Does KBOOT support KL25?

[frankvanhooft]

I've downloaded KBOOT v 1.0.2 from here:

Kinetis Bootloader|Freescale

I've read the webpage, read the PDF files, browsed through the source files. Throughout the documentation, website, etc, it repeatedly says this bootloader supports all Kinetis MCUs. However I can only find a binary for a single MCU, the K64F12.

Does KBOOT support the KL25? (And its USB port in particular.)  If it does not, is there a schedule for when it will?

Also, can KBOOT be built in Freescale's CodeWarrior toolchain?

Thanks.

[adriancano]

Hi,

The Kinetis Bootloader source code (Flash-based bootloader) it is now only available for the K64 microcontroller. The next release, V1.1, will add support for KL25Z devices, it is planned to be available this year. This new release will also include a Porting chapter for easier migration to existing Kinetis devices and the source code will only be available for new Kinetis devices.

I hope this information can help you.

Regards,

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[geoffs]

Is there an ETA for release of V1.1 ?  I am very keen to see the information on porting to other Kinetis devices.

[mjbcswitzerland]

Hi

Note that Kboot V1.1.0 was released shortly before Christmas 2014 and it now includes KL25 support.

However I verified that this worked when loading via serial but it is unreliable (and still very slow) when trying to use the USB-HID loader and often fails with the error "kStatusUnknownCommand". Also, if the reset button next to the Device HID connection is pressed (in Select Device) after the failure the "KinetisUpdater.exe" crashes.

Further, note that the connection in Select Device works maybe once or twice after reconnecting the board via USB but then will always be empty so it is necessary to restart the "KinetisUpdater.exe" again to get it operating again.

I don't think that there is another KBOOT thread reporting such problems so I tagged it on here (since I tested specificaly FRD-KL25Z).

Regards

Mark

[mjbcswitzerland]

Hi

I did a bit more checking and have found that the actual operation in the Kinetis boot loader has remained the same but the "KinetisUpdater.exe" USB performance is extremely slow (drastically slower than the previous version).

The demos delivered with Kboot 1.1.0 are only 2k in size and these take around 7s to load (much slower than loading at 57600 Baud via UART). I tried with larger binaries (about 26k which is still rather small) and had the feeling that nothing was working, but after about 1 and a half minutes it did finish and ran. This speed is of course for FS USB with 12 Mb/s rather rediculous!!

Monitoring the operation the culprit is the PC program itself since it programs one packet of 36 bytes around once every 100ms, which has nothing to do with any USB settings, as was a problem in the previous version of KBOOT embedded code making things rather slower than it could have been.

Therefore I can't imagine that anyone will have the patience to wait the required half an hour to upload a 512k of code to the K64 (not to contemplate the 1 hour upload time that the biggest 1M code would need!!!).

As mentioned above, I found that the actual KBOOT embedded code remains compatible with this version of the KBOOT PC utility so I could verify the operation with the existing uTasker serial loader with KBOOT support (on UART and USB). In case of interest I have attached this for four reasons:

1. It includes also USB-MSD (it is composite KBOOT HID and USB-MSD so very fast USB uploads can be tested using the USB-MSD mode and compared with the snail-paced HID upload method with the latest PC utility. In fact if the older PC utility is used it is also quite fast and the uTasker version is about 10x faster than the previous KBOOT embedded version).

2. It is reliable when performing USB-HID loading (unlike the loader in the KBOOT package when I tested it with Windows 8.1).

2. It is in fact rather smaller than the KBOOT embedded code even with USB-MSD in it so is also more resource efficient.

3. The uTasker loader already works on most KE, KL and K devices so doesn't need to wait for more devices to be ported to (or the user to embark on a porting adventure).

The attached package contains the loader (16k) and an application for the board (26k) that then runs as USB-CDC connection on the K25. 32 and 64 bit USB drivers are included to allow testing if required. It is linked to 0x8080 (and not 0x8000). To force the loader mode again connect J1-6 (PTD4) to GND.

Regards

Mark

http://www.utasker.com/kinetis.html

[frankvanhooft]

Thanks Adrian.  Will CodeWarrior be supported?

[mjbcswitzerland]

Frank

I believe that the KBOOT code supports only one or two actual devices (the previous release actually supported more).

For anyone needing loader code before Freescale extends to other devices the KBOOT USB-HID mode is supported in the uTasker serial loader project [µTasker Kinetis support] on all KL and K processors with USB. It can be build with IAR, Keil, Rowley Crossworks, Atollic, CooCox, CodeWarrior 10.x, KDS or stand-alone GCC. The KBOOT USB-HID mode can be mixed with various other loader modes in parallel (eg. SREC UART, KBOOT UART, SD card).

The uTasker implementation achieves about 8x faster loading than the present KBOOT SW.

Regards

Mark