How to compile firmware and upload firmware to the Opensource Gwolves mouse

[aidennn]

So I have been wanting a opensource gaming mouse for a long time, and gwolves decided to make one recently using a nRF52840 (you can learn more here). Only issue is that I don't understand how to compile or upload custom firmware to the mouse itself. I'm pretty confident in coding (since I'm mainly a software guy) but don't know how to start in this situation.

The source of the mouse is based on the nRF connect sdk and can be found on github here.

The only other final bit of information I have on uploading firmware is this, the website holds a video of them uploading a firmware fix for some issues they had with new firmware that fix the issue.

Any help or step in the right direction would be greatly apricated!

[JONATHAN LL]

Hi,

We usually do program the micro controllers over the SWD interface, so i dont know how accessible those pines are in the mouse design, if that is the way you want to program the  mouse then you would need a programmer as well, you can use one of our DK as a programmer. 

Must say that there was not much info on how to proceed on the G-Wolves website if you wish to do som development yourself. 

I will help you as best i can. 

So first off, try to get familiar whit the nRF Connect SDK(NCS) and decide if you want to use SEGGER or VS Code to do the build\compile, we do have some getting started guides here:https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.7.0/nrf/getting_started.html# 

I would recommend that you install the nRF Connect for desktop application and use the toolchain manager, from there you can launched either SEGGER or VS code as the IDE. 




You can install packages form other sources at the bottom, so then you can use the fork that peepee-boy has. 


AS for programming the muse, there might be a MCUBoot option but i do not know what is on the mouse out of factory so i can not say. Have you contacted G-Wolves on how to proceed with programming their product.

I do not have this mouse so i cant test.


Feel free to ask for anything and if something is unclear i will re-formulate do as best i can to help out. 

Regards,
Jonathan

[aidennn]

Thanks for the reply! You responding gives more information then gwolves themselves have. I have reached out to every form of contact gwolves has. Hopefully I can figure something out... don't want to be wasting $130+. Going to try and see if I can get a bit more information from gwoles or an early version of there new source from peepeeboy.

Like I said previously I'm pretty confident in programming, just figuring out HOW to actually program the mouse is the issue. I will look into the stuff you said see if anything clicks in my head.

Have a good day, I appreciate your help!

Let me know if anything else comes to your head that might help me!

[JONATHAN LL]

If you could share a picture of the PCB inside the mouse i might be able to point out where the SWD interface pins are. If they are "easily" accessible then i can guid you trough how to connect and program the mouse. But its understandable if you dont wan to tear the device apart straight away. This would also require a debugger\programmer to successfully program the mouse. 


I have not seen the PCB or schematic layout so it difficult to say how easy this would be, but it should be doable tough it might be a little bit "hacky". 

Since i dont know what software is on the device from the factory i cant say if it would support updates\programmable over BLE or USB as is. 

Regards,
Jonathan