Thingy:53 usage of included "Debug board"

[SteveKay]

I am entered in an Hackster.io challenge that includes a dongle that plugs into the Thingy:53 slot. How do I use this? there is no doc pages on the site?   

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

The description is in the Building and programming from the source code section, using either Visual Studio Code or command line.

Regards,
Amanda

[SteveKay]

Hi, I'm asking about the included dongle included in the package PCA64142 "Thingy:53 current measurement and Debug  board" I've been over the VS code section and do not have a nRF5340 DK. and I was wondering about what Debug features the PCA64142 brings to the Thingy?

There is a 10 pin JTAG on it. If I plug it into the slot on the Thingy:53 does it replace the other 10 pin TAG on the Thingy:53? I do not have a nRF 

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

SteveKay said:

what Debug features the PCA64142 brings to the Thingy?

The current measurement and debug board simplify the current consumption measurement of the four different power domains with a power profiling tool, such as the Power Profiler Kit II. The interface also enables a trace debugging functionality and the possibility to connect external circuits or boards to the Nordic Thingy:53 by using the TRACE pins as regular GPIOs. See Current measurement and debug interface.

SteveKay said:

If I plug it into the slot on the Thingy:53 does it replace the other 10 pin TAG on the Thingy:53?

The current measurement and debug board also has the SWD Interface. 

If you program applications with an external debug probe, you can use the nRF5340 DK or any J-Link device supporting Arm Cortex-M33 as the external debug probe.

Regards,
Amanda

[SteveKay]

OK but how do I use it? Just plugging it in does not work? nRFProgrammer and VS-code both do not Flash when it is plugged in. Since I do not have a nRF53040 DK (but I do have nRF9160 DK) which does not work as an J-Link external debug probe which you confirmed (and I tried it also) in my ticket  Thingy:53 - Updating through external Debug Probe question? 

I was hoping that you could answer what Debug features the PCA64142 brings to the Thingy?

It is included in the package with the Thingy:53? but I wonder how to use it in as a j-link debug probe . if that is possible? It does say it's a debug board. I'm not interested in measurement at the moment. 

I need to get a toolchain firmware development environment setup for the Thingy:53. I'm almost there, but stuck on flashing to the thingy:53 from VS-code. I'm thinking that  my only alternative now is to use the files from the VS-Code build and flash them with nRF Programmer.

am I correct that the PCA64142 will not help me here?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

The PCA64142 debug board is just a board that makes the SWD and trace pins available. In order to program the thingy53, you need to use a J-link debug probe or an nRF5340 DK as an external debugger.

Regards,
Amanda