Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

ampfp — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 18:25:20 GMT

I could try that...

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 12:47:04 GMT

I doubt it is preloaded with anything... Although, if you want to be sure I suggest to ask Raytac directly. Last time, when I commented their announcement in facebook, they came back very shortly, so just ask them )

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

ampfp — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 20:57:13 GMT

Thanks, Stan, I'm getting the module mounted on my custom pcb, so I'll hope to get it working with OpenOCD. Does the module come preloaded with an OTA capable softdevice? I wonder if that would work too as an alternative

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 08:20:26 GMT

HI Amp! MK20 + OpenOCD will cover your needs. And yes, It can program MDBT40 - I did it. But for testing your solution, I would recommend to use some module with bigger form-factor... its not convenient to solder this tiny thing. I'd suggested something like this: de.aliexpress.com/.../32571947971.html this one has extra RTC crystal (32kHz) on board. There is also even better solution from programming/debugging point of vew: seeedstudio.com/item_detail.html It also can be programmed by OpenOCD, but comparing to MK20, it exposes accessible UART port into PC, which can be used for printing messages from nrf51. I found it very useful, as soon as no extra cables for UART is required in this case. Have a nice day, Hope I've helped Stan

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

ampfp — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 03:45:40 GMT

Hi Stanilslav, Props for figuring that out! I also want to do what you did... I am using the Arduino IDE and the BLE Nano/MK 20 so far. I plan to use the MDBT40 going forward on my custom board. What else do I need to get it working? Just a piece of software (OpenOCD) ? Does that also talk to the MDBT40 through the MK20? Do I need any additional hardware? Thanks!

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

monpetit — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 03:03:24 GMT

That's great! :)

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:05:17 GMT

Eventually, I could manage MDBT40 work directly with MK20... the issues were correct XTAL settings (had to switch to NRF_CLOCK_LFCLKSRC_RC_250_PPM_4000MS_CALIBRATION) and mass erase of chip before first flashing. I could do it in OpenOCD:

openocd's config:

source [find interface/cmsis-dap.cfg]
set WORKAREASIZE 0
source [find target/nrf51.cfg]

first programming (start openocd with above config and telnet to localhost:4444):

reset halt
nrf51 mass_erase
program /path/to/softdevice.hex verify
program /path/to/app.hex verify reset

After this I could flash MDBT40 module as regular BLE Nano device, d-n-d complete hex to the MBED disk

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:52:26 GMT

Hi! Its not a custom board, its just a Raytac's MDBT40 module with soldered components (resistor, crystal, etc) to appropriate pins. The difference is power supply - I use internal LDO, that is direct +3.3 V and BLE Nano utilizes DC/DC to power it up.

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

monpetit — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:48:33 GMT

Umm... Then do you think it would be suspicious of your custom board circuit or its compnents? Did you check the difference of schematics between BLE Nano and yours?

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:14:20 GMT

yes, no prob with Nano.

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

monpetit — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 05:23:40 GMT

My SWD pins are +3.3V. Can you program BLE Nano board with MK20?

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 17:47:10 GMT

Hi,

The error message said something like "Error writing sector 281", as reported by dmesg (I use linux PC to program)

I have this one (www.embeddedartists.com/.../tool_cr_redprobe.php), but I don't know how correctly connect it to Raytac (I'm afraid to brick it). I used to program with LPCXpresso other chips (like LPC11xxx) and haven't figured it out how to setup nRF5x environment for LPCXpresso so far.

I tried both pull down SWCLK with 10k resistor as well as connecting 32kHz crystal with two capacitors to due pins of Raytac's MDBT40... no success at all. I also observed a +3.78 voltage in SWD pins , while I fed the module with +3.3 only. Is it normal?

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

monpetit — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 15:36:05 GMT

Hi Stanislav,

I don't have Raytac's MDBT40, but I have used MK20 with other custom boards like Seeed Tiny BLE and so on. It works well. In principle only four pins need as you mentioned. What's error message? Your own board can be programmed with J-Link or ULink 2? Did you check circuit components like a external crystal or capacitors, resistors?

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Stanislav Silnitskiy — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 12:52:28 GMT

Hi Monpetit!

I tied to connect four pins (2x SWD, GND, +V3.3) of MK20 to MDBT40 but I couldn't flash the firmware as I normally do with BLE Nano. Any suggestions on the correct pin connections?

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

monpetit — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 08:58:41 GMT

Yes you can. MK20 can program any cortex-m device.

RE: Is it possible to use MK20 to program Raytac's MDBT40

Øyvind Karlsen — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 08:03:52 GMT

Hi,

You can use the nRF series development kits as programmers for external boards, please see this blogpost which describes this and the use of the SWD interface. There are also other programmers that can be used, such as the various J-Links by SEGGER.

Best regards,

Øyvind