MCU on Eclipse

On a lifelong learning journey …

NXP FlexIO Generator for the WS2812B LED Stripe Protocol

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Erich Styger

The challenge with the selection of a microcontroller for a project is: which one has the required number of UART, I2C, SPI? Combine this with the desired package (48pins, 64pins? LQFN?), the needed FLASH and RAM size and then even the hundreds of available microcontroller shrink to a handful only. And many times I need to make compromises: such as I need two hardware I2C, but the microcontroller matching all my other needs has only one I2C hardware. So I might end up with bit-banging the slower I2C bus. Doable, but not ideal.

What is cool that some of the newer NXP Kinetis microcontroller come with an interesting hardware: FlexIO. A peripheral hardware which allows me to implement a custom protocol, including driving WS2812B (Adafruit NeoPixel) LEDs with a FRDM-KL43Z board:

Four NeoPixels with FlexIO

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Tutorial: FreeRTOS with NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 and Processor Expert

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Erich Styger

In “Tutorial: Blinky with NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 and Processor Expert” I used Processor Expert components with the NXP Kinetis SDK to blink some LEDs. This tutorial extends the earlier project and adds FreeRTOS.

FreeRTOS running on a NXP FRDM-K22F Board

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Tutorial: Blinky with NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 and Processor Expert

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Erich Styger

In “Mother of Components: Processor Expert with NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 Projects” I presented an approach how to use Processor Expert components with the NXP Kinetis SDK. This article is a tutorial how to create a blinking LED project with that approach, using McuOnEclipse Processor Expert components and the Kinetis SDK V2.0. As board the FRDM-K22F is used:

Blinky on a FRDM-K22F with SDK V2.0 and Processor Expert

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NXP FTF Hands-On with FreeRTOS Task Aware Debugger

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Erich Styger

I mentioned the hands-on sessions on FreeRTOS I do this week at NXP FTF Tech Forum in Austin in my previous post. What we are using in the session is an Eclipse plugin in Kinetis Design Studio showing all kinds of FreeRTOS information:

NXP FreeRTOS Plugin in Kinetis Design Studio

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Mother of Components: Processor Expert with NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 Projects

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Erich Styger

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

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McuOnEclipse Components: 8-May-2016 Release

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Erich Styger

Time is passing fast, and many components have been updated to make the compatible with the NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0. As a highlight, besides of FreeRTOS the following components are now usable with the NXP Kinetis SDK:

Components compatible with Kinetis SDK

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Programming S-Records with GNU ARM Eclipse Debugger Plugins

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Erich Styger

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?

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Changing Heap and Stack Size for NXP Kinetis SDK V2.0 gcc Projects

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Erich Styger

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?

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Fix for GDB and “The system tried to join a drive to a directory on a joined drive”

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Erich Styger

The bad thing with Eclipse and GDB is: if something is failing, then all what I get is a very cryptic error message when I launch the debugger:

The system tried to join a drive to a directory on a joined drive

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FreeRTOS Thread Debugging with Eclipse and OpenOCD

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Erich Styger

FreeRTOS is probably the number one RTOS used, and Eclipse is likely the most popular IDE I can think of. But debugging FreeRTOS applications with Eclipse and GDB is somewhat limited? What I would like to get at the minimum is this: ability to see all the different threads in the Eclipse debug view like this:

FreeRTOS Threads in Eclipse with OpenOCD

As you might guess from that screenshot: this post is about how to make FreeRTOS tread debugging possible with Eclipse and GDB :-).

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