When it comes to device programming, its not 1991 anymore...except for Kinetis

[richardfritz]

Why is NXP who is a maybe a sort of larger sized firm, being held back in the race by the major player P E MICRO...wait WHO?

Wait, I have invested $100 or so in a bunch of Kinetis freedom boards and some $$ in a handful of K series mcu's and some spare time doing software and pcb design and may$50 or $100 in some pcb protos.

Now, [and somebody correct me if i am wrong], but to program the chips on those protos I need to buy a P E Micro programmer entry level unit for $599? Well this aint 1999 anymore.

I will look elsewhere.

It IS an arm chip.

Good introductary unit at...CYCLONE-FX-ARM : $999, plus who knows what else you will need.

[myke_predko]

@richardfritz 

Maybe you can explain your background a bit along with what you want to do with Kinetis but I found your introductory rants here over the past day or so to be argumentative and entitled.  

As @ErichStyger pointed out, there are several low-cost options for Kinetis that you should have been able to find on your own with few mouse clicks on Google.  Personally, I find the low-cost options to be of marginal value compared to the more "professional" products which you think belong to 1999 (I use both the P&E Micro Universal Multilink and Segger J-Link+).  

Finally, think about the first impression that you've made on this board.  Rather than introducing yourself as a newbie and humbly asking what are the low-cost options to start working with Kinetis; you attacked the ecosystem without understanding it.  I can't speak for anybody else but I'm going to be cautious about answering questions from you down the line.   

myke

[ErichStyger]

Hi @richardfritz 

You don't need a P&E (PEMicro), but certainly you can use one. You have multiple options, with probes from many vendors including ARM itself:

- SEGGER J-Link (different probes, starting with $20 with the J-Link EDU mini (hobby/non-commercial license)

- P&E Micro (the one referenced here, they have for example the P&E Multilink. The Cyclone are large production type programmers with features you probably don't need for a small production run

- LPC-Link2 from NXP (~$20): https://www.nxp.com/design/microcontrollers-developer-resources/lpc-microcontroller-utilities/lpc-li...

- MCU-Link from NXP (~$10): https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/lpcxpresso-boards/mcu-link-debug-probe:MCU-LINK

The other option would be that you can use your Kinetis Freedom Board as a programmer to debug/program another board, see for example https://mcuoneclipse.com/2015/09/08/using-frdm-k64f-board-to-debug-another-kinetis-board/ . Given that LPC-Link2 and MCU-Link are inexpensive, I don't really recommend it any more: the LPC-Link2 and MCU-Link are faster and you get the debug SWD cable included, plus you don't need to modify the board.

I hope this helps,

Erich

[bobpaddock]

Erich, any tips on getting the  MCU-Link from NXP to work on more micros?

I tried to get it setup for the K32L2A following a couple of your article posts for the LPC845 on the MCU-Link.

I don't recall the exact error I was getting right now, something along the lines the wrong Flash algorithm was being used.  I could not find documentation on some of the settings so was guessing at many of them.

Arm has made a disaster of their once useful documentation site.

I agree with the original Op in a way.  We should be along way from "tools to make tools"* methodology than we are as an industry.

* See:

"Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" by Steven Levy.

[ErichStyger]

Hi @bobpaddock ,

I tried to get it setup for the K32L2A following a couple of your article posts for the LPC845 on the MCU-Link.

I have not used that K32L2A, but I see that it is supported by the NXP MCUXpresso SDK. So it should be just a matter of downloading that SDK, create a project in the MCUXpresso IDE and then everything should be set up correctly (I assume) including the correct flash algo for it?

The critical setting is here: based on the selected MCU it shall use the default internal driver or list the flash driver there:

Erich

[bobpaddock]

My goal is OpenSDA with GDB.