J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RichieJH — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:20:36 GMT

Thanks, helpful as always.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RK — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:17:46 GMT

I don't know how the original printf() routes. Crossworks had some 'print to console' long before SEGGER_RTT but I never used it nor did I look to see how it communicated with the IDE. To complicate it further you could also output to a UART and then hook up a simple terminal inside Crossworks and print that way and that also showed up in a window. I think the printf() one is buried in libdebugio somewhere so without disassembling it, I dunno how it works.

If Segger RTT has an advantage it's that it's very lightweight and just requires the debug probe to check a chunk of memory on a regular basis and shuffle data back and forward. It doesn't block or hang or wait or anything else, so you can just leave it in the code after you're done testing if you like, won't make a difference, a memory buffer you're not using will just have stuff written to it which is never used.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RichieJH — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:56:31 GMT

Hi RK, ok so I have seen SEGGER_RTT_writeString in the Debug Terminal in SES. But then what is the advantage of SEGGER_RTT_writeString than just ordinary printf() if they are both being posted to the Debug Terminal within the IDE can I ask? Anyway I'll accept that as the answer since the messages are certainly being displayed in the Debug Terminal within SES but it would be good to know whether the advantages of SEGGER_RTT_WriteString and print(f) remain even though on the face of it it looks like they are being handled the same by the IDE.

Also Michael, I found the JLinkExe. It looks like on installation only the LicenseManager icon goes to the desktop whereas the other applications go to the applications folder. But navigating to the applications folder got around that.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RK — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:32:02 GMT

In Crossworks, RTT channel 0 output goes direct to the console, since SES is Crosworks, and RTT is a Segger technology, it would be hard to believe it doesn't work the same way. It's only channel 0, but that's the one you use most of the time anyway. You just run your code and the output shows right up, I've never needed to run RTT viewer or anything else in order for this to work.

You do have to set the 'Startup Completion Point' to main, or SystemInit (I use SystemInit) to tell it when the app has reached the point to enable things like RTT, but that's the only thing I've ever had to do.

I see Startup Completion Point exists in SES too and in the project I looked at is set to main, don't know whether it came like that or I set it like that. Either way - the Debug Terminal should show the RTT output.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

Michael Dietz — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:27:42 GMT

forum.segger.com/index.php last answer states 'Embedded Studio includes RTT output into its Debug Terminal..' looking at this might help. i haven't tried this before

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

Michael Dietz — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:24:32 GMT

And that sounds like Embedded Studio is not playing well being ran together with J-Link Debugger, my guess is they aren't intended to be used together, but it sounds like a bug. I'll ask SEGGER about it.

I think really we need to be debugging in Embedded Studio and not using the J-Link debugger at all. Hopefully we can figure out the problems you are having to make this possible. But definitely stick with SWD instead of JTAG as thats needed.

you might also get better answers, quicker than I can provide here: forum.segger.com/index.php. Johannes from SEGGER seems to be answering questions right away there and he's the guy I ask.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

Michael Dietz — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:20:07 GMT

That's weird because I am just using a normal dev kit on mac and its working fine. I just downloaded the most recent J-Link Software and Documentation pack here (v5.12c): www.segger.com/j-link-software.html, installed and navigated to the SEGGER folder. Here I double clicked 'JLinkExe' and set up the connection to the dev kit following the prompts (I don't get any problems with license). After it is connected I double click 'JLinkRTTClient' and my RTT info is there.

If I open the license manager (which i've never needed to do) and see which licenses are built in on my device I get the same 'The connected emulator (S/N 682338160) has the following built-in license(s): none' message, but everything still works properly for me as it should.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RichieJH — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:14:04 GMT

In the meantime I went back to J-Link Debugger and changed USB to SWD. I also played around with some of the speeds. If I open up J-Link Debugger and then commence a debug - SES freezes. If I commence a debug and then open up J-Link Debugger and try to attach it I get a message "cannot connect" in the J-Link console. So no luck changing these settings.

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

RichieJH — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:04:16 GMT

Hi Michael, thanks for responding. The J-Link Commander is part of the J-Link software package for Mac. I have downloaded and installed that but I cannot get passed the JLinkLicenseManager. It asks for a license number to be entered or asks to be connected to an emulator that holds a license. When I click on the latter I get this message:

The connected emulator (S/N 682301457) has the following built-in license(s): none

And I cannot proceed any further with any of the utilities in the software package. This is the nRF52 DK to be clear.

Thanks

RE: J-Link Debugger with SEGGER Embedded Studio on Mac

Michael Dietz — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:53:31 GMT

Hey, while there isn't an RTT Viewer on Mac, it is very easy to use RTT just following the answer in this post: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../. You just connect to the device using JLink.exe and then open JLinkRTTClient and can view all RTT logging in that terminal.

You need to be using SWD, not JTAG. 1 mhz should be fine but up to 5 mhz should work. I'm guessing this is the problem. nRF52 devices implement an SWD interface. The connection is failing probably because of this.