Unfortunately, now the NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 does not include Processor Expert support (see “First NXP Kinetis SDK Release: SDK V2.0 with Online On-Demand Package Builder“). But at the Lucerne University we are using more than 150 different custom Processor Expert components we would like to use with that new SDK. So how to make them working with the Kinetis SDK V2.0? Using a Processor Expert as “the mother of all components”:
NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 and Processor Expert Side-by-Side under Eclipse
My embedded applications are implemented mostly in C, a few in C/C++. But all of them have one or few assembly files included too: Assembly programming is the needed to do low-level things so it is a natural part of a true embedded application. For example I use often an assembly file for the application startup code.
I have run into a nasty Eclipse CDT issue which deals with assembly files projects. Here is a quizz for you: can you spot the problem in my project below?
Startup Assembly Code
By default I’m programming the Elf/Dwarf (.elf) file present in the GNU ARM Eclipse debug configuration:
Elf File to be Downloaded
But how to program the board with something different from the .elf file?
With Processor Expert projects it is very easy to change the heap and stack size: There is a setting for this in the Cpu component settings, under the ‘Build options’ tab:
Heap and Stack Size with Processor Expert
As there is no Processor Expert in the NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 (see “First NXP Kinetis SDK Release: SDK V2.0 with Online On-Demand Package Builder“), how to do the same in a SDK V2.0 project?
The world is changing, and the say is “change is good” :-). In the software and API world, change very often means that a change results into something broken. So I had battled with semihosting working on the NXP Kinetis parts, only to find out that it does not work any more with using the latest version 2.0. The semihosting output e.g. with P&E debug connection remains empty:
No Semihosting output
So how to fix this?
I’m exploring the Kinetis SDK v2.0 (see “First NXP Kinetis SDK Release: SDK V2.0 with Online On-Demand Package Builder“). For this, I’m using the ‘standard’ way: blinking the LED on the board 🙂
Blinky on FRDM-K64F Board
If using a bootloader with an application, one thing is to to merge the bootloader with the application into a single file. I do this with the ‘SRecord’ tool like this:
srec_cat bootloader.s19 application.s19 -o merged.s19
Combining S19 Files
So far, the XML files I had to work on were very simple ones, so a normal text editor was fine. Now I’m tapping into the world of CMSIS-Packs (see “Are ARM CMSIS-Pack the Future of Software Components?“). And definitely this adds a complexity for which I better use some XML editing and checking tools. The ARM tutorial for CMSIS recommends either Notepad++ or Visual C++. But hey, Eclipse should be able to do that maybe even better right? So this is about adding an XML editor and XML checker to Eclipse.
Editing CMSIS-Pack .pdsc File in Eclipse
I’m using Processor Expert components for nearly every Freescale (now NXP) projects: for S08, S12, ColdFire, DSC and especially all the different NXP Kinetis devices. Not only because it makes software development fast and easy and allows re-use of software, but as well because Processor Expert has a good way to pack and distribute software components. Unfortunately Processor Expert is not any more included for the new Kinetis devices (see “First NXP Kinetis SDK Release: SDK V2.0 with Online On-Demand Package Builder“). So I have looked into an alternative and hopefully vendor neutral way to build and distribute software packages using CMSIS-Pack.
CMSIS-Pack in Eclipse
The tinyK20 boards are now used in several projects. Initially I was considering a commercial USB thumb drive enclosure for it. But this needed some tweaking of the enclosure so at the end it was not ideal. 3D printing is probably that hot topic for 2016. So why 3D printing an enclosure for that board?
3D Printed Enclosure for the tinyK20 board
MCU on Eclipse 