P&E has just released a new version of their Eclipse plugins for the set of GNU ARM Eclipse debug plugins. The GNU ARM Eclipse plugins from Liviu support OpenOCD and Segger J-link, so with this update or extension it adds P&E support to it. With this, I can use the P&E debug devices (P&E Multilink, Tracelink) or as well the Freescale OpenSDA with it.
PnE Debug Interfaces
One really cool thing with Processor Expert is: it does not only generate the source code for me, it generates as well documentation :-). I’m a believer of the ‘single source’ approach: if I have to document a software project, then the software itself shall be the source of the documentation. And for this I love Doxygen: see “5 Best Eclipse Plugins: #1 (Eclox with Doxygen, Graphviz and Mscgen)“. Doxygen is a compiler which compiles my source files, and instead of object files it creates documentation files for me :-).
Pin Allocation Report
With my DIY tool chain (see “Constructing a Classroom IDE with Eclipse for ARM“) I get a complete tool chain. I do not need to build that tool chain from the sources for Windows, as all the binaries are nicely pre-compiled and made available. But there is one issue I face from time to time: as the libraries provided by ARM do not come with sources and debug information enabled, I end up with that “No source available for …” message in the debugger:
No Source Available
The solution is to grab the C/C++ library sources from the ARM launchpad site and get it built locally the way I need it.
Frequent readers of this blog know that I do not like printf (see “Why I don’t like printf()“), because the standard printf() adds a lot of overhead and only causes troubles. But like small kids, engineers somehow get attracted by troubles ;-). Yes, printf() and especially sprintf() are handy for quick and dirty coding. The good news is that I have added a lightweight printf() and sprintf() implementation to my set of components: the XFormat component. And best of all: it supports floating point formatting :-).
XFormat Component
In my earlier post (“Adding the CAM8000-D Camera Module to the RIoT Board“) I was running into the ‘single camera’ trap of the current RIoT Android OS image: with only one camera attached, and switching between front/back camera, Android is stuck and needs to be flashed again to the board. Because this is so painful and can happen easily, I ordered a USB camera for the RIoT board: with this that problem should go away, and I would have a front and a back camera.
CAM8100-U Camera Module with RIoT Board
I start liking the GNU linker (ld) more and more. Yes, that linker command file syntax needs some time to learn, but it is very powerful. I stumbled over an interesting way how to define linker symbols:
/* Linker file for GNU C Compiler */ /* Entry Point */ ENTRY(Reset_Handler) HEAP_SIZE = DEFINED(__heap_size__) ? __heap_size__ : 0x00000400; STACK_SIZE = DEFINED(__stack_size__) ? __stack_size__ : 0x00000400;
The interesting part is how the HEAP_SIZE and STACK_SIZE symbols are defined.
It checks if e.g. __heap_size__ is DEFINED, and if so, it uses that symbol, otherwise it is using 0x400. Very similar to the C/C++ ‘?’ operator. So I can overwrite the default of 0x400 with my value or symbol. The questions is: from where does the symbol come from?
I *love* the Freescale Freedom boards, and you probably recognized that with all my projects using them. The Freedom boards are small, inexpensive and can be easily extended with Arduino shields which makes them a great platform for prototyping. But sometimes I just need an ARM microcontroller with some headers, and then the 85mm x 55mm size of the Freedom board is not ideal. That’s nothing new, but I realized that yet again when I did my Adafruit NeoPixel clock: the FRDM board was rather bulky, even if hidden behind that clock. I need something much smaller: the Teensy board!
Size Comparison FRDM vs. Teensy
When I ordered my first Freedom FRDM-KL25Z board, I placed an order the Tower TWR-KL25Z48M shortly afterwards. But I was so happy with the FRDM-KL25Z, and because the FRDM board is much less expensive and easier to handle, that Tower board was sitting in my board shelf, waiting for a maybe a student project or to get any other use of it. Well, I can tell that my students wanted the FRDM board, not the Tower board ;-). But when I saw this week in the Freescale forum a user asking for a USB example for that Tower board, I thought that now I could at least use that board to help someone out.
MKL25Z128VLK4 on the TWR-KL25Z48M Board
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
When I showed my 60 NeoPixel LED clock prototype to my daughter and her girlfriend, and they both wanted to have one right away :-). Well, that clock was just a proof of concept, with lots of temporary wiring. So I decided this week-end to beautify it and to make it look nice and clean(er). There is nothing like a week-end project with adding a few more LEDs and features :-).
Adafruit Neopixel Clock with 60+24+12 LEDs
