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mbed review

danteo

Part 1

 

Is arrived.

WOW!

Nice, small, very intuitive.

 

The box contains the mbed card, usb cable, two easy to read color-coded pin references one in a business-card format and one in credit-card format, one round mbed sticker and a setup guide sheet.

 

Connected via USB It brings up a 2MB FAT-FS storage (USBSTOR\Diskmbed____Microcontroller_1.0_)  loaded with a MBED.htm file (<!-- mbed Microcontroller Website and Authentication Shortcut --><html><head><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://mbed.org/start?auth= ............).

Double click on that and it connects to mbed.org sending them the auth code, firmware version and configuration. After this you need to register an mbed account.

Once registered you can access

     - the online compiler - fast and

     - the blog, the forum

     - the mbed handbook - programming references, hardware description, libraries

     - the cookbook - user-contributed libraries and resources

 

 

Board description:

 

     2x20pin board with mini-USB, reset button, power/status led, 4 leds. All 5 leds are blue and strong enough to distract your attention.

 

 

Programming the mbed:

 

     Simply copy the .bin file compiled with the online compiler in the FAT storage partition and hit the reset button. It loads and executes the program stored in the FAT partiton.

When you delete it from FAT storage and hit reset again the board returns to the first state. Shure this means that the program can't exceed that 2MB limit, but you can live with this ;-)

 

As by now all what I did was to play with leds thru DigitalOut ( Class: DigitalOut -   A digital output, used for setting the state of a pin).

All classes are available via http/svn and this i another great thing.

All functions are well commented.

 

 

Soon Part 2.

 

Thanks to Element-14.

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  • Part 2

     

      

    Front view

    image

    Back viewimage
    The mbed interfaceimage

     

     

    The board runs like a breeze. The bootloader programs the LPC1768FBD100,551LPC1768FBD100,551 very fast.

    In the compiler section has an "Import" button which loads many community programs (some led-programs, some web/ip/ethernet apps, some LCD and SD apps, an interresting python-on-a-chip application, a.s.o. ...).

     

     

    Next Part3

  • in reply to danteo

    Part 3

     

    Working with mbed online compiler is a great thing.
    Now let me tell you about using local toolchains.

     

    I've tried:

     

    - YAGARTO  EABI GNU Toolkit and Tools for Windows - download and HOWTO

    - CodeSourcery G++ Lite ARM EABI on CentOS and it works very well. Download link
    - Eclipse ARM Development Tools - for Cortex-M3 etc. Version: 1.0.2  Build id: M20070430 - download link (now is called CooCox and it seems that the debugger is supporting LPC1768FBD100,551LPC1768FBD100,551)

    - GNU ARM Eclipse Plug-in

    - CMSIS (v1.30)

    - The new Eclipse Helios for C/C++

     

    The best guide about Codesourcery and mbed I found at frozeneskimo, it covers both linux and windows version (of course you need to install Cygwin - download link - if you use windows).

    Of course for the example code you have to tweak CCLKSEL from system_LPC17xx.c or (SysTick_Config(SystemCoreClock / 100) from main_LPC17xx.c

    The first time I didn't noticed that code works because of the too long delay.

     

    Now I try to bind Codesourcery G++ Lite ARM EABI with Eclipse Helios and some mixed libraries.

    A great thing is to download the SVN trunk from mbed site and use the libraries.

     

    Another way may be using KEIL ARM MDK (Evaluation - free) or IAR EWARM (KS - free) .

     

    Expansion boards:

     

    Useful may be the mbed LPC1768FBD100,551LPC1768FBD100,551 Workshop Development board from coolcomponents, a board that contains mini SD slot/USB A,B/ethernet port.

    Also the Hitex extension board for LPC1768FBD100,551LPC1768FBD100,551 stick can be used but I think is overpriced.

    The easy way is to put together the connectors and a breadboard or pcb like 1172115 from Farnell.

     

    Useful stuff:

     

    Prototype to hardware by Chris Styles

    Prototype2Product

     

    Conclusion:

     

    mbed looks like the best combination of a robust MCU starter board, a ready-made online toolchain and an permanently updated documentation.

    This way a person who want to try programming a Cortex M3 MCU and gets an mbed is in front of a complete and working set with no need to make anything than write code.

    The lack of JTAG interface makes me think that this was the market target.

    I can't find something bad considering the target and the price.

     

    With thanks to both, element-14.com team and mbed.

  • in reply to danteo

    Wow, the mbed is getting some really great road-test reviews. Thanks for yours! The development links look really useful.

     

    What I like about this collection of road tests is that we're all sharing our different interests and experiences. As a result, we're building up a really good collection of resources.

     

    Keep it up, chaps!

Reply
  • in reply to danteo

    Wow, the mbed is getting some really great road-test reviews. Thanks for yours! The development links look really useful.

     

    What I like about this collection of road tests is that we're all sharing our different interests and experiences. As a result, we're building up a really good collection of resources.

     

    Keep it up, chaps!

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