We are running a survey to help us improve the experience for all of our members. If you see the survey appear, please take the time to tell us about your experience if you can.
Hello!
I've been using Keil IDE for 8051 since years and it always worked fine. Now I need to work with ARM processor. Since I'm new to it, I wanted to start with the examples. I got the MCB2300 board v4.0 with uLink 2 and, of course, the appropriate Keil ARM IDE with RV.
1. In all the documentation it tells about the JTAG jumper to be set for uLink - but there is no JTAG jumper
2. When I open the example project "blinky", the target is set to LPC2378, though the MCB2300 has LPC2368. The abstract.txt says, there is a target called "mcb2300 flash", but it's actually named "lpc2378 flash".
3. In the target settings, it already selected ULINK debugger, which is set to 1MHz speed, though the online step-by-step guide says it should be set to 200kHz
4. Compiling the project works fine, but going to debug reports error "memory mismatch, address: 0x0, value: 0x0, expected: 0x18" - this looks like there was no code. Is it required to create a hex file and if so, why is this not activated in the target options? I thought these are ready-to-run projects.
5. After activating "Create hex file", it still shows the error, but enters debug mode and the disassembly windows shows more than zeros
6. The code is running instantly, at least the JTAG interface says so. But there is no LED bar or character display on the LCD. The little beeper produces low, high frequency noise. Looking into the code (as far as I understand the ARM assembler) tells me, it is not correct. Resetting the target to 0 and going stepwise lets the debugger jump to address 0xfffffff3 after a few steps. So the debugger does not really work. If I let the the code run after reset and stop it, it halts at 0x0000000C, going in a loop to 0x00000014. Not really a working code...
7. Opening example projects with abstract.txt in it gives error "abstract.txt contains a invalid path". Huh? Since when can a text file contain a path?
8. At least, example project EasyWeb compiles and uploads to the MCU. But then it says "Can't stop the ARM device - check JTAG cable". Hilarious! There is a hardware debug tool with a reset line and it can't stop the controller! Even I manually reset the whole board by unplugging the USB cable and inserting it again, the flash uploader gives the same error. Sure, it is possible that the cable is broken, but board and uLink are quite new and the cable has only beed unplugged a several times.
Now I wonder how this can be possible. I mean, it can't be the way to read hundreds of pages and books just to be able to setup Keil! Why must every tiny piece of software have thousands of settings? An ARM controller might be more complex than a 8051, but from the IDE it is still the same. Setup, project, compilation, debug.
This is a hardware/software package that costs some hundred or even some thousand Euros. I simply expect it to work! I mean, what else can occur if not even small example projects work?
(By the way, selecting a different country still shows the american flag on the preview)
Do you think I enjoy seeing some tasks of the latest RTX locking up after 2-3 days of uninterrupted work? this is what you get with complex software (sometimes), and the developers at Keil are as susceptible as you and me to mistakes. be patient...
I did not have these problems when starting with Keil/ARM. The only problem I had, was that I had to wait a number of months to get simulation support for the LPC23xx chips. And after that, I had to wait further for a fix for correctly reading back fast-GPIO state using the JTAG interface.
I can't say I think the tools are non-intuitive. I got most if it working without the manuals. I often like to start out directly, and as step 2 - when I have some general knowledge about a product - pick up the manuals to see if there are features or limitations mentioned, that are not obviously observed by just using the tools.
Reading the manuals first often just requires a second pass through them because I'm not able to correlate some descriptions with the actual use until I have tried the product or already read the manuals once before.
A big problem when writing a manual is to write it in an order so the user has picked up the required background knowledge from earlier chapters. An example is a part of the manual that talked a lot about the use of a wizard. It took some time to realize that I could switch view for the startup file - either seeing the assembler source, or an input form. I'm so used to wizards being invoked as toolbar buttons or menu choices that I didn't think about looking for alternating views for open windows.