Connection 3B+ ARMv8 and NRF 52840 Dongle

[Mikita]

Hello,

I'm trying to use the nrf52840 Dongle on the Raspberry 3B+. I didn't achieve to run an appImage downloaded from your site. When i'm executing the app nothing happens. 

So, may you give a clear instructions about the dongle use on the latest raspberry please ? 

Thank you so much! 

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

Hi, you can check out the pc-ble-driver: https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver

It contains BLE central examples for heart rate monitor and heart rate collector. It communicates with the nRF52840 dongle over UART.

The steps outlined in the README do not work on raspbian, but I was able to get it to run by compiling cmake, catch2 and asio from source.

Here are the steps I had to take in order to compile the examples:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential git autoconf libudev-dev ninja-build libboost-dev

$ cd ~
$ wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.14.4/cmake-3.14.4.tar.gz
$ tar xvf cmake-3.14.4.tar.gz
$ cd cmake-3.14.4
$ ./bootstrap
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ hash -r

$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/catchorg/Catch2.git
$ cd Catch2
$ cmake -Bbuild -H. -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
$ sudo cmake --build build/ --target install 

$ cd ~
$ wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/asio/files/asio/1.12.2%20%28Stable%29/asio-1.12.2.tar.gz
$ tar xvf asio-1.12.2.tar.gz
$ cd asio-1.12.2
$ autoreconf -i
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver
$ cd pc-ble-driver
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -G Ninja ..
$ cmake --build .

Then flash the following connectivity hex file to the dongle: connectivity_6.0.0_usb_with_s140_6.1.1.hex

You can use the nRF connect programmer software to flash the dongle. From your computer, not the RPi.

Insert the dongle in the RPi and run the *_v6 examples in the pc-ble-driver/build/examples folder.

Also check out this on how to get started with the examples: https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver/tree/master/examples

[Mikita]

Thank you Stian, 

The setup was working well this the cmake -G Ninja .. 

I have got this error: 

CMake Error: The following variables are used in this project, but they are set to NOTFOUND.
Please set them or make sure they are set and tested correctly in the CMake files:
ASIO_INCLUDE_DIR
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/test
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples
   used as include directory in directory /home/pi/pc-ble-driver/examples

Does it come from bad asio install?

Regards,

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

Maybe it doesn't find the asio library. Did you run "sudo make install" in the asio folder?

[Mikita]

It's ok, now the examples work well, thank you! 

However I'll have to use it as a gateway for my applications. So I've got Ruuvitag sensors to deploy and to get data from them using the dongle. May I use pc-nrfutil package to run my code? 

Thanks

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

You can use the pc-ble-driver to run any BLE central you want. You can scan for the sensors and connect to them. Which services the sensors implements and how to create the BLE central to work with them, you have to ask the people who made the sensors.