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Mbr without softdevice

Martijn

Is it possible to use the mbr, currently inside the softdevice, without the softdevice? Can we use the combination MBR/Application/bootloader? So we have a lot more flash space available. We do not need Bluetooth. If yes, how do we get this to work?

  • 0

    what do you need bootloader for if you do not need bluetooth? And no, it is not possible to separate MBR and softdevice, they come as one hex file.

    EDIT 12.10.2015

    Few things i learned today (did not knew we had serial version of bootlaoder). We do not provide separate hex file for MBR. Yes, it is possible to generate the MBR hexfile from softdevice hex as we know their address space.

    Nordic employees have tried extracting MBR from the hex and to use it. It works. Only thing that does not work in the bootloader is the flash API (because the implementation of flash code resides inside softdevice). So you need to make your own flash library for the bootloader to work normally.

    License issues. once you split the hex file, then you are on your own. It would mean that you have MBR hex file that we do not guarantee to be production quality. But you can still use it if you wish on your own risk.

  • 0 in reply to Susheel Nuguru

    there is a serial version, right? That does not use the bluetooth softdevice, or am I missing something? May I ask why it is one hex? The bootloader is seperate too, right?

  • 0 in reply to Susheel Nuguru

    There are many features in MBR that does not make sense if softdevice is not there. One thing i can think of is the interrupt forward mechanism. you are right, Bootloader is seperate

    I did not knew about the serial version of MBR, now i feel i have jumped into this too fast. I will find out and comeback to you. What are you trying to achieve exactly?

  • 0 in reply to Susheel Nuguru

    Hi Aryan, is there any restriction in Nordic license agreement for Soft Devices? Because HEX file is simple ASCII text which allows easy split of MBR (first 3kB on nRF51and 12kB on nRF52) and actual stack/Soft Device and I'd bet MBR will work without the rest (that's actually its purpose, isn't it?). Thanks Jan

  • 0 in reply to Susheel Nuguru

    interrupt forwarding is still needed for the bootloader / application to work. We are building a device that uses a proprietary protocol and we want to let the user upgrade the application via a serial connection. No Bluetooth involved in this. My thought was, because you already build a mbr and bootloader, maybe I could just use that part and save some flash space. Now we need to install a complete softdevice for this to work, or we need to build A new mbr/ bootloader to deal with this.

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