nrf52840 Dongle / nrfutil

RE: nrf52840 Dongle / nrfutil

Mttrinh — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 10:05:48 GMT

Hi,

The easiest way would be to solder the header on the dongle and then use a programmer(like a DK) to program the dongle like a normal board. But you can use the bootloader to update the dongle as well.

You can use nrfutil to create a package for NCS based application. If you don't use softdevice you can just use --sd-req 0x00 and don't provide softdevice hex. This package can be programmed OTA. In the zephyr application you also need to change the start address and vector table to 0x1000

RE: nrf52840 Dongle / nrfutil

Herb — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 16:47:05 GMT

[quote userid="98635" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/70308/nrf52840-dongle-nrfutil/289023#289023"]

Mttrinh said:

I don't think this is normal behaviour for nRF Connect Programmer on Linux or any other platforms for that matter. Have you tried it on another computer with Linux? Or windows? Does it occur for all the dongles?

[/quote]

This problem is meanwhile sorted. It was indeed a configuration issue.

The other question - about nrfutil - still remains.

Thanks,
Herb

RE: nrf52840 Dongle / nrfutil

Herb — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 19:59:43 GMT

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/70308/nrf52840-dongle-nrfutil/288727#288727"]I don't think this is normal behaviour for nRF Connect Programmer on Linux or any other platforms for that matter. Have you tried it on another computer with Linux? Or windows? Does it occur for all the dongles?[/quote]

I only have a single Linux box available at the moment, but it happened with all my dongles a like. No difference in behaviour whatsoever. As the "nrf connect app" doesn't support all features on all platforms I am just curious to learn what kind of limitations are existing. It may well be I am missing a particular setting/configuration, etc.

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/70308/nrf52840-dongle-nrfutil/288727#288727"]

What do you mean by using the dongle to program other dongles? Like an external programmer? If so, no. You need a DK for this.

[/quote]

What I meant is to program OTA.

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/70308/nrf52840-dongle-nrfutil/288727#288727"]Have a look at this guide for the different ways you can program the dongle.[/quote]

Yes, I had read that already. Nice tutorial. If I am not totally wrong, however, then all the nrfutil commandline examples to create a package use the --sd-req (SoftDevice) parameter. On the other hand, this excellent article mentions that NCS applications don't actually use SoftDevices. So what command(line) do I have to use to create a programmable package from an NCS based application? And - most important - can this package be programmed OTA.

Cheers,
Herb

RE: nrf52840 Dongle / nrfutil

Mttrinh — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 16:32:21 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]After that I am able to program the device for a single time (and will then have to go through the lengthy iteration cycle again). Is this the expected behaviour on Linux? Or am I missing something in my setup maybe?[/quote]

Yes, it is possible to use nrfutil to program the dongle, but I think the easiset way is to use the programmer app in nRF Connect. Have a look at this guide for the different ways you can program the dongle.

[quote user=""]Also, could one dongle be used to program several other dongles or do I definitely need the DK for this?[/quote]

What do you mean by using the dongle to program other dongles? Like an external programmer? If so, no. You need a DK for this.

[quote user=""]Is it somehow possible to (mis-)use the USB connection of the dongle as a console? Such that you can re-direct print statements to that console?[/quote]

I don't think this is possible.