Hi,

from my first impressions the downloading seems to be not that fast over jtag. Our firmware will be seperated into a boot and an application programm. The boot programm enables us to update the application programm in field over all interfaces your product offers. I think the update for example over USB will be much faster than via jtag.

The downloading of the small boot programm over jtag is ok, but for the much bigger application programm it would be nice to speed up the compile-download-debug cycle by using our own downloading mechanism and start the debugger on the ready flashed device.

Best regards,

Christian

Hi,

First, please note that the next version of RKit-ARM, which is under validation and should be released early next week, includes a much faster programming algorythm. The bottleneck is the flash now, so apart from the initialization phase which takes a few seconds, it's about as fast as it can be, regardless of the tool or communication channel. Watch out for updates on our website next week!

Now, for debugging Ride needs to know the complete content of the flash. That means that if it was programmed previously by some other tool, then Ride would have to read it back, even if just for comparing with some expected content. Considering that reading the whole flash takes longer than erasing and programming it, the whole compile-download-debug cycle would always be longer in the process that you suggest.

Finally, please note that for debugging applications that are designed in a special environment like a bootloader, Ride also has to know the content of the code in the bootloader area. For this you must include the bootloader's hex or elf file in the application's project when you want to debug it. We will write an application note about that, but for now you can take a look at the CircleOS applications, because for these issues, the CircleOS can be considered as a bootloader. See this example in Ride:
"\examples\ARM\primer\STM32\toggle_with_circleOS\..."
You will see that it includes "CircleOS.elf" like if it was an input file. You must do the same: include your "bootloader.elf". (or "bootloader.hex" if you don't have the sources of the bootloader) in your application's project. Then the bootloader and the application will both be programmed in the flash at the start of debug.

I hope it helps,

Best Regards,

Vincent