Help with custom RET6 board « LeafLabs Garden

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Help with custom RET6 board

(7 posts) (3 voices)

Started 1 year ago by jstamour802
Latest reply from jstamour802

jstamour802
Member

I've developed a board based on the olimex maple board, but am using the RET6 chip. I have no USB port in this design, so I can only upload code via my STLINKV2 programmer, and that works fine.

The problem is that when I load any basic code (blink, etc..) using the STLINKV2 (using the associated utility), the program doesn't run. Also noted that the crystal does not oscillate. The blink code is generated from the maple IDE (.bin) and I use that to upload with the STLINK. Confirmed that I have the RET6 edition selected in the boards.

When I load the USB bootloader(.bin) with the same STLINKV2 programmer, the bootloader runs fine, and the crystal is working. I haven't tried to upload code with USB as I dont have the hardware on this design (I may rig it up on a breadboard and pipe it in to see if code uploads this way).

So... what is happening here? Do I need to be setting a crystal mode in the program? I suspect that the bootloader.hex has some code that sets the external crystal properly, and I also suspect that when code is uploaded to the maple via, this is also true. Why when I upload a .bin other than the bootloader does the crystal not oscillate?

Maybe this is a bug with the RET6 chip and the Maple IDE?

Thanks in advance

Posted 1 year ago #
ventosus
Member

If this is related to: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=74226

Then the solution is: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=10278

If you want to directly run code without bootloader, you MUST compile for the
MEMORY_TARGET=JTAG, iirc, the IDE does not offer you this build target, so you either have to modify the IDE or even better, use libmaple with the Unix toolchain instead.

Posted 1 year ago #
jstamour802
Member

ventosus, thank you for the help. I'll need to wait until Monday to try your solution - it sounds like this is the problem.

Posted 1 year ago #
jstamour802
Member

One other question, does it matter if I'm using SWD instead of JTAG? Do I need to build it for SWD instead of JTAG?

Thanks in advance

Posted 1 year ago #
ventosus
Member

The way of uploading should not matter (JTAG, SWD, serial bootloader). There is no SWD build target.

The JTAG memory target merely tells the compiler and linker to put code at FLASH memory beginning (0x08000000), whereas the standard FLASH memory target tells the compiler and linker to put code at an offset address (0x08005000), e.g. after the boot loader. In this case, the boot loader is at 0x08000000 and the first program to run and then gives over to your sketch.

So, if you don't have a bootloader on your custom board, code needs to be (compiled/linked for and) put at FLASH beginning for a successful startup sequence.

Posted 1 year ago #
gbulmer
Moderator

jstamour802 - JTAG and SWD are hardware debugging mechanisms. They have no effect on the program you need to build *

AFAIK, it happens that "MEMORY_TARGET=JTAG" is a way to make the build system build the program to run without LeafLabs USB bootloader.

"Maple" programs, built with the IDE, and uploaded by LeafLabs USB bootloader, rely on the bootloader to define the *start* of flash memory, include the system "RESET", which jumps to the users "Maple" program. When the bootloader isn't in flash, your program must be built to load at the start of flash, or there will be no code for system "RESET". This is a normal situation in general for microcontrollers, but not for "Maple" programs built by the Maple IDE.

The flag could just as easily, and possibly more helpfully, have been "MEMORY_TARGET=NO_BOOTLOADER". The name "JTAG" vs "SWD" has no significance in this context.

(* It could matter for some development systems which generate debugger-sensitive code, but that is not the case here.)

(Full disclosure: I am not a member of LeafLabs staff)

Edit: ventosus, this crossed with your post.

Posted 1 year ago #
jstamour802
Member

This all makes sense - thank you for the help.

I haven't been able to test it out yet, so tomorrow I should be looking good after some tinkering.

Another thought - the STLINK/V2 Utility allows you to specify a start address before uploading flash, what if I changed the start address to 0x08005000? Would I then need to modify the IDE?

Just a thought...

Thx

Posted 1 year ago #

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