Building the MetaClockClock78: My Largest Clock Project Yet

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.

MetaClockClock78
MetaClockClock78
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Tutorial: Creating Self-Contained MCUXpresso SDK Projects

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.

VS Code with streamlined NXP MCUXpresso project
VS Code with streamlined NXP MCUXpresso project
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Debugging Linux Apps with VS Code: A Step-by-Step Guide

Recently I have been asked “How can I debug a Linux application with VS Code?”. I’m covering that topic in my ‘Embedded Application Development Course on Linux”.

Debugging Linux Application with VS Code over SSH
Debugging Linux Application with VS Code over SSH

I realized, that I have never covered that topic in any of my blog articles. So here we go: I show how easy it is to use VS Code to debug a Linux application. You can use this for example with an Raspberry Pi. Or for example the NXP i.MX93 which I’m using in this article.

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Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – Repositories with VS Code

In “Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – west“, I demonstrated the ‘west’ tool’s usage. It helps in acquiring an SDK repository. Instead using the command line tool, I can use the NXP VS Code extension to do the same.

NXP VS Code Extension to import a repository
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Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – west

In my earlier tutorial I showed how to install the necessary SDK tools. In this article I’m going to install the SDK sources. For this I’m going to use west. This is a command-line ‘meta-repository’ tool.

west update_board
west update_board
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Tutorial: Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK – Tool Installation

The engineering and development landscape is constantly changing. This includes the embedded tooling and SDKs.

Back in the year 2017 I have used the version 2 (see Tutorial: Using Eclipse with NXP MCUXpresso SDK v2 and Processor Expert). Back then, it was Eclipse with make. Now we are in 2026 and things have changed to VS Code, cmake, ninja, python and west.

VS Code with MCUXpresso Installer
VS Code with MCUXpresso Installer

Luckily, although more and different tools are needed these days, the installation experience has improved significantly. It has shifted from installing multiple different tools to a streamlined installation process.

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Upgrading CNC with Raspberry Pi and Dust Collection

I have to run multiple +10h CNC jobs. So, I decided to upgrade my Shapeoko 4 CNC machine. I equipped it with a Raspberry Pi and a new dust collection system.

CarbideMotion on RaspberryPi
Carbide Motion on Raspberry Pi
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DIY Wooden & 3D printed Advent Calendar for 2025

It is the last day of November. And tomorrow the Advent starts with December 1st. Over the last weeks I have spent the weekends with building an Advent Calendar. This year it is one without any electronics. The CNC machine has cut a pine wood tree. And the 3D printer created round threaded and numbered containers, with a shiny star on top of the tree:

Advent Calendar Tree 2025
Advent Calendar Tree 2025
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Boost Windows 11 Dev Performance with Docker Volumes

I recently upgraded from Win10 to Win11. Windows 10 was not great for building performance compared to Linux. And I feel that with Windows 11 things got worse too.

Dev Container in VS Code uses docker-based environments. This enables me using a full-featured development environment, with isolated dependencies. This is especially very useful for development in the embedded systems space. There I have to use many different SDKs, toolchains and libraries. Using Dev Containers is super easy. But file I/O operations with building etc/is not that great.

The solution is to use a Docker Volume with VS Code and Dev Container:

Build Performance Comparison
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Creating an new Embedded Rust Projects for NXP LPC55S69

In “Getting Started with Rust on NXP LPC55S69-EVK” I demonstrated how easy it is to run a ‘blinky’ with Rust. I used the Embassy framework.

rust on LPC55S69
rust on LPC55S69

In this article, I show how one can create a standalone Rust project for an embedded target.

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