Hello everyone,
I'm brand-new here. I have developed quite a bit of software on desktop PC's, but this is my first experience with embedded programming. A few weeks ago, I was handed an nRF52 development board, a temporary computer for development work, and told to go figure it out. I followed Nordic's tutorial, based on Windows and Keil MicroVision. I got Blinky compiled, and flashed it to the board. I haven't bothered with Bluetooth yet.
Keil's free version of MicroVision limits executable files to just 32 KB. My employer has a few licenses for IAR Embedded Workbench, but they must be shared between all of us who want access. I am waiting my turn. I have read several links that suggest that Nordic's development kit also works with gcc. I may not have to use Keil or IAR.
And perhaps, I don't even have to use Windows? My permanent computer has arrived. I greatly prefer Linux, so that's what I installed first. When I plug the nRF52 board into my Linux machine, a USB media device called JLink appears. If I can compile ARM executable code and flash the board from Linux, that would be great. From my reading, I know about gcc-arm-embedded. But I do not know how to set it up. I am reading every question here on the Nordic Developer Zone with the key words gcc and/or Linux. There are hundreds of them. If anyone knows a shortcut to the posts which explain how to set up an embedded development toolchain in a pure Linux setting, I would appreciate the pointers.
As a second option, I have Windows 7 running as a guest virtual machine (to run one Windows-native app that I must use). I could set up mingw-w64 on my Windows VM, so that I can run gcc from the guest. I am attempting this right now, but to make this arrangement work I need to fix a hardware sharing problem. When I connect the Nordic board to the USB in a configuration which should forward the board from the host (Linux) OS to the guest (Windows) OS, the guest crashes.
Option 3: I can set up a full dual-boot system, with independent partitions for Linux and Win7. But nothing makes me more nervous than a bare-metal Windows device with full Internet access. (In point of fact, the loaner computer that I received when I first got here harbored a virus, which was trying to attach itself to my executables!) And I would actually prefer to access both working environments at the same time.
Thanks for reading this all the way through, and thanks for your help.
