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How to Compile and Flash

Toolchain

To compile the project we need a cross-compiler for ARM embedded systems (arm-none-eabi). It requires at minimum a version that supports C++17. You should, however, stick to the latest version if possible.

Depending of current Ubuntu version it is not recommended to install the toolchain via apt from the Ubuntu archives or a PPA, as these sources usually provide very outdated versions. In that case it is better to download and install the toolchain manually:

  1. Goto the download site and download the arm-none-eabi tarball for Linux hosts (for e.g. arm-gnu-toolchain-x.x.x-x86_64-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz)
  2. Extract the files to the target install directory of your choice, e.g. by ~/toolchains/
  3. Create symbolic links in /usr/bin to make our toolchain callable system wide by using the following command: sudo ln -s ~/toolchains/[your arm-none-eabi toolchain]/bin/arm-none-eabi-* /usr/bin
  4. Verify the output of arm-none-eabi-gcc --version

Cmake

Without IDE the simplest approach to generate cmake files in build directory is to use this command in root of project:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/usr/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/usr/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++ -B build

Then go into the build directory and now you can compile with make.

VS Code

Using an IDE will make your life easier. In this case the setup in VS Code will described here.

  1. Install VS Code of course. (e.g. sudo snap install code --classic)

  2. Install those extensions in VS Code:

    • CMake
    • CMake Tools
    • Cortex-Debug

  3. Open the project directory File > Open Folder...

  4. Select kit with currently used toolchain. This should prompted by opening a list from top. If not you can select the kit in the bottom bar where Not kit selected is labeled.

  5. Then you can hit the Build button in the bottom bar to compile.

Flash

It is recommend to do flashing with VS Code because it is simply and you can attach/debug to the running firmware after flashing.

For flashing we use J-Link debugger from Segger like J-Link EDU Mini. So at first we need to download the software from Segger for our J-Link.

After we install J-Link software, compile the project and connect the target:

  1. go to Tab Run and debug on left
  2. at the top right beside the play button you can select the debug profile. Select Debug (J-Link, RTOS-aware). This ensures you target will be flashed with new firmware and after that you can debug with aware-ness of RTOS (like showing tasks list).
  3. Hit F5 or press the play button

You firmware is flashed!

Note: If you want only attach to the running firmware without resetting them, select the debug profile Attach (J-Link, RTOS-aware).

Throubleshooting

VS Code cannot start debugging process.

  • The package libncurses5 used by Cortex-Debug is missing. Do sudo apt install libncurses5