Category Archives: Embedded

Tutorial: Playing MP3 Files with VS1053B and FRDM Board

Posted on by
44

I want to make some noise with this post!!! This tutorial is about adding music and sound capabilities to the Freescale Freedom board, and to have a lot of fun with it :-). I need this ability for a larger project working on for a while. But I thought I share that sub-part how to play sound files. So with this tutorial I can turn my Freescale Freedom board into a music or sound player :-). And adding sounds is a cool way for any project, and as the music is stored on an SD card it fits easily hours of music or sounds.

MP3 Player with FRDM-KL25Z

MP3 Player with FRDM-KL25Z and Adafruit Music Maker MP3 Shield

Continue reading →

McuOnEclipse Component Sources in Dedicated GitHub Repository

Posted on by
3

From time to time it is good to do some cleanup work: what has grown organically sometimes needs some cuts and moves. The same applies to the McuOnEclipse GitHub repository (https://github.com/ErichStyger/mcuoneclipse) which has grown to 522 MByte, 8364 files and 1444 folders. I already moved out the Processor Expert component releases (see “McuOnEclipse Releases on SourceForge“). Time to cleanup and move something else: the Processor Expert component sources.

McuOnEclipse_PEx

McuOnEclipse_PEx

Continue reading →

Updated McuOnEclipse Components: USB for KL24Z, FatFs v0.10c, Shell Backspace and FreeRTOS Trace Hook Configuration

Posted on by
13

I have received several requests to post a quick note when there is a new release (16-Nov-2014) of the McuOnEclipse components on SourceForge (see “McuOnEclipse Releases on SourceForge“). I have published today a new release, and with following major improvements:

  1. USB support for Kinetis KL24Z
  2. FatFs now features the latest Elm-Chan v0.10c release
  3. Backspace support in Shell
  4. Configuration item in FreeRTOS for Percepio Trace Hooks
McuOnEclipse SourceForge

McuOnEclipse SourceForge

Continue reading →

Tutorial: How to Erase the FLASH with the GNU GDB debugger

Posted on by
13

I have several applications where I store application specific information in the microcontroller FLASH memory (see “Configuration Data: Using the Internal FLASH instead of an external EEPROM“). I have run into issues recently with the Segger J-Link GDB server as by default it does *not* erase all the FLASH memory. So the question is: How can I erase all (or part) of the FLASH memory with GDB (e.g. in Kinetis Design Studio or in Eclipse)?

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

Continue reading →

Adding Processor Expert to Atollic TrueSTUDIO

Posted on by
8

For me as an Eclipse and Processor Expert lover, a press release that Atollic supports Processor Expert catched my eye :-). So there is yet another way to use Processor Expert: with a commercial Eclipse IDE provided by Atollic (atollic.com/).

Atollic Splash Screen

Atollic Splash Screen

Time to check it out…

Continue reading →

Recovering the FRDM-K64F Bootloader, or: Cloning the Program of a Microcontroller

Posted on by
23

The Freescale FRDM-K64F and FRDM-K22F have a different OpenSDA (v2) firmware on it: unlike the earlier (v1), that firmware is open and not protected which is a great thing. However, it has the disadvantage if you use the wrong SWD/JTAG header on your board, the bootloader on the K20 OpenSDA microcontroller is gone 😦

Two SWD Headers on FRDM-K64F Board

Two SWD Headers on FRDM-K64F Board

Continue reading →

NeoShield: WS2812 RGB LED Shield with DMA and nRF24L01+

Posted on by
12

In my earlier post I used a hacked together shield for building a clock based on Adafruit’s NeoPixel/WS2812 (“LED Clock with Kitchen Hot Pan Protector“). The new design supports now 8 parallel data streams, integrated realtime clock and wireless connectivity with the nRF24L01+ module.

NeoPixel Shield for FRDM Boards

NeoPixel Shield for FRDM Boards

Continue reading →

Tutorial: FreeRTOS with the Kinetis SDK and Processor Expert

Posted on by
26

Freescale had announced at FTF back in April this year that they will use Kinetis Design Studio  and the Kinetis SDK for all new Kinetis devices. The switch from CodeWarrior to Kinetis Design Studio (see “Comparing CodeWarrior with Kinetis Design Studio“) was not much of big deal for my projects (although CodeWarrior still has better features), and projects are rather easily portable. However, the move to the Kinetis SDK has been massively disruptive: Before it was easy to move projects from one device to another with Processor Expert, even from S08 to ColdFire to Kinetis. Now with the Kinetis SDK everything is very different. At least Freescale now officially supports FreeRTOS, and for myself as a big fan of that open source RTOS, that was some good news.

Blinking Red LED with FreeRTOS Task using Kinetis SDK, FreeRTOS and Processor Expert

Blinking Red LED with FreeRTOS Task using Kinetis SDK, FreeRTOS and Processor Expert

So in this tutorial I’m showing how FreeRTOS can be used with the Kinetis Design Studio. That makes at least using the Kinetis SDK bit more familiar to me :-).

Continue reading →

Sumo Robot Sensor Shield

Posted on by
3

The PCB’s for the Sumo robot (see “New Sumo Robot Assembled, and looking good!“) arrived. It is the ‘production’ version of that shield I have shown in “Sensor and Communication Shield for Sumo Robot” which adds following to the robot:

  1. Ultrasonic module
  2. Bluetooth module
  3. nRF24L01+ module
  4. I2C I/O Expander for 8 extra I/Os
  5. One general purpose I/O header
  6. One general purpose I2C header
  7. Up to 6 infrared distance sensors
Sensor Shield

Sensor Shield

Continue reading →