nrf5x eclipse in linux again

[efiLabs]

this issue might also be one of others than myself

my main development environment is based on linux ... firmware, QT, android and whatever comes along ... i used to write firmware starting with the 8085, z80, 68k and for the last 10 years on arm from mostly nxp, so i'm pretty familiar with eclipse (lpcxpresso flavor) as well as keil and iar while working at nxp a while back ... i see no reason to try the keil light ide and later overrunning the 32k boundary and facing to cough up 5 grand for the real license

my current project is to eliminate code written for 2 different (m4 and m0) mcus which communicate via ble serially to a ble based nrf5x module ... why use one arm on the main board and another one on the ble module if the code of the on-board arm can run on the ble module wired to an mcu less main board

setup :

installed eclipse oxygen with cdt, installed eclipse gnu mcu plug-ins, installed toolchain "gcc-arm-none-eabi-6-2017-q2-update", fetched and installed all nrf packages, installed nrf SDK 10.x for my 51822 based 1st test proj

did the toolchain test "arm-none-eabi-gcc --version"

ran the make test "/examples/peripheral//blank/armgcc/" on the blinky example

so far so good ;)

now the real issues showed up, maybe being part of my lack in real computer science

tried the makefile flavor of the blinky example in my eclipse setup ... don't remember the errs and didn't like a makefile only proj ... no makefile only for me

went back to my bare metal days with some of my eclipse arm projects ... start simple and build on it

oh, before i forget, i use almost exclusively my own modular style C++ in all my firmware projects in this 21st century we're living now ... no more time for legacy "C" only based stuff ... i agree there is some stuff which tends to lead to "C" implementation which is ok

so i created a new C++ "hello" cortex-m arm proj and it compiled without errs, but there is a lot of system fuzz attached to it ... for now i can live with it

started to strip the main part of the project down to main.cpp ... the arm timer code goes and a couple others

replace the main.cpp portion with the blinky main content and add an extern "C" { ... } around the main funct in case there are some issues with the C++ name mangling

in "C/C++ Build -> settings -> assembler and compilers -> includes" i satisfy the new #includes to point to the nfr SDK locations ... add NRF51 and BOARD_PCA10028 to the preprocessor sections and it all almost compiles

i do not expect anything to load and run at this point, but it's a step forward

i have a few issues open i would like to bring up at this point in the game

1. " nrf_delay_ms (500) ; " throws an undefined reference ... what am i or the sdk missing at this point ... nrf_delay.h contains the prototype for the funct, but why am i or eclipse not finding the implementation

2. i realize that all the "system" stuff i inherited with the creation of a new empty "hello" project is not gonna run on an nrf51 mcu, but where can i find the replacement startup and other inits for a bare metal simple blinky to flip one gpio pin ... at the early nxp based projects with lpc-open, before the new mcuxpresso SDK became fashionable, there was a cr_startup_lpc82x.cpp or similar file containing the startup and intr vectors and whatever was necessary to later jump to "main"

it doesn't need to be contained in one file, but where is this stuff with respect to nrf bare metal (no softdevice) projects just for the purpose to flip a bit

i'm reading now for a few days whatever i can find nordic related, but didn't hit the mother lode yet

3. i was spoiled by nxp with their ...xpresso support providing tailored memory maps for ever chip and could live without it, but i'm a bit stuck with the linker scripts ... the fetched and installed nrf packages provide a very simple memory map under the "settings -> devices" tap but it has a "Memory map (Warning: Not yet used to generate the linker scripts!" and is greyed out, so no use ... i know, not nordics problem

can i now freely edit the mem.ld linker script or is this auto generated and i have to set the boundaries by other means

4. that's it for now and i don't want to explore the world with a softdevice yet, even i will need it eventually ... the same is for how to i get the code into the device ... simply later

one word to get this questionnaire wrapped up ... almost every chip mfg supports in one way or another the open source society of linux and others with eclipse (TI seems to be the exception, but with their windows only based CCS and the ti-rtos for the CC264x parts is definitely not a choice for me ... not for the windows only based CCS only, but for the ti-rtos being forced upon their users complicating otherwise simple things)

i like the nordic chips so far but why are the 5k $ keil and iar ide as a dessert the only sweets if i choose nordic for the main meal ;)

any fruit bearing answers are highly appreciated

am i the only one asking for more linux and eclipse support, other than the cryptic makefile only way

is my approach of simple steps the right one to achieve at least one simple eclipse managed project from which it might be easier to derive others

cheers efiLabs

[TY]

1. " nrf_delay_ms (500) ; " throws an undefined reference: Have you tried adding the sources to nrf_delay() into the eclipse project manager?

2. I've spend days on setting eclipse up on windows, I really recommend looking into the eclipse tutorial in the Nordic Blog. Once you got that running you understand better how the eclipse plugin works.

3. Same as 2)

4. Give Segger Embbeded Studio a try (It's free for Nordic Devices). I've just moved my project and I really like it so far. You just have to open the SES Project File in one of the examples and everything runs out of the box.

[efiLabs]

the undefined reference " nrf_delay_ms (500) ; " goes away once i remove all of the system files generated and linked by the eclipse based create new C++ project, which is a good sign

but now the "text" size in the project map printout during the link process went to 0 possibly caused by the, now lack of a startup file (environment) not calling "main" any longer

where does nordic hide their startup environment files or what do i have to include, link to my project to get "so to speak" started

yes, i read all, at least 4 or more, eclipse install tutorials of how to install eclipse and additional needed plug-ins, toolchains and utilities ... followed them where appropriate, but all only support a makefile only controlled project style

i have tried it, but got a bunch of errors and the makefile is very very complex and complicated, so i decided there has to be a way to create a small and simple "eclipse managed project" just flipping one gpio bit and that's it

doing so i started very small and i'm aware that i might have to provide a lot more "settings -> compiler -> includes" entries but as far as it seems from the main.cpp file its dependencies are met ... no more undefine references and a clean compile

just no startup files which would eventually call "main ()" and thereby causing to include the code portion of main.cpp

well actually i found now some startup files in the nrf51 sdk 10 ... initially i just looked at all the gcc related folders, but there are some in every keil "arm5_no_packs" folder

putting system_nrf51.c and arm_startup_nrf51.s into my project src directory didn't solve the linker map "text" size being 0 yet, but arm_startup_nrf51.s calls SystemInit and "__main" in the Reset_Handler

            LDR     R0, =SystemInit
            BLX     R0
            LDR     R0, =__main
            BX      R0

still need to resolve the __main to "main ()" discrepancy, which should finally fix the linker map "text" size being 0 ... shouldn't be the mem.ld since i had a "text" size of about 500 when i was still using the eclipse based startup environment ... maybe the C++ name mangling in main.cpp has something to do with it

found out that i had the wrong startup file which was for the keil assembler and not the gcc assembler ... so for now i'm trying gcc_startup_nrf51.S ... also needed a capitol S as an extension to be correctly recognized

doesn't seem to be the right one either since it calls _start instead of main

LDR     R0, =SystemInit
BLX     R0
LDR     R0, =_start
BX      R0

so the search continues

also this forum seems to allow only one answer by the person who asked the question ... weird ... now i can't explain the steps it takes to resolve my issue as i discover some solutions

the memory mapping is also still an open question

but for now i'll post this and keep on trying to resolve my issues

cheers efiLabs

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Hi efiLabs. Like TY mentioned, I would give Segger Embedded Studio a try if I were you. It is free for Nordic SDK users (even for commercial products). Try the Blinky example in the 14.1 SDK quickly using SES. You should be able to add an answer & update the answer later, as you have not posted an answer yet.