In my previous post I mentioned the Drivers\Common folder which has ‘include’ files. These files are maintained automatically by the Component Wizard. But what is the purpose of these files?
The Common Folder has *.inc files which are included in the driver as ‘function’ header. The .inc file contains documentation about the function and parameters for that function.
What I describe here is an overview about the different locations, folder and files you will see if you are importing or developing a Processor Expert User component. I’m showing below example screenshot for the FreeRTOS component, as this is probably the most complex one I ever have created.
OK, I think this topic is a very special one, and probably not of interest of many folks out there. Or how many want to create a Processor Expert Plugin for an RTOS? Well, I did this. And I think that topic might be very controversial too, especially for all the RTOS vendors out there :-). The thoughts expressed here about creating Processor Expert components do not only apply for an RTOS, but as well for any other ‘complex’ software or stack. So if you are interested about the ‘behind the scenes’ of creating Processor Expert components, especially in the context of an RTOS, then read on ;-).
If you are new to Processor Expert in MCU10, and new to FreeRTOS, then you need to learn two new things in parallel the same time. That might be overwhelming. But don’t worry: if you do things step by step and slowly the first time, this much easier than you might think. This tutorial shall help you with this.
This is a step-by-step tutorial about how to create a project with CodeWarrior for MCU10.2, Processor Expert and the DEMOJM board. The goal is to create a project from scratch with two tasks blinking an LED. This tutorial uses the DEMOJM board, but in practice any other ColdFire/Kinetis/S08 board can be used as well.
When I create a project with CodeWarrior for MCU using Processor Expert and S08GB60, I’m asked if I want to have a Debug and/or Release configuration:
Debug or Release in Processor Expert
Debug or Release? For an embedded microcontroller? Does this make any sense?
FreeRTOS V7.1.1 was released beginning of May 2012. Finally I had some week-end time to integrate the changes and upgrade the Processor Expert component for it. V7.1.1 comes with smaller and larger changes. This includes maintenance and better support for various ports. One change is the removal of CLI from the original FreeRTOS distribution, an extra port macro and one trace hook macro.
The Freescale ColdFire V2 (MCF52259) is a great communication device: an embedded Processor like a Swiss Army Knife: Great peripherals, USB and Ethernet interface, a lot of flash application space and up to 64 KByte of RAM. I’m using that core in many projects, and there is great community support for it with boards and software. Unfortunately Freescale somehow provides Processor Expert support only half way for it. Support for the I2C bus is missing :-(.
Once I have a carefully configured Processor Expert component, I can use the approach described in Drag&Drop in Processor Expert to copy that component to a different project. However, this requires that the destination project is present in the same workspace. So how can I transfer a component with its settings from one workspace to another? Or from one machine to another?
The FSL_USB_Stack Processor Expert component (see USB CDC reloaded) has been extended to support USB CDC for the Freescale S08MM128 targeted for medical devices:
Choice of devices
It happens to me that I run into a really, really nasty problem. I spend hours (if not weeks) to get it resolved. Strong coffee and the problem keeps me up at long nights. I think every embedded system engineer knows what I’m talking about. Yeah, most of the time it is my fault or an oversight. But once in a while I’m convinced that I have found a real bug. Then I report it back to the vendor to fix it. I hope my report will prevent another engineers to run into the same problem. Or that I learn something else as a by-product. Oh yes….
MCU on Eclipse 