContainers with Docker for almost all of my projects. Because that way I get an isolated development environment. For this I spend time to craft dedicated docker files, to have everything installed correctly with the the right versions.
Outside a docker or DevContainer environment, I’m using the NXP MCUXpresso installer. It is a standalone application which can be used from VS Code to check and install all the necessary tools.
In this article, I show how to have the NXP MCUXpresso Installer installed in a DevContainer so it can be used with VS Code.
Continue readingI’m using different MCUS from NXP with VS Code, and for this I’m mostly using the NXP MCUXpresso extension for VS Code.
At the same time, I’m using the cortex-debug extension for other ARM Cortex-M based MCUs, for example the Raspberry Pi Pico series.
Does it makes sense to use cortex-debug for NXP devices, and what would be the benefit? More precise: can I use the NXP MCU-Link (LinkServer based) debug probes with cortex-debug, to debug another NXP MCU?
In my latest research project I’m using the NXP FRDM-MCXN947 board. As part of that project I have to collect and export application trace data for later analysis. In that project I’m using the the Tracealyzer product from Percepio.
In this article I describe different ways to export trace data from the embedded target: using generic GDB commands or with an trace exporter in VS Code.
Continue readingFor an university research project, I need to write some console output and the same time write a file with data from the embedded board to the host. A logical choice for this is using semihosting.
For an university research project we are implementing a software simulator for the EZH (or SmartDMA) co-prozessor present on some NXP MCUs.
This article describes how to setup and build QEMU in a docker container, including debugging QEMU with VS Code.
Continue readingDebugging a C/C++ application inside a Docker Container using VS Code is surprisingly easy.
This article shows the needed steps.
Continue readingWith the NXP MCU-Link Pro I can measure current and power/energy of an embedded target. In this article I describe how I can use and visualize that data in VS Code:
From my previous MetaClockClock project, I still had some hardware available. So I decided to build my largest build so far: to clocks with 78 clocks each.
In Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – Repositories with VS Code and Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – west I showed how to get the MCUXpresso SDK. In this article it is about tweaking and streamlining the project.
The result is a clean, portable and self-contained MCUXpresso SDK project.
