Controlling your World the Easy Way

Hello EZSBC & Daniel

My EZSBC2 board arrived and looks nice. It came quickly and was very well packed, thank you for that.

I am a hobbyist, started to develop something on an 8-bit AVR for hobby use but basically ran out of memory. Started looking around and LPC1347 seemed perfect and EZSBC2 looked like a promising prototyping board to start with.

I am not a total newbie in ARM-land, I have programmed cortex-M0's and M3's, but it was a couple of years ago and now I'm trying to get back to it. I started with mbed online compiler using an LPC1768 and then dabbled a bit with Keil MDK free version. Bottom line is I know how ARM Cortex peripherals need to be initialized and what CMSIS is needed for.

Ok, so on to the questions:

1) I'd like to program EZSBC 2 with the mbed online compiler. Have you tried out mbed tools with EZSBC2 ? This is because I want MY end users eventually to be able to do it.
2) I'd also like to be able to compile in IDE and hardware debug. I have both Segger J-Link and Ulink and I used them with Keil MDK. Are there any free toolchains that are reasonably easy to set up (both Win and Linux will do) ? I've never tried setting up OpenOCD and GDB on my own so I have no idea whatsoever how difficult it is and how well it works. I could manage with Keil MDK free 32k version for starters, but in the end I will have to use the whole code space available.
3) Finally, I'd like to design my own board based on the LPC1347, adding some SPI flash and an LCD. I'd like to study the EZSBC2 for reference, especially since I've heard that designing traces for USB connection must be done properly (yes, thats how much I really know about it, being a hobbyist). Are you cool with this, i.e. can I look and study and basically replicate the critical USB layout from your design ? I plan on selling the product to other hobbyists, not as a dev kit but a ready device for a very specific use.

Thanks, really appreciate any pointers at this early stage.

WBR,
Jonne
Finland

Hi Jonne

First, I have no problem with you adapting the design for another applications etc. I have helped others do the same and even built their hardware for them. Since you have a source level debugger you will find developing on this board really easy and quick. I haven't used MBED with the version of the board that I sell (now) but I have used it on an earlier version so I can't see why it will not work.

OpenOCD is rumored to work but it is hard to use compared to commercial debuggers. The setup and configurations files are (for me) hard to figure out and some CPUs have bugs that make it very hard to use simple debuggers. NXP LPC213x and LPC214x devices execute a few instructions after reset and before the debugger gains control of the CPU making it very hard to debug startup issues with OpenOCD. I think the LPC13xx family is fixed in this respect but I don't know for a fact.

USB wiring on a PCB is not nearly as critical as rumored as long as it is short. Maybe high speed (480MBs) USB is more critical but the Low Speed and Full Speed devices can tolerate a lot of abuse before becoming flaky. I will help you with this. I will also give you the schematic to attach an SPI Flash device.

If you look at this campaign https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/40 ... escription you will recognize the EzSBC in one of the photos towards the end of the write up. I built the boards but did not design them and the code was developed using open source tools. Regarding free tool chains the GCC tools are good enough for almost all things and there are a few bundles that are easy to use and configure. Since you have a J-Link I recommend that you start with http://www.emide.org/ which is a free IDE developed by Segger and it directly supports debugging with the J-Link. Unless you know and like Eclipse, stay away from it. The Codesourecery tool chain is free (some versions) and generally the most up-to-date.

I really need to make a 'Getting Started' for this module. I will edit this post and add some details later and maybe convert it into the 'Getting Started' post for the EzSBC2.

Daniel

https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded is another GCC toolchain with installers and some free support. It is maintained by ARM employees and seems to be well liked.

Daniel wrote: I really need to make a 'Getting Started' for this module.
Daniel

Hi Daniel

Thank you for your detailed and quick reply, really appreciate it. I will return the favour by writing / making videos of getting up and running with EzSBC2. I have a youtube channel with about (little by YT standards but nevertheless) 13000+ views now and I am planning to make short clips from unboxing to mbed to IDE on this little board. I'd be happy to let you link / promote through that as much as you like.

I got the mbed online compiler working right away. Leds are blinking and I am a happy camper.

However, you really should write a Getting Started guide. For example, sw1 and sw2 are not marked in any way, and I was scratching my head for a while how they were wired up. There are several popular boards based on the LPC1347 and they all have a bit different setups on how boot modes are toggled.

Anyway, thanks for your support, I'll be back soon with an update on trying out emIDE with Segger J-Link and EzSBC2.

By the way, the LPCXpresso 7 IDE says:

"Welcome to LPCXpresso (Free Edition). The software is now fully activated, and can be used for production. LPCXpresso (Free Edition) can be used to generate and download applications containing up to 256KB of code to an LPC target"

... and since I only need 64KB, this might be another option. Will try it also.

Jonne