Looks like a flood of new Freedom boards is coming out 🙂 : I have found out about this new one: The FRDM-KE02Z.
Category Archives: CPU’s
Driver for Microchip 24xx Serial EEPROM
For many projects I need to store configuration or sensor data. For this I’m using either an SD card or program the internal flash memory of the microcontroller. Using the internal flash is a good thing as it does not need an external component. However, the typical number of programming cycles is limited to 10k-50k which is a limiting factor if data has to be recorded over a long time or very often. That’s why I’m using the very popular external 24xx external EEPROM devices from Microchip.
Kinetis ARM Cortex M4 DIY Board for $5
I love the Freedom boards, like the most recent FRDM-KL46Z for about US$15. But if I think that the ‘Freedom’ board is to big, cost too much and has too much on it, then here is one which is built for only US$5 :-): The MC HCK (pronounced “McHack”):

MC HCK Board Assembled (Source: http://mchck.org/blog/2013-08-06-self-built-mchck-for-5-dollars/)
Device Driver for Freescale MAG3110 Digital Magnetometer
One of the ‘goodies’ of the FRDM-KL46Z is the Freescale MAG3110 magnetometer. The MAG3110 is a tiny 2×2 mm device:
What was missing so far is a Processor Expert component for it. This post is about closing this gap…
A new Freedom Board: FRDM-KL46Z
Freescale has added a new Freedom board: the FRDM-KL46Z:
My opinion? The best Freedom board so far, I love it!
DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 6 – Linux Host with OpenOCD and CMSIS-DAP
For everyone who wants to build a Do-It-Yourself toolchain for Kinetis on Linux, I recommend to read the following excellent post by Karibe:
Setting up Linux opensource build and debug tools for freescale freedom board FRDM-KL25Z
He describes how to get OpenOCD with CMSIS-DAP working with Eclipse on Ubuntu to debug the FRDM-KL25Z board.
List of Tutorials
- Part 1: Setting up ARM GNU tool chain
- Part 2: Setting up Eclipse IDE
- Part 3: Setting up the debugger (P&E and Segger)
- Part 4: Setting up Processor Expert
- Part 5: Setting up FreeRTOS Kernel Awareness
- Part 6: Linux Host Support with OpenOCD and CMSIS-DAP
- Part 7: GNU ARM Eclipse Plugins
- Part 8: Processor Expert with GNU ARM Eclipse Plugins
- Part 9: DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 9 – Express Setup in 8 Steps
- Part 10 – Project Creation with GNU ARM Eclipse 2.1.1
Happy Linuxing 🙂
DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 5 – FreeRTOS Eclipse Kernel Awareness with GDB
So far I have covered in this tutorial series how to install ARM GNU gcc, adding Eclipse, followed by adding GNU GDB debugger, and then adding Processor Expert. I’m using FreeRTOS a lot in my projects, and luckily there is a Kernel Awareness Plugin available for FreeRTOS for GDB in Eclipse. This tutorial is about how to install and use it.
Using the FRDM-KL25Z as a USB Mouse Device
I finally completed my project turning the FRDM-KL25Z board into a USB mouse device :-). The form factor and the capabilities of the Freedom board makes it a great board for implementing it as a ‘custom mouse’. All what I need is the USB stack running on it and have it acting as USB HID Mouse device.
FreeRTOS V7.5.0 released
A week ago, the updated FreeRTOS V7.5.0 has been released on FreeRTOS.org. So time to have my Processor Expert FreeRTOS component updated as well :-).
DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 3 – Debugger (GDB Server with P&E and Segger)
This is the third part of a tutorial series how to ‘do-it-yourself’ a tool chain for the Freescale Kinetis microcontroller, with the FRDM-KL25Z as example. The tool chain is using GNU ARM gcc plus Eclipse Kepler release. So far I have the following parts:
List of Tutorials
- Part 1: Setting up ARM GNU tool chain
- Part 2: Setting up Eclipse IDE
- Part 3: Setting up the debugger (P&E and Segger)
- Part 4: Setting up Processor Expert
- Part 5: Setting up FreeRTOS Kernel Awareness
- Part 6: Linux Host Support with OpenOCD and CMSIS-DAP
- Part 7: GNU ARM Eclipse Plugins
- Part 8: Processor Expert with GNU ARM Eclipse Plugins
- Part 9: DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 9 – Express Setup in 8 Steps
- Part 10 – Project Creation with GNU ARM Eclipse 2.1.1
So far things are very generic. But with debugging it means different hardware, and different hardware connections. And for this connection we need a GDB Server.
GDB Server
Eclipse CDT features a GNU Debugger (GDB), and this is what I want to use here: debugging my microcontroller with GDB inside Eclipse. In order to debug the microcontroller, I need two other things: a GDB Server and a Debug Probe.







