Building a Triumvirate: From Eclipse CDT to CMake, CMD and Visual Studio Code

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Erich Styger

A Triumvirate is or Triarchy is built by three individuals which lead or rule something. In this article I want to rule a project with Eclipse CDT, Visual Studio Code and with building it from the command line for automated builds.

So what if I have an Eclipse project (say MCUXpresso IDE and SDK), and want to build it on a build server, and and I want to use the same time the project with Eclipse IDE and Visual Studio code?

Key to this is CMake: I’m keeping the Eclipse CDT features, adding CMake with Make and Ninja to the fix, and have it ‘ruled’ by three different ’emperor’: Eclipse, Visual Studio Code and from a shell console:

MCUXpresso SDK CDT project with CMake for Eclipse, Visual Studio Code and Command Line Building

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NXP MCUXpresso IDE 11.7.0

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Erich Styger

It is the exam and grading time at the university, and the same time I’m preparing the lectures and labs for the new semester starting mid of February. I’m always heading for using the latest and greatest tools in my labs. A few days ago, NXP released the new version of the MCUXpresso IDE, version 11.7.0. Time to check it out…

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Tutorial: Creating Bare-bare Embedded Projects with CMake, with Eclipse included

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Erich Styger

MCU vendors offer SDKs and configuration tools: that’s a good thing, because that way I can get started quickly and get something up and running ideally in a few minutes. But this gets you into a dependency on tools, SDK and configuration tools too: changing later from one MCU to another can be difficult and time consuming. So why not get started with a ‘bare’ project, using general available tools, just with a basic initialization (clocking, startup code, CMSIS), even with the silicon vendor provided IDE and basic support files?

In this case, I show how you easily can do this with CMake, make and Eclipse, without the (direct) need of an SDK.

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Silicon Shortage and Semihosting with NXP MCUXpresso SDK on FRDM-KE02Z

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Erich Styger

The silicon shortage is still going on. While the NXP Kinetis KE devices might not be my first choice, they still seem to be available, in at least in lower quantities. This has been recognized by others, as I’m getting more and more questions and requests for the KE and KV family. This is why I un-dusted my old FRDM-KE02Z to be used with the latest MCUXpresso SDK and IDE.

And in case you want to use that board or device with semihosting, I have you covered.

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DIY Split-Flap Display

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Erich Styger

Split-flap displays are electromechanical display devices, which were common in airports or railway stations a few years ago.Unfortunately, most of them are gone and replaced by LED displays. Why not create a DIY version of it?

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LoRaWAN with NXP LPC55S16 and ARM Cortex-M33

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Erich Styger

LoRaWAN is getting more an more popular, both for terrestrial and increasingly with low-orbit satellite systems. The ‘Long Range’ in ‘LoRa’ makes it an ideal solution for low-power and low data rate applications. For a university research project we selected the Semtech SX1261/62 transceiver together with the NXP LPC55S16 mikrocontroller. Because the board used for that project is not available for the public (yet), I share here how you can run the LoRaWAN stack with the NXP LPC55S16-EVK.

LoRaWAN with Semtech SX126x and NXP LPC55S16

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McuOnEclipse Components: 26-Dec-2021 Release

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Erich Styger

I’m pleased to announce a new release of the McuOnEclipse components, available on SourceForge. This release includes several bug fixes, support for more devices, and updated components like FreeRTOS, MinINI, Percepio Tracealyzer and SEGGER SystemView.

SourceForge

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Tutorial: GNU gcov Coverage with the NXP i.MX RT1064

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Erich Styger

This tutorial shows how to use and collect coverage data using the GNU gcov tool. As board and hardaware I’m using the NXP i.MX RT1064 EVK:

MIMXRT1064-EVK running ThreadX — MIMXRT1064-EVK

While this tutorial uses this specific board, things are pretty generic and should be applicable for any other board or MCU.

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MCUXpresso IDE 11.4.0

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Erich Styger

University exam grading are all done now and results are in the system, and it is already time to prepare for the fall semester. I always try to use the latest and greatest tools in my courses, and the NXP MCUXpresso IDE 11.4.0 just came out. So time to have a look and explore the changes and features.