Can I directly start programming a nrf51822 breakout board

Question

Hi guys,
I want to know if it is possible to get started on developing applications for nRF51822 without using the evaluation kit. I want ot have a couple of breakout boards made and buy a debugger to flash the code on the board. Is this even possible? Also are there are good docs which tell us how to get started?

Christopher Mason · Accepted Answer

Yes and no. 
 You could buy a Segger programmer and flash the chip with it. I don't know of any open source debugger (like OpenOCD) that can yet flash/debug the nrf51822 part (it has some special characteristics like combining RESET and SWDIO). It would be awesome to make this happen though (I have high hopes for the mchck in this regard). 
 I have an example project here that demonstrates using the Segger programmer and GCC. You'll need to edit the Makefile to set NRF51_USE_SOFTDEVICE=0. 
 However, the soft device binary that includes the bluetooth stack is only available with the eval kit or dev kit. You need an alphanumeric product key from the kit to access the download links on Nordic's site (and the license prohibits redistribution) I've asked Nordic a couple of times to release the soft device freely on their web site and they've said they'd consider it but haven't done so yet. So as of right now, if you want bluetooth, you'll need a Nordic Dev or Eval kit . 
 Honestly, the Dev Kit is a pretty great deal: 5 chips, a Segger debugger (alone worth >$70) and a very convenient USB dongle, for $99. Until the open source community catches up with this chip (which I'm hoping will happen very soon), I'd recommend spending the $99. 
 Hope this helps. I'd really love to see a strong open source community around this awesome chip. 
 -c

Can I directly start programming a nrf51822 breakout board

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