segger licenses required but no commercial use allowed

[dewid2]

It seems nordic devices can not be programmed without certain segger software.

In order to set up my toolchain, I had to install SEGGER Embedded Studio IDE (although i dont use it) and the J-Link Software seperately. Regarding the IDE, I read this announcement

https://www.segger.com/news/segger-embedded-studio-ide-now-free-for-nordic-sdk-users/

but this does not seems to be valid anymore. Was the collaboration cancelled? When I downloaded it a few days ago, the license mentioned nordic with not a single word. Also J-Link does effectively prohibit me from commercial use of anything I do with my nrf52832 DK.

While that is not the case right now, I'd still like to keep that option open for the future.

Now I want to know if there is a way to avoid segger software (i dont even use the debug right now, just programming). Or some very recent solid and verified official statements that allow me to use the segger software described.

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

SES is a custom version of Eclipse that is limited to Segger and Nordic.  You can use regular Eclipse & GCC too and without limitations.  I used it for many ARM based development with the same Eclipse, not just nRF5x.  Follow this blog for Eclipse installation.  

nRF5x Development with Eclipse & GCC

[RK]

SES is not a custom version of Eclipse at all. SES is a whiteboxed version  of Crossworks for ARM and that (it's stated in the documentation) is not based on Eclipse. 

[awneil]

I thought it didn't "feel" like Eclipse!

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

Yes, I know SES is a downgrade of CrossWorks.  Don't know what it is now but about 4 years ago I saw it was announced CrossWorks for ARM based on Eclipse.

[RK]

I actually prefer SES to Crossworks these days, doesn't really feel like a downgrade. The interface is streamlined and I think Segger has persuaded Rowley to make the 99% simple without removing all the power. A lot of those refinements have worked their way back into Crossworks, they're all little things but they make the whole IDE easier to use, certainly easier to get started with. 

For me the selling points of SES or Crossworks have been

1) It was designed from day one for embedded development. It's not a generic tool with plugins to work with embedded, good as those plugins have become, it's embedded all the way through. That was key to me when I was starting out. 

2) The debugging interface is native. It talks to the JLink directly and there is no way that communicating over a TCP socket to GDBServer ever gives the same kind of experience. I find it sad often that many embedded developers don't even use a debugger, some don't even know you can use one, and debug with UART printfs. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that debugging with GDBServer is a multi-stage shaky pipleline of components which need to be configured and run and babysat. The power of an IDE with a native debugger is you hit f5 and you're debugging as if  you were writing code on your own box. 

You can do a ton of things with Eclipse, I know you have done a ton of things with Eclipse and if people like that I'm very happy for them. I think IDEs like Crossworks and SES, designed for the job, integrated with the debug hardware (like Keil before them) are a really good way to give new embedded developers or seasoned developers learning a new chip a *really* good start, so I'll continue to recommend them. 

[awneil]

RK said:

I find it sad often that many embedded developers don't even use a debugger, some don't even know you can use one

Yes - that is all too common, and very sad.

And I thoroughly agree that the big trouble with Eclipse - especially in conjunction with GDB - is getting it all together, and configured, and working reliably.

This is certainly where the proper IDEs (ie, where the 'I' really does mean, "Integrated") really win.

And this is what other manufacturers try (with varying degrees of success) to give you with their "personalised" versions of Eclipse (or whatever).

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

Well, I've been using Eclipse with GDB all tied together nicely with both OpenOCD with IDAP-Link and JLink for the last 4 years and very reliably.  All my project are native Eclipse project not only that I can also develop Linux C/C++ program with the same Eclipse (also with full GDB debugging) and my main development platform is OSX.  Same eclipse, same gdb I used for NXP, Freescale, Nordic from M0 to M4 with full debug.  

Eclipse is now easier than ever to install.  Download, install then open it go to menu 'help/Eclipse marketplace' to install ARM plugin et voila.  Eclipse wasn't an Opensource project by some guy.  It was an initiative of IBM, SUN and some big names working together to created it.  All silicon vendors TI, NXP, Freescale... abandoned their own IDE and rebase their development platform on Eclipse including ST.  

Yes, I really mean IDE as Integrated Development Environment, everything integrated not just debugger but with remote development support as well.  Though I have not tried the remote one but I do RPI development with it too, same old Eclipse.