Sometimes I think that a problem should be solvable in a few minutes, and then it turns out that it lingers around for months. Very, very frustrating! Such a thing is getting the USB 4.1.1 stack running on the FRDM-K64F board. I have that board since April 2014, and it took me 7 months to get the FSL USB stack running on it :-(.
FRDM-K64F Board
Finally, after several weeks delay, the new PCBs for the Mini Sumo Robots (see “Zumo Robot with WiFi and GPS”) arrived, and best of all: first test are all running fine :-).
First PCB under Debug
When I started the McuOnEclipse project back in 2012, I did not expect that it would create that much of attention :-). So far I’m sharing the project files on GitHub (see “McuOnEclipse goes Git“). GitHub is excellent for sharing sources, but not a good way to share release (binary) files. It is somewhat ok for small/few files, and initially that worked well for the few Processor Expert files (see “Processor Expert Component *.PEupd Files on GitHub“). However, with the amount of components and binary releases, the GitHub repository gets bloated. So I’m performing some maintenance work, and so I’m moving binary releases to a new McuOnEclipse SourceForge site.
McuOnEclipse On SourceForge
How cool would it be to add WiFi support to any projects or IoT? Why not using WiFi with a microcontroller which has only few KBytes of RAM and FLASH. For less than US$5? Dreams came true, and intrigued by an article at Hack-A-Day, I searched a supplier for that ESP8266 module. And this evening I have found the four ESP8266 modules I have ordered for $4.50 each from ElectroDragon in my mailbox. Of course I did not want to wait for the week-end, so I hooked it up to my FRDM-KL25Z board.
ESP8266 Module for US$ 4.50
There are two basic strategies in teaching:
I usually do the first method. But there is a lot of value in the second method too!
When I asked all student groups to solder the headers on the Freescale FRDM-KL25Z board, I received one report that the board does not work any more. A quick inspection of the board showed this:
How NOT to Solder the FRDM Board Headers
Found an interesting behaviour with the Freescale FXOS8700CQ on the new Sumo Robots (see “Sensor and Communication Shield for Sumo Robot“): when enabling the accelerometer/magnetometer, it actually did not work:
Failed to Enable FXOS8700 Accelerometer
When using a bootloader (see “Serial Bootloader for the Freedom Board with Processor Expert“), then I usually protect the bootloader FLASH areas, so it does not get accidentally erased by the application ;-). When programming my boards with the P&E Multilink, then the P&E firmware will automatically unlock and erase the chip. That’s not the same if working with the Segger J-Link, as it but requires extra steps.
Protected FLASH Pages with Processor Expert
Student: “Professor, my application does not work!”
Professor: “What is the problem?”
Student: “I don’t know, but the LED on my board is not blinking.”
Professor: “Can you step through the port initialization sequence and check if the clocks are initialized correctly?”
Student: “I have pressed the ‘Run’ button, I’m not debugging”.
Professor: “Why are you not debugging?”
Student: “I always do a ‘Run’, and I do ‘Debug’ only if needed.”
Professor: “Ahhhhhhrrrrgggg!”
Run and Debug in Eclipse
Clearly, I’m not immune to the ‘déformation professionelle‘. I very rarely use ‘Run’, because it simply does not offer much value compared to ‘Debug’ during development. If using ‘Run’ and then there is a problem, I have to ‘Debug’ anyway, why not ‘Debug’ from the beginning? It is simply not an efficient way to work for me. Or I’m missing something?
At FTF 2014, Freescale made the announcement that CodeWarrior won’t support all the new ARM Kinetis devices coming out in the future: they will be supported with the free-of-charge Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) instead. As for myself, this is a big shift from a well established CodeWarrior toolchain to something new. A question which came up recently several times in the forums and in other posts is: how do CodeWarrior and KDS compare with each other?
CW vs KDS
I have to admit: I’m not a vegetarian. I love BBQ, and no offense to vegetarians! Today is perfect day for another BBQ session, and this time I plan to enhance it with electronics. No, not eating electronics, but doing BBQ with a little DIY electronic helper. There are different ways to cook meat on an open fire pit, and each region of the world has its own way to do it. Traditionally, in my area we are ‘grilling’ the meat: high temperature, for a few minutes, done! I like that ‘fast food way’ too, but there is an even better version: Slow food smoking!
I’m gifted that I had the opportunity to experience the Texas BBQ culture: slowly cooking the meat, at low temperature, and ‘smoking’ it: Cooking the meat around 80°C prevents that it gets dry (because the water does not vaporize, see this article on Wikipedia). There are different ways how to do this, but I love the way how it is done at the Salt Lick in Austin/TX with an open fire pit:
BBQ Pit in Austin Texas
MCU on Eclipse 