New to Nordic product. Any step by step tutorial to begin with nRF52840? Should I use nRF5 SDK or NCS?

[sokui]

Hi,

I am new to Nordic product. I bought nRF52840 board and DWM3000EVB board from Qarvo for building some UWB project. I checked this forum a little bit. But I still did not get the satisfied answers either because they are too old or the description is not clear to me. Here I list my questions as below:

1. What is the difference between nRF5 SDK and NCS? My understanding is that NCS is built on nRF5 SDK. Is it correct?

2. Any step by step tutorial to create a small application by using nRF52840 SDK from scratch? I see there are lots of examples in SDK already. But it does not tell me how to build a new application from scratch step by step. For example, how do I find the library I need? How I should config my hardware (setting sdk_config.h)? Any other IDE configuration I need to config (like preprocessor, variables)?

3. Any step by step tutorial to create the same application by using NCS?

4. For my project, do you recommend to use nRF5 SDK or NCS? Or even there is some other SDK?

Thank you very much!

[Karl Ylvisaker]

Hello,

I am new to Nordic product.

Welcome! 
Please do not hesitate to open a ticket if you should encounter any issues or questions - we're happy to help you!

The nRF5 SDK is our longest running and most mature SDK - it has been developed for nearly a decade now. The nRF5 SDK is still a good option for new projects, but it is now going into maintenance mode, as we switch over to our new nRF Connect SDK (NCS SDK). The NCS SDK is what we recommend for new projects, since this is the SDK we're actively developing and adding new features to, so if you're project intends to make use of new / coming features (either to BLE, or other protocols like Matter, etc.) you will need to use the NCS SDK. Additionally, the NCS SDK is built on the Zephyr RTOS, which is a great architecture with loads of powerful features. For these reasons, we recommend that all new projects start out with the NCS SDK.
For a more detailed summary of the nRF5 SDK vs. NCS SDK question, please take a look at this blog post on the topic.

2. Any step by step tutorial to create a small application by using nRF52840 SDK from scratch? I see there are lots of examples in SDK already. But it does not tell me how to build a new application from scratch step by step. For example, how do I find the library I need? How I should config my hardware (setting sdk_config.h)? Any other IDE configuration I need to config (like preprocessor, variables)?

If you here are talking about starting with the nRF5 SDK, we recommended approach is that you start out with a minimal example from the SDK (like blinky, or similar), and then build you application step by step from there. This way, you do still everything from scratch, but you avoid having to set up the Segger Embedded studio project yourself (which can be very time-consuming, especially when you're new to the IDE and/or the SDK). 
The nRF5 SDK contains good examples for each peripheral of the device, so you should use those to see how you could go about using the peripheral in your own project.
I also recommend that you start out by by taking a look at the Getting Started guide for nRF5 SDK with SES, especially the Programming an application section.
In general, all the information related to the nRF5 SDK and the nRF52840 SoC is found on the Infocenter.

3. Any step by step tutorial to create the same application by using NCS?

If you are starting with NCS you should take a look at the NCS Getting started documentation. It takes you through the toolchain setup, and both testing of a SDK example, and modifying of your own. I also highly recommend that you proceed with the newly released Visual Studio Extension for NCS SDK.  
In case you run into any trouble with the NCS builds, please see this blogpost - it contains a summary and explanations of the most common pitfalls when working with the NCS SDK with windows.

Best regards,
Karl