nRF Connect / VS Code broken for M1 Mac users

[Scott]

There are at least several show-stopper level issues with your nRF Connect SDK and VS Code for M1 Mac users

First not supporting the native VS Code app is annoying and forces us to use a much slower non-native Intel based build

Second - even after installing that, I'm stuck forever in nRF Connect for Desktop on « Checking if VS Code and dependencies are installed »

Third after going around that and installing directly in VS Code [ which incidentally seems to kind of work in the M1 based VS Code ] I get a lot of «

[west]: warning: templates not found in /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.32.0_1/share/git-core/ » warnings

Fourth - just with the basic hello_world sample app, compilation fails because zephyr.h and sys/printk.h are not found

Fifth - spaces and other perfectly valid characters in filenames/directory names are not allowed 

I definitely / strongly prefer this to the SEGGER studio requirement ( which is annoying because of the licensing hoop and just because I don't want to use or mandate our developers use a specific IDE ) but there are a lot of issues that desperately need to be addressed before this is viable in production for anyone who doesn't have a lot of time and resources to burn getting things to work

[JetForMe]

I just tried installing this today, and it took me a while to figure out Apple Silicon incompatibility was the reason it couldn't find VS Code. Sigh.

[Scott]

I've managed to get it partially / sort-of working by installing in VS Code and monkeying around with a lot of stuff but I still can't even get an LED to blink much less migrate our existing firmware into this new platform

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi Scott

First not supporting the native VS Code app is annoying and forces us to use a much slower non-native Intel based build

Thank you for your feedback. See case 87024 for more information on improvements of VS Code.

Second - even after installing that, I'm stuck forever in nRF Connect for Desktop on « Checking if VS Code and dependencies are installed »

Instead of using our Toolchain Manager to download the packs, you could try to install them using VS Code Marketplace first, from the nRF Connect Extension Pack. This might make the process faster next time you install our extension.

Third after going around that and installing directly in VS Code [ which incidentally seems to kind of work in the M1 based VS Code ] I get a lot of «

[west]: warning: templates not found in /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.32.0_1/share/git-core/ » warnings

Fourth - just with the basic hello_world sample app, compilation fails because zephyr.h and sys/printk.h are not found

This could be to missing configuration of the toolchain or SDK. Go to our extension->Open welcome page->Quick Setiup to set the nRF. Set the toolchain in an image looking like this(the example is fro Ubuntu, so it might differ some):

Fifth - spaces and other perfectly valid characters in filenames/directory names are not allowed 

Which characters are you referring to?

Scott said:

still can't even get an LED to blink much less migrate our existing firmware into this new platform

If you are experiencing issue, please create a new ticket and explain your issue, and we will help you with your issue.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Scott]

Hi Sigurd

I got it working (kind of) as you described but it still doesn't flash properly as described here https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/87063/m1-mac-support and the answer to that is not « We don't support M1 based Macs »

I know you don't yet.

I'm asking you to please do so. These have been out for well over a year now and you're making almost half a billion dollars a year so I kind think you might have the resources to address this problem

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi Scott

If you have questions about out roadmap, please contact your regional sales manager.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik