Questions about the Connectivity firmware

RE: Questions about the Connectivity firmware

pavel472 — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 12:56:46 GMT

[quote userid="106736" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/101582/questions-about-the-connectivity-firmware/435729"]

Aha.

The nRF52840Dongle has an immutable bootloader running.

When you use the nRF Connect For Desktop Programmer, it detects the Dongle, and programes the Dongle in bootloader mode.
The application can not overwrite the bootloader, as the flash for the Bootloader is locked.
The only way to overwrite the Bootloader is to use an external debugger.

[/quote]

I was talking about the app alone and don't intend to use a different bootloader.

[quote userid="106736" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/101582/questions-about-the-connectivity-firmware/435729"]As said in RE: Connectivity Firmware for nrf52820 : "The connectivity firmware used by the pc-ble-driver is quite different compared to the unmodified connectivity firmware from the SDK (these projects are patched with a patch file from the pc-ble-driver repo). To build connectivity firmware for the pc-ble-driver you should follow the instructions under Compiling connectivity HEX files."[/quote]

Indeed and I'm wondering if the unmodified connectivity firmware from the SDK is what's being flashed when I use the nRF Connect Desktop Bluetooth Low Energy App. My end goal is to use the application to flash the base fw which I can then use with the python module. So far I've been doing just this without issues and am trying to future proof our process.

Also, when I install the pc-ble-driver I can see there are pre-built hex and dfu files. So I'm wondering if those are the same files when building from source. I'm actually having trouble building the files from source and hoping to use the pre-built files.

[quote userid="106736" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/101582/questions-about-the-connectivity-firmware/435729"]How does knowing this help you?[/quote]

I want to use the Bluetooth Low Energy app to flash my dongle instead of the Programmer app. It's purely from a process point of view.

RE: Questions about the Connectivity firmware

Sigurd Hellesvik — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 12:38:34 GMT

[quote user="pavel472"]I was able to program my dongle and run the examples using both the Bluetooth Low Energy app and the hex file from the library. I am aware that I've only run the basic examples and I'm not sure if this is a good enough assurance that I'm using the best method. I'm trying to avoid a future situation where things don't work only because I flashed my dongle with the wrong app.[/quote]

Aha.

The nRF52840Dongle has an immutable bootloader running.

[quote user="pavel472"]What I meant was, if I build the hex files from source without any changes, would I receive the same images which are already provided by the library? And are these images the same that the Bluetooth Low Energy app uses? [/quote]

As said in RE: Connectivity Firmware for nrf52820 : "The connectivity firmware used by the pc-ble-driver is quite different compared to the unmodified connectivity firmware from the SDK (these projects are patched with a patch file from the pc-ble-driver repo). To build connectivity firmware for the pc-ble-driver you should follow the instructions under Compiling connectivity HEX files."

[quote user="pavel472"]And are these images the same that the Bluetooth Low Energy app uses? [/quote]

How does knowing this help you?

RE: Questions about the Connectivity firmware

pavel472 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:19:27 GMT

Hi Sigurd, and thanks for your answer.

I think I wasn't very precise in my original post:

If programming is free, just program it and try this.
Either it works or it does not.

I was able to program my dongle and run the examples using both the Bluetooth Low Energy app and the hex file from the library. I am aware that I've only run the basic examples and I'm not sure if this is a good enough assurance that I'm using the best method. I'm trying to avoid a future situation where things don't work only because I flashed my dongle with the wrong app.

The benefit of building these from source is that if you want to do any changes to them, you can.

What I meant was, if I build the hex files from source without any changes, would I receive the same images which are already provided by the library? And are these images the same that the Bluetooth Low Energy app uses?

RE: Questions about the Connectivity firmware

Sigurd Hellesvik — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 09:12:27 GMT

Hi,

Due to summer vacation, we are low in staffing.

While I could dig and find the answers you are looking for, I will go for lazy answers instead.
That being said, if your end goal is to use the apps with the dongle, this answer should get you there as well.

[quote user=""]In other words, is it safe to program my hardware through the Bluetooth Low Energy app and use it with pc-ble-driver-py? [/quote]

If programming is free, just program it and try this.
Either it works or it does not.
If it does not work, you can just reprogram the dongle.

[quote user=""]Also, when I install the pc-ble-driver package through vcpkg, I can see the hex files are available in vcpkg\packages\nrf-ble-driver_x86-windows\share\nrf-ble-driver\hex. Are these the same hex files used by the Bluetooth Low Energy app and is there any benefit to build them from source? [/quote]

Same as above, just see try and see.

The benefit of building these from source is that if you want to do any changes to them, you can.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik