nRF52840 dongle "drag & drop" programming

[Robin]

Hello again Nordic Pro's,

This is a quick question that I have not been able to find the answer for before buying nRF52840 dongles to replace our nRF51 dongles.  We need several for our project and the pricing for the 52 is much better on the open market.

It is actually a multi-part question: 

Does the nRF52840 include the same "drag and drop" programming feature as the 51, and if so, is it directly supported for example apps under the delivered SDK v15.2, specifically, the ble_app_uart_c project using the keil IDE?

Thank you all in advance,

Robin @ TL

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

It is an ARM JTAG/SWD standard coresight connector, not a jlink connector.  You don't need a jlink for that.  Any standard ARM compatible jtag can be used with it.

[Robin]

The link you sent 404s on me...

[Robin]

Ok folks

This is getting confusing.  Why would there not be an easy way to program this over the USB port via an IDE.  I can do that with the nRF51 dongle. Is that the reason it is only $10?

[Edvin]

Hello Robin,

The reason why it is a bit more complicated on the nRF52840 dongle is that it doesn't have the on board segger programmer as the nRF51 dongle has. Hence, the drag'n'drop is not possible on the nRF52840 dongle.

 

Robin said:

Can it be programmed via the Keil IDE interface?

Or a Segger Flasher?

 No. This is because it doesn't have the programmer, which is the HW that usually programs the device via drag'n'drop or Keil (Or Segger Embedded Studio).

The way you would flash a new application to the nRF52840 dongle is by using the nRF Connect for Desktop -> Programmer tool. This uses a bootloader that is preprogrammed on the dongle, creates a DFU image and updates the application via the USB bootloader. Since this is a "custom" protocol, drag'n'drop or programming via IDEs (Keil) doesn't work.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that since there is no programming chip/debugger, it is not possible to step through the code on the nRF52840 dongle.

To confuse you a bit more, and as some of the replies here suggests, you can do all of this if you have an external J-Link debugger, and you solder on a 10 pin J-Link connector on the P1 pads on the bottom of the chips. In addition to some other changes you need to do, which is described here, you can drag'n'drop, and program via IDEs. However, if you select the dongle because of the price, I believe that a dongle + debugger wouldn't be any cheaper than buying a DK in the first place. The DK is also more user friendly.

Best regards,

Edvin

[Robin]

Hello Edvin,

Seems we may have wasted some money on several of these.  I just read another piece that claims that the USB pins are not used as UART pins.  We were intending to program the as UART central devices. 

Do you know of this is possible by redefining those pins?

Also, given I do get to a point I can program them, can I program with a  merged hex that includes app and softdevice?  There seems to be some indication that this may not be possible either.