nRF Connect SDK - Getting Started Assistant - fails on Mac OS 11 with Apple M1 Silicon

[VW_Kev]

Hello,

I am attempting to install the nRF Connect SDK v1.5 on a Mac Mini with Mac OS 11 with Apple M1 Silicon per the instructions:

https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.5.0/nrf/gs_assistant.html#gs-app-gsa

The "Install the toolchain" sequence fails on the very first and any subsequent steps involving "homebrew" (brew commands), I assume because the default install directory for Apple Silicon is /opt/homebrew rather than the Nordic expected /usr/local for macOS Intel silicon.

Do you have an updated or alternate toolchain installation program or instructions?

Thanks.

[VW_Kev]

Hi Øyvind,

Yes I intend to work with CHIP project and Apple Homekit.

After some searching the internet, I realize wget is available through "brew" command, however, "Homebrew" / brew does not install correctly (at least not to where Nordic is expecting), in the first place, on newer Apple with M1 silicon. So, there is a chicken and egg issue.

Regarding the .bashrc issue, the Nordic instructions (in step 2 of the Manual install) would have the user make changes to the .bashrc file. On Linux that would be correct. On the Apple (at least with M1 silicon), those changes should be made in the .bashrc_profile file instead to have effect in the command prompt window when opened.

    See: https://superuser.com/questions/244964/mac-os-x-bashrc-not-working

Sorry if this sounds like griping, but I am just trying to let you know there are issues.

I have attempted to install nRF Connect SDK for Windows, Linux and Apple now - so I was a pretty good test subject. None were successful following the Nordic instructions. The Linux install was pretty close. There were several serious omissions on the Windows instructions. With MacOS I could not get past step #1.

That is why I suggested you have a newbe go through the existing instructions on a clean install of Windows, Linux and MacOS, find all the errors and omissions and update the documentation.

Ideally I would just like to spend time writing the application for our product, rather than battle with setting up the development tools and getting example apps to work.

For now, I plan to procure an older Apple computer with Intel Silicon. Hopefully that install will go more smoothly.

Regards,

Kevin

[Øyvind]

Kevin, 

Thank you for taking you time to report these issues, it is highly valuable to us. I will forward this to our technical writes and developers to have them verify the steps. 

You mention that none of the OS installations are successful, can you please provide more information on what fails? On Windows, did you try the Toolchain Manager?

We will find the work-around for you to start developing.

Kind regards,
Øyvind