DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 6 – Linux Host with OpenOCD and CMSIS-DAP

For everyone who wants to build a Do-It-Yourself toolchain for Kinetis on Linux, I recommend to read the following excellent post by Karibe:

Setting up Linux opensource build and debug tools for freescale freedom board FRDM-KL25Z

He describes how to get OpenOCD with CMSIS-DAP working with Eclipse on Ubuntu to debug the FRDM-KL25Z board.

List of Tutorials

Happy Linuxing 🙂

FreeRTOS V7.5.0 released

A week ago, the updated FreeRTOS V7.5.0 has been released on FreeRTOS.org. So time to have my Processor Expert FreeRTOS component updated as well :-).

FreeRTOS V7.5.0

FreeRTOS V7.5.0

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DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 2 – Eclipse IDE

This is the second part of a multi-part tutorial about how to set up an open source tool chain with GNU ARM gcc + Eclipse to build and debug an application for Kinetis ARM devices.

List of Tutorials

Eclipse Kepler

Eclipse Kepler

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DIY Free Toolchain for Kinetis: Part 1 – GNU ARM Build Tools

This is the first part of a multi-part tutorial on setting up a free and functional GNU gcc + Eclipse + debugger environment for use with the Freescale FRDM-KL25Z board.

List of Tutorials

In this first part, I’m showing how to install the GNU ARM tool chain to build a ‘blinking LED’ application for the FRDM-KL25Z. With 100% free tools 😉

Blinking Red RGB LED made with free tools

Blinking Red RGB LED made with free tools

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FreeRTOS Heap with Segmented Kinetis K SRAM

While working on a project for the FRDM-K20D50M, I faced a problem: I was running out of SRAM for my application. The GNU linker reports: “section `.bss’ will not fit in region `m_data'”: 😦

bss will not fit in region m_data

bss will not fit in region m_data

But my device has 16 KByte of SRAM, and I knew I use much less than 10 KByte. So what is the problem? Continue reading

Using the FRDM-KL25Z as USB Keyboard

I miss my old DELL laptop. Ok, the new one I received from IT services is not bad. It is faster and has a better screen. But I’m not really happy with the new keyboard. With the previous keyboard I was able to do a ‘PrtnScrn’ with a single key press. With the new one I need to press Fn + PrntScrn. And this is impossible to do with one hand:

Impossible to reach Prnt Scrn

Impossible to reach Fn+Prnt Scrn with one hand!

Yes, I have two hands ;-). But many times I need to do ‘print screen’ while having my other hand on the mouse :-(.What else can I do?

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Traps and Pitfalls: No Hex/Bin/S19 File Created with GNU?

I stumbled now twice over a problem, and only after a lot of head scratching (you should see my head now 😉 ) I have found the cause (and solution) for it. In the hope that I can save the readers of this blog some time, here is what happened.

I described in earlier posts how to enable GNU build tools to generate hex/bin/S19 files, or to write the code size to the console view. That works fine for me. But then I received a project were obviously this does not work: even with the project settings configured properly, there is no S19 file, and no code size printed. What’s wrong?

Additional Tools in ARM GNU Eclipse Panel

Additional Tools in ARM GNU Eclipse Panel

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Review of CodeWarrior for MCU10.4

Freescale has released this week an updated version of CodeWarrior: version 10.4. I’m usually not switching a tools version in the middle of a university semester. Unless I see a real benefit, and the risk is low. Well, I have used it now for a few days, and I have decided to move my projects from 10.3 to 10.4. Why? Read on…

CW for MCU10.4

CW for MCU10.4

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printf() with the FRDM-KL25Z Board and without Processor Expert

In this tutorial I explored how to use printf(), and this tutorial is so generic that it works for any processor/microcontroller. That flexibility is because I’m using Processor Expert. In case Processor Expert shall not be used, then some tweaks are needed. Here I show what is needed to have printf() working with the FRDM-KL25Z board. I use the UART0 connected to OpenSDA USB CDC for this.

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A new Freedom Board: FRDM-K20D50M with ARM Cortex M4

Freescale/Farnell/Element14 announced last week a new Freedom Board: the FRDM-K20D50M :-). As you can expect, I was not able to resist, and ordered one from my local Farnell store right away. So I did my first steps with it on this sunny and wonderful weekend (yes! we skipped Spring Time and entered Summer Time right away!).

I do not need to compare the board with the previous Freedom boards, as I have found an article here. I a nutshell: I get pretty much the same as with the FRDM-KL25Z, but instead of an ARM Cortex-M0+, it has an ARM Cortex-M4!

The new FRDM-K20D50M Board

The new FRDM-K20D50M Board

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