NOTE: The following describes mainly Bluey, but this repo contains code and tools for HackaBLE also.
Uploading without programmer requires bootloader programmed on the board. The repo electronut/bluey_serial_dfu_bootloader
contains the source and precompiled hex file of the bootloader as hex/s132_nrf52_2.0.0_softdevice.hex
.
The bootloader has the softdevice s132 in it, so no other action is needed to use the BLEPeripheral library.
Bootloader mode is triggered by pressing and holding both prss buttons on bluey and releasing the reset button. The blue LED will start blinkng at an accelerating rate rpeatedly to indicate that the bootloader mode is active.
- Download and install the Arduino IDE (At least v1.6.12)
- Start the Arduino IDE
- Go into Preferences
- Add
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/electronut/arduino-boards/master/package_electronutlabs_boards_index.json
as an "Additional Board Manager URL" - Open the Boards Manager from the Tools -> Board menu and install "Electronut labs nRF5 Boards"
- Select 'Electronut labs bluey' from the Tools -> Board menu
NOTE: During installation it takes the Arduino IDE a few minutes to extract the tools after they have been downloaded, please be patient.
NOTE2: We have seen that on linux, for some reason the nrfutil binary is
marked as not-executable sometimes. If you get an error while compiling, you may
have to manually mark it as executable. Open a terminal and ype in
chmod +x $HOME/.arduino15/packages/electronutlabs/tools/nrfutil/0.5.2-SFE/dist/nrfutil
.
This Arduino Core does not contain any Arduino style API's for BLE functionality. All the relevant Nordic SoftDevice (S110, S130, S132) header files are included build path when a SoftDevice is selected via the Tools
menu.
- BLEPeripheral
- v0.3.0 and greater, available via the Arduino IDE's library manager.
- Supports peripheral mode only.
If the selected board has an external 32 kHz crystal connected, it will be used as the source for the low frequency clock. Otherwise the internal 32 kHz RC oscillator will be used. The low frequency clock is used by the delay(ms)
and millis()
Arduino API's.
Bluey has an additional menu item under Tools -> Low Frequency Clock
that allows you to select the low frequency clock source.
This is mostly Sandeep Mistry's work, forked from here.
This core is based on the Arduino SAMD Core and licensed under the same GPL License
The following tools are used:
- GCC ARM Embedded as the compiler
- A forked version of OpenOCD to flash sketches
- nrfutil