Windows 8 and 10 have added a ‘feature’ to scan and index devices attached to the host machine. This means that bootloaders or MSD (Mass Storage Device) programming implementations on evaluation boards developed in the Windows 7 age might not be prepared for that. Up to the point that it can impact the bootloader as outlined in “Bricking and Recovering OpenSDA Boards in Windows 8 and 10“. So far one of the easiest way to get out that situation was to use a Windows 7 machine. But if you only have a Windows 10 machine available, this article describes the needed steps to update the bootloader with Windows 10 host machines.
Category Archives: KL46Z Freedom Board
Bricking and Recovering OpenSDA Boards in Windows 8 and 10
Getting a board from a distributor like Farnell/Element14/Mouser (add your own distributor) means that chances are high that the default firmware on it is written years from now because the inventory has not been updated, or because boards are still produced with that original firmware (because of testing?). So what happens if I use board with a firmware developed pre-Windows 8/10 area?
It might work, but chances are high that the bootloader and firmware is not ready for the ‘modern age’, and as a result the board might be bricked. If you still have a Windows 7 machine around (I do!), you are lucky. If not, then you need to read this article….
NXP FTF Hands-On with FreeRTOS Task Aware Debugger
I mentioned the hands-on sessions on FreeRTOS I do this week at NXP FTF Tech Forum in Austin in my previous post. What we are using in the session is an Eclipse plugin in Kinetis Design Studio showing all kinds of FreeRTOS information:
FreeRTOS Thread Debugging with Eclipse and OpenOCD
FreeRTOS is probably the number one RTOS used, and Eclipse is likely the most popular IDE I can think of. But debugging FreeRTOS applications with Eclipse and GDB is somewhat limited? What I would like to get at the minimum is this: ability to see all the different threads in the Eclipse debug view like this:
As you might guess from that screenshot: this post is about how to make FreeRTOS tread debugging possible with Eclipse and GDB :-).
Unboxing the Freescale FRDM-KL43Z Board
I’m preparing for the next semester at the university starting in September this year. As part of that, I’m currently evaluating the Freescale Kinetis FRDM-KL43Z board:
Sensirion SHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor on a MikroElektronika Click Board
In one of my earlier posts (“Using the DHT11/DHT22 Temperature/Humidity Sensor with a FRDM Board“) I’m using the DHT11/DHT22 temperature/humidity sensors with the FRDM-KL25Z board. These sensors are very inexpensive, but have limited measurement range and accuracy. As pointed out by a reader of that article, Sensirion (a Swiss company :-)) has good sensors too, and I decided I would like to try the SHT11 sensor:
- 0-100% Relative Humidity
- +/- 3% Relative Humidity accuracy
- -40 – +125°C
- 2.4 – 5.5V supply voltage
Illustrated Step-by-Step Instructions: Updating the Freescale Freedom Board Firmware
I have received a bunch of Freescale FRDM boards to be used in an Embedded Systems programming crash course. There are multiple issues with the boards coming from the factory:
- They come with an old bootloader which is not compatible with Windows 8.x
- They have an old and outdated firmware on the board only supports a MSD bootloader
This post is a step-by-step instruction how to update Freescale FRDM boards (e.g. FRDM-KL25Z) to the latest firmware.
DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 10 – Project Creation with GNU ARM Eclipse 2.1.1
As mentioned in Part 9: There is a new GNU ARM Eclipse plugin 2.1.1, and this one makes project creation for Freescale devices easier than ever 🙂
- Native Kinetis-L project templates for FRDM-KL25Z and FRDM-KL46Z boards
- Easier than ever project creation for Processor Expert projects
New P&E OpenSDA Firmware v114
Good news for everyone having Windows 8.1: P&E has released Dec 11th 2013 a new FRDM board firmware which solves the bootloader issue found with Windows 8.1. The new firmware can download from https://www.pemicro.com/opensda/.
Kinetis Unique Identification Register
For my RNet stack I need a way to identify nodes in the network using a unique address. What I need is Media-Access (MAC) address. Base on such a unique address I can assign short addresses (e.g. with a DHCP or similar protocol to automatically assign shorter network addresses). So how to uniquely identify my network nodes?
The Freescale Kinetis microcontroller have nice feature: they have a Unique Identification Register (UID) which would be a perfect fit for a MAC address :-).