SDK 7.1.0 Compatibility

[John Pearson]

We have a working application on SDK 6.X.X and I just saw that there is a new update with SDK 7.1.0

Few questions:

1. In the release notes for SDK 7.0.0 it states that only nrf51422 QFACAB has been tested and other devices should use SDK 6.X.X . Do I understand that correctly ?
2. We use nrf51822 QFAAG0 on our custom board, what SDK version and Softdevice S110 version should we use ?
3. I routinely see updates from Nordic for both the SDK and Softdevice, if we have a working application, are there some reasons we should considering upgrading ? What are the general benefits ?

Thanks

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

I got the G0 working fine with SDK7.

[John Pearson]

Thanks! I am trying to find out if Nordic recommends using SDK 7 or as stated in the docs "For others devices, use SDK 6.x.x " we should stick to SDK 6 for nrf51822 qfaa

[Øyvind]

1. From SDK 7.0.0, the SDK is intended for use with the latest nRF51 Development Kits, which are nRF51422 based. However, the SDK can be used with other kits (which are based on other chip variants) as described e.g here (this is in the 7.0.1 documentation).

2. To see which chip revisions are compatible with which SoftDevices and SDKs, see ATTN-51 (can be found in the download section of the product pages, e.g. here). I see that this document lists S110 7.0.0 and SDK 6.1.0 for your chip, but I believe this is wrong. Looking at the release notes for S110, version 7.1.0 should still be compatible with you chip, and from the release notes for the SDK 7.x versions all lists compatibility with S110 7.1.0. I will investigate the ATTN-51 document further, and see if we need to make corrections to it.

3. As features are added, performance is improved and bugs are discovered and fixed between versions, as a general rule one should use the latest and greatest versions possible. If the project is mature and hard to port to a newer release of the SoftDevice or SDK, at least read the release notes and migration documents thoroughly to see if there are any changes that are relevant to your project, and then make a decision based on that.

[John Pearson]

Thanks Øyvind! Did you get a chance to check about the compatibility ? Like I mentioned, we use nrf51822 QFAAG0 on our custom board.

[Øyvind]

nrf51822 QFAAG0 supports S110 7.1.0 even though not listed in ATTN-51, so you can use that. Then you can also use SDK 7.1.0, but since you have a custom board you must of course check and possibly change the configuration of GPIO pins, crystals, etc. (see this page in the documentation )