RAppID Bootloader Tool

[whinojo]

Hi all, this might seem a silly question so apologies, but I am really struggling to understand these:

1. What is the difference between the RAppID BL tool and dragging and dropping an MOT file intl the S32K144 EVB board just using the Windows explorer? What is the advantage/usage of this tool?

2. What is the hardware required to use this tool? Do I connect my S32K144 board using the micro USB cable to my PC directly or do I need an interface such as the PE micro multilink?

3. What are those "COM port" specifications on the tool for? Do I use these to specify how to connect to the board (i.e. direct USB or PE micro) or is it for something else?

4. If PE micro multilink adaptor required, where do I connect this? SWD or SDA connector (both look the same, and seems to be for programming).

That's all, I know its a lot of questions but I am really struggling to understand this.

Thanks in advance for your kind help and best regards.

[stanish]

Hi,

thank you for your questions. See below my comments:

1. Rappid BL and OpenSDA (drag/drop loading) are two different loaders

Rappid BL firmware (.rbf file) resists on the target MCU (S32K144) and it is executed after reset.

OpenSDA firmware (.sda file)is located in a different chip(OpenSDA MCU) and behaves as USB <-> jtag converter (kind of "lite" version of PE Multilink integrated on the board)

https://www.nxp.com/document/guide/get-started-with-the-s32k144evb:NGS-S32K144EVB

RAppid BL advantage is you can program the target mcu over CAN/UART but it requires to be pre-programmed on the chip. OpenSDA is in fact "independent" Jtag debug probe.

2. to program a file to the S32K mcu over RappidBL you need just usb cable (UART mode) or Vector CANCase/Card XL (CAN Mode) converter.

3. Com Port is only the selector of a correct COM port to be communicated with the target over UART/USB. When USB cabel is plugged into S32K1xx board a new Com port should appear on your machine (could be checked in the device manager) and you should select this port.

4. No additional PE multilink required. You can program bootloader by OpenSDA (drag/drop). Anyway if you'd need fo some reason to program mcu from P&E external probe you can use J14 SWD connector.

The other one (SDA) is for updating firmware/bootloader in OpenSDA chip - I'd recommend you not to use OpenSDA  JTAG connector untill you fully understand what you do.

Hope it helps.

Stan