How to debug nRF52 without RTT?

Question

Hi. I'm quite new to nRF programming. I successfuly solved how to compile/link/flash the software onto nRF52 DK using just a simple editor (Notepad++), the ARM toolchain and makefile. 
 Now I'm trying to see some logging/debug info. I have found that there are several options: 
 
 NRF_LOG over RTT 
 NRF_LOG over UART 
 printf 
 
 As I understood so far, I need a specialized software and/or hardware for the RTT. Therefore I would prefer the other two. 
 The questions: 
 
 What and where should I configure to enable the NRF_LOG over UART? (NRF_LOG_ENABLE and other sdk_config.h stuff) 
 What and where should I configure to enable printf logging? (some UART initialization?) 
 What software tools do I need to capture either the NRF_LOG or printf output? Please recommend som free and/or portable software like e.g. putty. 
 
 Please keep in mind that I have only a little experience with such debugging. I'd like to setup a development environment without huge IDEs or specialised hardware. 
 Thank you.

Dusan Daniska · Accepted Answer

I have played around with this yesterday and got it working. Hope this answer helps someone new to nRF programming... 
 The steps that I performed are: 
 
 install Putty Tray (I got some problems with old and good Putty when connecting to serial port) 
 check the NRF_LOG_BACKEND_UART_BAUDRATE in sdk_config.h 
 connect putty (yes, I mean Putty Tray) to serial port, use the baudrate from above and also check other UART connection params (parity, stop bit, control flow) 
 put this code into main.c: #include "nrf_log.h"
#include "nrf_log_ctrl.h"
#include "nrf_log_default_backends.h"

...

int main(void) {
 APP_ERROR_CHECK(NRF_LOG_INIT(NULL));
 NRF_LOG_DEFAULT_BACKENDS_INIT();

 ...
 
 NRF_LOG_INFO("Hello, UART debugging.")
 
 ...
} 
 if using Makefile to compile/link the project, add following lines to Makefile (read the comments): # add these .c files to SRC_FILES

 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_backend_rtt.c \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_backend_serial.c \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_backend_uart.c \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_default_backends.c \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_frontend.c \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src/nrf_log_str_formatter.c \

# add these folders to INC_FOLDERS

 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log \
 $(SDK_ROOT)/components/libraries/experimental_log/src \
 
 compile/link/flash 
 
 Now you should see the logs in the putty terminal.

How to debug nRF52 without RTT?

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