Right before the start of the new semester, the new tinyK22 boards (see “First tinyK22 Board with NXP K22FN512 ARM Cortex-M4F“) arrived, and they are looking great 🙂
tinyK22 Board
tinyK22 Boards arrived
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Tag Archives: Kinetis
Using Multiple Memory Regions with the FreeRTOS Heap
ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers can have multiple memory controllers. This is a good thing as it allows the hardware to do multiple parallel memory read/writes. However this makes the memory map more complicated for the software: it divides the memory into different regions and memory segments. This article is about how to enable FreeRTOS to use multiple memory blocks for a virtual combined memory heap:
FreeRTOS with Segmented Heap Memory
Tutorial: Porting BLE+NRF Kinetis Design Studio Project to MCUXpresso IDE
The tools and IDE market is constantly changing. Not only there is every year at least one new major Eclipse IDE release, the commercial tool chain and IDE vendors are constantly changing the environment too. For any ARM Cortex-M development, the combination of Eclipse with the GNU tool chain provided by ARM Inc. is the golden standard. But this does not mean that things can be easily moved from one IDE package to another.
While moving between Eclipse versions and GNU versions is usually not a big deal at all, moving between the Eclipse build tool integration is usually not simple. While the GNU MCU Eclipse plugins are widely used (see Breathing with Oxygen: DIY ARM Cortex-M C/C++ IDE and Toolchain with Eclipse Oxygen), the Eclipse based IDEs from the silicon vendors or commercial Eclipse toolchain vendors are using their own GNU toolchain integration. Which means the project files are not compatible :-(.
NXP FRDM-KW41Z Board
Adding CMSIS-SVD Files to EmbSysRegView 0.2.6.r192 and Eclipse
In “EmbSysRegView 0.2.6 for Eclipse Neon and Oxygen” I have described how to add CMSIS-SVD register detail files to Eclipse using the EmbSysRegView plugin.
But what I need to add vendor or any other SVD files to it? Here is how:
EmbSys Registers View
Custom 3D Printed Enclosure for NXP LPC-Link2 Debug Probes
I love 3D printing as it enables me to create custom enclosures for all kind of projects. The NXP LPC-Link2 probe is great, but it lacks a protective enclosure. So I decided to create a custom enclosure. And as 3D filaments are available in different colors, I experimented with red and black and custom painting:
lpc-link2 enclosure
Troubleshooting Tips for FreeRTOS Thread Aware Debugging in Eclipse
FreeRTOS seems to get more and more popular, and I think as well because more and more debugger and Eclipse IDE vendors add dedicated debugging support for it.
FreeRTOS Threads in Eclipse
MCUXpresso IDE v10.0.2 – Updated Eclipse based IDE for LPC and Kinetis
NXP has released an updated of their Eclipse based IDE for ARM Cortex-M (Kinetis and LPC) microcontroller: the version v10.0.2 build 411:
MCUXpresso v10.0.2 build 411
Getting Started: ROM Bootloader on the NXP FRDM-KL03Z Board
A bootloader on a microcontroller is a very useful thing. It allows me to update the firmware in the field if necessary. There are many ways to use and make a bootloader (see “Serial Bootloader for the Freedom Board with Processor Expert“). But such a bootloader needs some space in FLASH, plus it needs to be programmed first on a blank device, so a JTAG programmer is needed. That’s why vendors have started including a ROM bootloader into their devices: the microcontroller comes out of the factory with a bootloader in FLASH. So instead writing my bootloader, I can use the one in the ROM.
FRDM-KL03Z with ROM Bootloader
And as with everything, there are pros and cons of that approach.
Using the LPCXpresso V2/V3 Boards to Debug an external Board
The MCUXpresso IDE (see “MCUXpresso IDE: Unified Eclipse IDE for NXPs ARM Cortex-M Microcontrollers“) has one great feature: it includes debug support for the popular LPC-Link2 debug probes. That way I have yet another powerful debug probe with extra features for ARM based boards. That LPC-Link2 circuit is present on many LPCXpresso boards from NXP. So why not using it to debug it my custom hardware?
Debugging Custom Hardware with LPCXpresso Board
Modifying the Teensy 3.5 and 3.6 for ARM SWD Debugging
Looking for a small, inexpensive ($25-30) ARM development board (say 120-180 MHz ARM Cortex-M4 with FPU, 512kB-1MB of FLASH and 256 KByte of RAM? Then have a look at the Teensy 3.5 and Teensy 3.6 by PJRC/Paul Stoffregen:
Teensy 3.5 with NXP K64F ARM Cortex-M4F
The only problem? it is not possible to debug it :-(. At least not in the traditional sense. This article is about how to change the board to use it with any normal SWD debugging tool e.g. Eclipse and the Segger J-Link :-).
MCU on Eclipse 