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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Tutorial: Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield – Part 2: Timed Servo Moves

You have decided: More than 52% voted in Part 1 that the next topic should be Timed Servo Moves. So here we go :-).

This is about how to move the servos over time, instead of moving it to the given position as fast as possible. I’m using a linear approach here: moving the servos linearly over time.

Moving Servo Motors

Moving Servo Motors

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Tutorial: Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield – Part 1: Servos

This post starts a small (or larger?) series of tutorials using the Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield with the FRDM-KL25Z board. That motor shield is probably one of the most versatile on the market, and features 2 servo and 4 motor connectors for DC or stepper motors. That makes it a great shield for any robotic project :-).

Arduino Motor Stepper Servo Shield with FRDM-KL25Z

Arduino Motor Stepper Servo Shield with FRDM-KL25Z

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Character LCD with 4 Lines

Character LCD’s (like 2 lines with 16 characters each) as in this post are easy to use. Much easier to use compared to full graphical LCDs.

The ones I’m using have either 1 or 2 lines, but I saw that there are 4 line displays too. So far my LCD component only supports one or two lines.

4 Line LCD

4 Line LCD (Source: Ezequiel Bazotti)

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How to use MCUonEclipse GitHub without Git

Not everyone is familiar with Git, and not everyone wants to use it. Although I think using Git or SVN is something every software engineer today needs to master 😉 To make it easier for the ‘non-Gitter’ to use the Processor Expert components, they are available now as *.PEupd files as described here. However, the *.PEupd files are just a snapshot, and not the latest and greatest. So how to use the latest component sources and example projects without Git?

gits in a box

gits in a box

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Freedom Track Robot with IEEE802.15.4/SMAC

My other robots based on the FRDM-KL25Z use Bluetooth as connectivity. This one is using a Freescale IEEE802.15.4/ZigBee/SMAC module:

Robot with SRB MC13213 Board

Robot with SRB MC13213 Board as Remote Controller

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USBDM 4.10.5 supports now MCU10.4

Wow, that was fast! The SourceForge USBDM project has added support for MCU10.4 (see as well this post) in release 4.10.5 available here, announced in the Freescale Forum.

USBDM 4.10.5 Installer

USBDM 4.10.5 Installer

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Processor Expert Component *.PEupd Files on GitHub

The MCUonEclipse GitHub repository is great for everyone which is familiar with Git or GitHub. Previously I was hosting my Processor Expert components on steinerberg.com. Exporting and maintaining the Processor Expert Update Files (*.PEupd) one by one is a lot of effort. GitHub makes things a lot easier, but again: you need to be familiar with it. And not everyone is ‘gitting’ yet. To help the rest of the world (the non-Gitter), I have now published Processor Expert update files for all the components in the repository, so it is easier to install them.

IMPORTANT NOTE: After October 17th 2014, the releases of the McuOnEclipse Processor Expert has been moved to SourceForge, see McuOnEclipse Releases on SourceForge

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Adding/Removing Floating Point Format for S08 Projects

Usually I do *not* use floating point numbers in my projects. For this, I select ‘None’ during the project creation in CodeWarrior for MCU:

No Floating Point Selected

No Floating Point Selected

But what if I need to change my mind later? How to change such a ‘no-floating-point-needed’ project to one with floating point format support?

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