Porting Espruino to MDBT42Q

[espruino-discuss]

Posted at 2018-03-29 by user88194

Hi all,

I have played a little bit with Puck.js and now I want to make few custom boards with oLED, MBDT42Q etc. for my new home project. I need some guidance how can I port Espruino on to MDBDT420 as it is the same module used in Puck.js.

I have J-link lite, nRFgo studio and have played around little bit with nrfjprog.exe and mergehex.

I guess my main question is the zipped firmware listed on Espruino GitHub is a bin file whereas nrfGo sutdio wants hex file. Also, where can I get espruino bootloader and espruino hex file so I can merge them with mergehex and then flash the BLE module using J-link lite. I assume I can use softdevice 132 from Nordic website as that should be standard across nrf52 modules.

Thanks

Thanks

[espruino-discuss]

Posted at 2018-03-29 by @gfwilliams

Hi - yes, the Puck firmware on the site doesn't the a bootloader or softdevice... But you can find utilities (intelhex python lib and mergehex?) that'll convert bin to hex and you can just upload it without a bootloader.

Realistically you'd want to set up a build environment yourself using the info here: https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/README_Building.md

and then you can do custom images, with a bootloader if needed.

However I'm actually planning on selling pre-programmed modules really soon now that come with a bootloader on: http://www.espruino.com/MDBT42Q

And I'm producing mdbt42q images for just the bare modules as well... So if you haven't yet bought any modules I'd hold off until I'm selling them - they'll actually be a very similar price to what you can buy them from online normally.

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Posted at 2018-03-29 by @gfwilliams

Just to add, I deleted your duplicate post on the official boards forum. This is definitely the right place to ask questions like this.

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Posted at 2018-03-29 by user88194

Thanks Gordon, I will wait for the mdbt42q image.

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Posted at 2018-04-04 by jonreid

How far away are you from having the mdbt42q modules for sale ? We need some more !

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Posted at 2018-04-04 by @gfwilliams

:) I've got a bunch here - if you email me what you want I'll send some out.

I'll be skipping Tindie and launching a shop on Espruino.com where I already have listings for them set up. I'm supposedly on holiday this week and am talking at MakerCon next week, but the plan is to launch the shop when I get back from that (as I'd like to be around to sort out any teething problems!).

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Posted at 2018-04-04 by Ollie

I'd like to get my hands on a couple also @gfwilliams. Possible?

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Posted at 2018-04-04 by @gfwilliams

Could you wait 2 weeks? It'll be really nice and easy when they're available on the Espruino store... All the invoices/tax/etc gets done automatically.

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Posted at 2018-04-04 by Ollie

No problem.

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Posted at 2019-11-12 by user104763

I know it's been a long time since this conversation started and an MDBT42Q module pre-flashed with firmware is available, but right now I'm in the same situation as @user88194 when he started this conversation.

I made a prototype using puck.js and wanted to make custom boards and use the same firmware. I was doing some prototyping using nRF52832 DK before, so I have one of that with me and I thought I could just buy some MDBT42Q module and use the puck.js firmware from Espruino website to flash it to make similar to the pre-flashed MDBT42Q.

But as @user88194 mentioned, I found out that I need a .hex file to proceed with nRF52832 DK/nRFgo/nrfjprog.

Can anyone please guide me in the right direction, to get a .hex version of puck.js firmware or reliable way to convert the available .bin to .hex. I've already tried converting bin2hex.py using intelhex, but didn't work for me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Anyone who successfully achieved this mission?

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Posted at 2019-11-27 by @gfwilliams

You need the bootloader and softdevice in the hex file as well as the actual firmware. Best bet is to build your own - just follow the instructions on https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/README_Building.md and use PUCKJS or MDBT42Q as the board name

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Posted at 2020-05-03 by @yerpj

Following the instructions outputs, among others, a file named bootloader_espruino_2vXX.XX_mdbt42q.hex as well as dfu_settings.hex.
I tried flashing bootloader_espruino_2xXX.XX_mdbt42q.hex to the target with nrfGo Studio, with no success.
What is the correct procedure to flash the bootloader?

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Posted at 2020-05-03 by @MaBecker

I use this way:

Switch the board to bootloader mode and then use nRF toolbox app to flash the new firmware as zip.

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Posted at 2020-05-03 by @yerpj

thanks @MaBecker. However, in my case I don't have any bootloader flashed yet, and I want to overcome this limitation by flashing it by myself...

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Posted at 2020-05-03 by @MaBecker

Ok, have you checked Android D6Flasher?

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Posted at 2020-05-03 by @yerpj

I just gave it a try, but it seems to stay at 0% flashing.. Even here I think the device needs to already have a bootloader inside to work properly...
Anyway thank you for your help, and also for pointing me to this app, it should be helpful in some cases.

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Posted at 2020-05-06 by @yerpj

OK problem solved.
I realised the reason the bootloader wasn't working is that I accidentally made a permanent solder bridge between D0 (BTN pin, used by the bootloader) and VCC.
I just removed the solder bridge and now the bootloader works well. I was able to update the latest FW (2.05) with DFU.

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Posted at 2020-05-06 by @MaBecker

Cool, thanks for sharing. So what are the plan for this device?

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Posted at 2020-05-07 by @yerpj

I am trying to build a Gameboy-like gamepad. Ultimately I was hoping to be able to control a Gameboy emulator running on my smartphone :-) BTW there is also some discussion in this thread.