Now I have implemented a watchdog with Processor Expert for my system. But what I have found out? I ended up with a looping system, and the watchdog did not fire 😦
What went wrong?
Changing Initialization Sequence in Processor Expert
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Category Archives: Debugging
New CodeWarrior for MCU10.5
On Friday, Freescale has updated CodeWarrior for MCU10 from V10.4 to V10.5, available on http://www.freescale.com/cwmcu10. I have not had much time to use it over the week-end, but here is a list of the things which in my view will make me switch my projects over to 10.5 and use it in my university classes:
- Smaller: smaller setup and less disk space
- Faster: faster debugging and flashing
- Features: Eclipse Juno, detachable editor views, ‘unlimited’ breakpoints, simplified debugger attach/connect/download, and more.
Tutorial: FreeMASTER Visualization and Run-Time Debugging
“A picture says more than 1000 words.”
I don’t know the source of that quote, but for sure it is true for every developer and engineer too. Engineers need to work a lot with numbers. But numbers can be transformed into pictures and graphs which can make complex things and relationships easier to understand. Verifying proper functionality of a PID closed loop controller or watching sensor values with a nice plot is definitely something very useful. Would it not be great to watch sensor data changing over time in a chart like the one below?
Accelerometer Graph
One way is to export data and then show it e.g. in Excel (which has been great chart functions). But even better, if this could be done directly with data provided from the target board? If you think this is hard to do, then I can show you how this can be done in a few steps with the help of a very nice tool: FreeMASTER 🙂
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.
Queues and Tasks
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.
GDB with GDB Server
Using the HC-06 Bluetooth Module
After my first post using a Bluetooth module, things have evolved a bit. The challenge with these Bluetooth modules is: they look the same, but having different firmware. I did not fully realize that until I have ordered another bluetooth module from dx.com:
DX.com Bluetooth Module (HC-06)
That module comes already on a carrier, so I assumed I can use the same driver as for my other module. I was wrong :-(.
Bricking and Recovering FRDM-KL25Z Boards: Reset, SWD Clock and Low Power
I’m working with a student on building a small autonomous robot platform, based on the FRDM-KL25Z board. We integrated new software modules, compiled and linked, and then downloaded the application to the board. While debugging and stepping through the application startup, I had this:
The Debugger has lost communication on connection
Outsch! That’s not good. Even worse, trying to connect again to the board failed :-(. What happened?
CMSIS-DAP with IAR and the KL25Z Freedom Board
Beside of USBDM, there is another Open Source implementation of a debug interface for the Freedom Board OpenSDA: CMSIS-DAP.
CMSIS-DAP (Source: http://nimblemachines.com/cmsis-dap/)
CMSIS-DAP stands for ‘Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard – Debug Access Port’) has been published by ARM Inc. With this, there is an open source alternative to proprietary implementation (e.g. P&E OpenSDA or Segger OpenSDA).
Beside of the ARM MDK IDE, CMSIS-DAP is supported by Coocox and IAR. And IAR is what I’m using in this post.
Freedom Board with Segger OpenSDA Debug Firmware
Looks like there is some movement on the ‘OpenSDA Front’: After CodeRed has released their RedProbe OpenSDA firmware, now Segger has released an OpenSDA firmware.
With this, I get a low-cost debugging solution similar to the well-known J-Link run control devices. The OpenSDA Segger Firmware is something like a J-Link-lite.
FRDM-KL25Z with Segger OpenSDA Debug Firmware
