Category Archives: Debugging

Converting S19 Files into Binary Files with GNU objcopy

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Typically I can create with my build the file I usually need (like an S19). See “S-Record Generation with gcc for ARM/Kinetis” how to do this in CodeWarrior, or “Binary Files for the mbed Bootloader with Eclipse and GNU ARM Eclipse Plugins” how this works in Kinetis Design Studio. The basis of all this is the GNU objcopy utility (see “S-Record Manipulation with GNU objcopy and Burner Utility”). So what if I just have an S19 (S-Record) file and need it in a different format, e.g. as .bin (binary) file for the mbed bootloader which only accepts .bin (raw binary) files?

Converting S19 to BIN

Converting S19 to BIN

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Preserving Memory Ranges with Eclipse and P&E GDB Server

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For my boot loaders I need the functionality that I can keep memory ranges from being erased while downloading the rest of the application. P&E provides a GDB server which interfaces with their probes (P&E Universal Multilinks, Tracelinks, …) and as well with the OpenSDA present on many of the Freescale evaluation boards. In CodeWarrior there is an option for ‘Advanced Programming Options’ which allows to preserve memory of the microcontroller FLASH (see “Programming part of flash“). However, that option or button is not present in the Eclipse version of the P&E GDB server (e.g. in Kinetis Design Studio). So how can I preserve some areas of FLASH in Eclipse with GDB?

Preservation of Non-Volatile Memory in CodeWarrior

Preservation of Non-Volatile Memory in CodeWarrior

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UART printf() for the FRDM-K64F Board and Kinetis Design Studio

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I had great plans for this Saturday: to work on really cool project. But as so many times, things turned out to be different. Maybe you have read my recent posts about printf()? A colleague wanted to use that article to the same thing with the Kinetis Design Studio on the FRDM-K64F board. I used the FRDM-KL25Z board, so I expected this to work out of the box for him too. Well, turned out that I was wrong about this, and my Saturday was used for debugging and googling about a printf() problem 😦

While things work as expected for the FRDM-KL25Z (ARM Cortex-M0+) and using the standard GNU GCC ARM Embedded from the launchpad, the application traps on the K64F (ARM Cortex-M4F) in initialise_monitor_handles() with KDS:

Trap in initialize_monitor_handles()

Trap in initialize_monitor_handles()

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Step-by-Step: Updating OSBDM/OSJTAG Debug Firmware

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While new Freescale boards come with the OpenSDA debug firmware, I still students using boards with the OSBDM/OSJTAG. And with new CodeWarrior tools, it might be that there is a new OSBDM/OSJTAG firmware, and when I download to a board with an older firmware, the tool will prompt me to update the firmware. To me, after doing this several times, not a big deal. But for someone who sees this the first time, it might not be that easy. So to avoid any further questions, here we go with a step-by-step tutorial how to update the OSBDM/OSJTAG firmware.

MCF52259 Tower Board with OSBDM Firmware

MCF52259 Tower Board with OSBDM Firmware

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Preventing Reverse Engineering: Enabling Flash Security

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Now I have invested a lot of time into my application, ready to be flashed on the devices and shipped. But wait: I don’t want that someone can read out the code from my device and have it reverse engineered. For this, I can ‘secure’ the device.

Flash Security Settings

Flash Security Settings

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EmbSys Registers View with CMSIS-SVD dimElementGroup

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As outlined in “How to Add Register Details View in Eclipse“, I have a nice register detail level viewer for Eclipse and GDB. But one problem showed up: there were entries showing with %s:

PCR Register with %s

PCR Register with %s

The reason is that the parser is not handling the dimElementGroup of CMSIS-SVD.

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Tutorial: PWM with DMA on ARM/Kinetis

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For a project I need to change the PWM duty cycle after a PWM period is over. One way to do this is to have an interrupt at the end of the PWM period, and then set the new PWM duty (compare) register value in the interrupt. That works fine for ‘slow’ PWM frequencies, but if the PWM frequency is high, the CPU load is massively increasing. A better way is to use DMA (Direct Memory Access).

FRDM-KL25Z with DMA PWM and Logic Analyzer

FRDM-KL25Z with DMA PWM and Logic Analyzer

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Semihosting with Kinetis Design Studio

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Semihosting is a technique to do printf() debugging through an active debug connection. So instead using a physical connection like RS-232 or USB CDC, the connection to the host machine is through the debugger. This post is about enabling and using semihosting with gcc and newlib/newlib-nano in Freescale Eclipse based Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) using the GNU ARM Eclipse plugins.

Semihosting Console View with output

Semihosting Console View with output

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How to Add Register Details View in Eclipse

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The standard Eclipse registers view only shows the core registers:

Standard Registers View in Eclipse

Standard Registers View in Eclipse

I think it would be great to have a view to see all the device peripheral registers too?

Embedded System Registers View

Embedded System Registers View

If you want the same, then this article is for you. It works both for stock Eclipse and Freescale Kinetis Design Studion (KDS) 🙂

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Constructing a Classroom IDE with Eclipse for ARM

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For the next semester I will do things differently in my advanced embedded systems programming course (INTRO) at the University of Lucerne: Instead of using the Freescale provided CodeWarrior, we will use a DIY tool chain for ARM with Eclipse Kepler.

Eclipse Kepler Ready for Classroom Usage

Eclipse Kepler Ready for Classroom Usage

That way we we can offer students an open and convenient tool chain for their lab work, course assignments and own projects both at work and at home. So this post is about spending about 30 minutes to build your own tool chain which then can passed to students and coworkers so they have a complete toolchain installed in a few minutes.

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