Solution for OpenOCD “Cannot communicate… target not haltet”

Related to my earlier article about using OpenOCD, I want to share something I have learned (again) with OpenOCD v0.10.0:

I was running often into the following error:

Warn : Cannot communicate... target not halted.
Error: auto_probe failed
Error: Connect failed. Consider setting up a gdb-attach event for the target to prepare target for GDB connect, or use 'gdb_memory_map disable'.
Error: attempted 'gdb' connection rejected
OpenOCD cannot communicate

OpenOCD cannot communicate

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McuOnEclipse Components: 3-Apr-2016 Release

It has been already two months after the Feb 2016 release, and so much things are going on, so a new release was overdue. Today I have released a new version of the McuOnEclipse components on SourceForge with the following main changes and features:

  • Kinetis SDK v2 with Processor Expert: Now many components can be used even with the Kinetis SDK v2.0 even with the Kinetis SDK not having Processor Expert included.
  • Updated Segger SystemViewer to v2.32a with post-mortem and static buffer support
  • Updated Segger RTT to v5.10u and fixed an issue with interrupts on Cortex-M4
  • FreeRTOS Thread Awareness with OpenOCD

See readme on SourceForge for the full history.

McuOnEclipse 2016-04-03 Release

McuOnEclipse 2016-04-03 Release

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NXP Kinetis Design Studio v3.2.0

For my classes I had so far asked the students to install the Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) v3.0.0 and then apply several updates and upgrades available. NXP has now released the v3.2.0 of their KDS (Kinetis Design Studio):

Kinetis Design Studio v3.2.0

Kinetis Design Studio v3.2.0

The v3.2.0 is including all the 3.x.x updates in a single installation which makes things easier to start with. And it now works for Mac OS X “El Capitan” and the latest GNU ARM Eclipse plugins :-).

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Zumo Robot with Magnetic Encoders

We are using robots to teach advanced embedded system programming at the Lucerne University (see “Sumo Robot Competition“). Students can buy the kit, and we are running out of available hardware. Time to produce a new series of robots :-). It took us a while to get to the next revision of the Zumo Robot, but finally the first one has been produced and assembled, and I think it is looking good :-).

Intro_Zumo_Robot

Intro_Zumo_Robot

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nRF24L01+ 2.4 GHz Wireless Connectivity with the tinyK20 Board

I’m using the tiny and inexpensive Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ transceiver (see “Tutorial: Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ with the Freescale FRDM-K64F Board“) in many projects: it costs less than $3 and allows me to communicate with a proprietary 2.4GHz protocol in a low power way (see “IoT: FreeRTOS Down to the Micro Amps“). I have that transceiver now running with the tinyK20 board too:

nRF24L01+ Transceiver with tinyK20

nRF24L01+ Transceiver with tinyK20

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Tutorial: Blinky with the FRDM-KL27Z and Kinetis SDK v2

I’m using the FRDM-KL25Z in my classes, and that board is very popular: low price (<$15), reasonable features (48 MHz ARM Cortex M0+, 128 KByte of FLASH, 16 KByte of RAM), and many tutorials elsewhere and on McuOnEclipse :-).

For the next (Fall) semester I’m looking for alternative boards, and one is the Freescale (now NXP) FRDM-KL27Z:

FRDM-KL27Z with Box

FRDM-KL27Z with Box

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XML Editor & Checker for CMSIS-Pack in Eclipse

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

Editing CMSIS-Pack .pdsc File in Eclipse

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How to put the Kinetis K20 on the tinyK20 Board into Bootloader Mode

To put the tinyK20 board with the NXP Kinetis K20 into bootloader mode, well someone could check the schematics, or follow this quick guide :-). In short, the pin PTB1 has to be pulled to Ground (GND) while powering the Kinetis K20. The pin PTB1 is on the outside row as below:

tinyK20 Bootloader Pins

tinyK20 Bootloader Pins

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McuOnEclipse Components: 7-Feb-2016 Release

New in this release:

  • Segger SystemViewer: Upgraded to V2.30, added stack high-water mark
  • Segger RTT: fixed BASEPRI issue on Cortex M4 for critical sections
  • Utility: Fixed issue with Utility module and Kinetis SDK (usage of ‘byte’)
  • USB CDC: property to specify USB device current usage, new status getter functions.
Segger SystemViewer V2.30

Segger SystemViewer V2.30

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