In “Spilling the Beans: Endless Loops” several ways of creating and using endless loops were discussed. In this ‘bean’ it is about how to exit or break a loop.
Spilling the Beans: Breaking Loops
15
Category Archives: Tips & Tricks
Spilling the Beans: Endless Loops
The university lectures are kind of ‘back to normal’: with the COVID certificates mandatory, many former limitations (social distance, masks, …) have been relaxed. So this means there are now many more questions and discussions with students.
One of the thing I realized is that I am doing things in a certain way, and I don’t need to think about it, because I have used certain techniques for a long time. So I had several discussions last week with students which I would characterize as “aus dem Nähkästchen plaudern”. No real ‘secrets’, but just things which might be a something new to think about. Well, I think this is worth a potential new blog article series if this continues, so here we go with a first one: how to write ‘endless’ loops in C?
Visual Studio Code for C/C++ with ARM Cortex-M: Part 9 – RTT
For me the Cortex-Debug Visual Studio extension by marus25 is the standard way to use VSC for embedded development. Another ‘standard’ piece I’m using in many of my projects is the SEGGER RTT.
Tutorial: GNU gcov Coverage with the NXP i.MX RT1064
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:
While this tutorial uses this specific board, things are pretty generic and should be applicable for any other board or MCU.
Continue readingVisual Studio Code for C/C++ with ARM Cortex-M: Part 8 – xPack C/C++ Managed Build Tools
This is a new article in my series about using Microsoft Visual Studio Code: After installation, project setup, building, debugging, setting up a kit, IntelliSense and FreeRTOS. This one is about setting up and using the xPack Extension to build cross-platform-multi-tool project with a project manager.
Standalone SWO
SWO (Single Wire Output) in ARM cores is probably one of the most under-used features. Which is surprising, because SWO can be very useful. In a nut shell: SWO is a single wire output pin/signal channel which can provide lots of different data, like PC sampling for coverage information, interrupt tracing data or ‘uart-like’ text packets.
Optimized Vinyl Cutting G-Code Tool Path with DXF2GCODE
G-Code (or RS-274) is a widely used protocol for CNC machines. I have added vinyl cutting capabilities to the Shapeoko desktop CNC recently (see DIY Vinyl Cutting Drag Knife for Desktop CNC), however cutting vinyl with a drag knife is whole different story compared cutting materials like wood or aluminum. As with many other things, it is about handling all corner cases properly.
DIY Vinyl Cutting Drag Knife for Desktop CNC
A desktop CNC is a great addition to any 3D printer or laser cutter. I consider them ‘the trinity’ for any maker garage. While a desktop CNC is great for wood and some metals like aluminum or brass, it would be great to extend the infrastructure with something more: vinyl cutting. And with this the idea to have cool sticker on my laptop lid:
Position-Independent Code with GCC for ARM Cortex-M
Welcome to ‘Alice in Wonderland‘! For a university research project using an ARM Cortex-M33 we are evaluating position-independent code as way to load applications or part of it with a bootloader. It sounds simple: just add -fPIC to the compiler settings and you are done.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. That option opened up a ‘rabbit hole’ with lots of wonderful, powerful and strange things. Something you might not have been aware of what could be possible with the tools you have at hand today. Leading to the central question: how is position-independent code going to work with an embedded application on an ARM Cortex-M?
Let’s find out! Let’s start a journey through the wonderland…
Continue readingVisual Studio Code for C/C++ with ARM Cortex-M: Part 7 – FreeRTOS
This is a new article in my series about using Microsoft Visual Studio Code: After installation, project setup, building, debugging, setting up a kit and IntelliSense. This one is about setting up and using FreeRTOS:
MCU on Eclipse 