CodeWarrior for MCU10.3 comes with the ARM GNU 4.6.2 installed:
gcc 4_6_2 in MCU10.3 layout
What about switching to a different (newer) gcc?
Switching ARM GNU gcc Toolchain in Eclipse
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Category Archives: Tips & Tricks
Enabling the Expert Level in Processor Expert
Processor Expert in Eclipse and CodeWarrior is cool thing, and acts as the ‘expert’ for anything around the microcontroller used. But by default, it is acting in the ‘Basic’ level only.
Component Inspector Levels
But there are ways to get it to the Expert level :-).
Live View for Variables and Memory
Debugging is usually a ‘stop-inspect-continue’ process. That does not work very well for watching a system which continuously changes its state. For this usually I toggle an LED, or write things to the console to watch with a human eye what is going on. But there is something very powerful in the CodeWarrior debugger too: to display variables and memory content while the target is running.
Variable Live View
Back to Basic(s) with the Freedom Board
If you think that my LED tutorial is too complicated to program a simple LED, then this article might be of interest for you. Because there is an easy and basic way: And I mean it: really basic. And the name is the program(ming language) ;-).
One of my very first contact with computers was the Commodore C64: this was a very successful home computer system back in the 1980’s: a 8bit machine with 64 KByte of RAM and a built-in Basic Interpreter in ROM:
Commodore C64 Startup Screen
Debugging ARM Cortex-M0+ Hard Fault with MTB Trace
And here it is again: a Hard Fault exception raised by the ARM Cortex-M0+ on my Freedom board:
Hard Fault in Debug View
A reason for hard faults are for example dereferencing a NULL pointer. The issue with the ARM Cortex hard fault exception stack is: it is not easy to find out where in the code the problem is.I have created a Processor Expert component to help me to find the location of such an exception. With the Eclipse based CodeWarrior for MCU10.3 there is another way: Trace with the MTB (Micro Trace Buffer)!
Reducing the build time with gcc for ARM and CodeWarrior
Eclipse based CodeWarrior for MCU10.3 comes with gcc build tools for Kinetis/ARM cores. While it features the parallel build make, I noticed that especially for larger projects build times are not as fast as it should be. The good news is: I was able to cut down my build time to less than half with a simple change :-).
When I looked at the output folder where all the object and make files are stored by Eclipse, I noticed that it has as well the listing files generated:
Listing Files in output folder
Resolving Processor Expert Bogus Errors
Some times, especially after making some clock/timing changes in Processor Expert, I have an error showing up in the Processor Expert components:
Processor Expert Components with Errors
Many times Processor Expert is right. But not always: It is possible that Processor Expert is stuck on the error, and there seems no way out. But there is a trick to resolve it….
Free Static Code Analysis with Eclipse
I know for myself: the earlier I’m able to fix a bug, the better. So I’m always grateful for things which help me to find issues in my sources as early in the development process as possible. Eclipse and CodeWarrior already help me to find syntax errors in my code while I’m typing:
Eclipse highlighting syntax error
With the built-in syntax checker of Eclipse, this helps me many times to get things right without the need to build my code with the compiler. But when I’m able to compile successfully my code, this does not mean it is without bugs. It would be good to catch as many errors *before* downloading and running it on the target.
The Freedom Robot
I have the Arduino Motor Shield working, the Ultrasonic module is pinging around, Christmas brought some small DC toy motors, and a bag of plastic gears is on my desk. All the good ingredients for a small robot: the Freedom Robot!
❗ Warning: Multiple Coke bottles have been destroyed, and a FRDM box got hurt during his experiment! 😯 Do not try yourself if you cannot handle it.:-)
Smile
Tutorial: Ultrasonic Ranging with the Freedom Board
Question: What makes 8 times ‘beep’, but I cannot hear it?
Answer: My ultrasonic range finder 🙂
FRDM-KL25Z with HC-SR04
What I have added to my FRDM-KL25Z board is an ultrasonic distance sensor, measuring distances up to 4 meters.
MCU on Eclipse 