So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

RK — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 01:03:12 GMT

Xcode is clang these days, not GCC. And you can blame Apple for the fact it's now not possible to use it for embedded development and other languages easily. They used to support plugins, proper documented support, so people could extend it, that all disappeared around Xcode 3 when it became their closed product. People do add things for cross compilation, but they are hacks, they require reverse-engineering the Xcode support bundles and they break every time there's a new release of Xcode.

It is a shame because it is quite a nice IDE and the toolchains are a separate part of it, but Apple stopped supporting 3rd party toolchains and so we don't get to use it.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

RK — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:59:36 GMT

no they all didn't give up. I've been programming Nordic and other embedded stuff on a mac for the last 4 years and I wouldn't use one of the old trashy windows embedded IDEs if you paid me. You think SES looks like something from the 80s? Go look at Keil which is something from the 60s and which many companies support as the only solution for programming. Nordic at least supports gcc, and all their recent python-based tools are cross platform.

I use Crossworks, which is the product Rowley whiteboxed for Segger. I love it, for embedded development it does exactly what you need and it supports just about every device I've bought so far. And I think when they did the SES port they made it even nicer and cleaner.

Once you've done some embedded programming with Nordic and then looked at the offerings from other companies, you'll find Nordic is way ahead of the curve.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

awneil — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:23:42 GMT

Xcode is GCC isn't it?

GCC = GNU Compiler Collection - there are many different GCC compilers.

The GCC compiler required for creating embedded ARM Cortex-M code is not the same as the GCC compiler that creates native code for iOS.

launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

FormerMember — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:22:39 GMT

Is there a SES guide that show in simple steps how to output high on a certain pin and flash it ? most of the guides just use a common hex.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

awneil — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:20:40 GMT

there are tens of millions mac users in this world

But how many of them are doing embedded firmware development? I would hazard a guess that it's only a very small minority.

Also, more to the point, the Mac is definitely a minority platform when it comes to embedded firmware development.

I know this doesn't help you at all - but such is life.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

FormerMember — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:12:59 GMT

Using this Segger environment feels like going back in time to me. Amazing how some companies especially with hardware has 0 sense in UI/UX. Check how beautiful and simple Arduino is. I heard only bad things about Eclipse here. Most examples that i read show how to flash an existing hex, there is not a single one that show how to write a program , compile and flash it. (even from SES). Thanks.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

FormerMember — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:10:28 GMT

Xcode is GCC isn't it? so why can't you use it to compile ? Noridc said you can but no one show how to do it. its the most advanced IDE on the planet including PC. I could use it to develop for AVR's and microchips .BTW nrf does works on mac

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

Wojtek — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:32:45 GMT

Also, If you don't like SES (i think you are new in embedded, if you see it as something from 1980 but ok) you can download newest version of Eclipse and just set it up with GCC. There are tutorials available in blog section. It is not that hard, but SOME effort is needed.

I prefer using SES over Eclipse however.

RE: So we made a decision to buy the dev kit, but then what? ( mac)

AmbystomaLabs — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 13:49:08 GMT

Xcode is the IDE for Mac OS applications, not for embedded applications. The nRF does not run Mac OS.

Segger Studio and Eclipse seem to be the most popular IDE's for that run on Mac OS. There is a discussion of the options here: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

You should download the current SDK for your development board which will have all the necessary ARM support libraries, drivers, softdevices and numerous example applications you can try out. Most if not all have pre-compiled hex files you can just flash on the board as you get used to the environment.

The most user friendly application for flashing the dev board is nRFgo Studio though it is a windows app, there is an example on github for running it on a mac. See here: github.com/.../Getting-Started-with-nRF-Studio-Go-on-OSX-and-Linux

In addition there are a variety of command line utilities for Mac. See here: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../