ARM Cortex based board with ethernet and JTAG debugging - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: alan.bain
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2023, 01:10:33 pm
content: I have been looking at a suitable board for an interface project which needs to have wired ethernet (RF measurements are not aided by adding extra RF noise from wifi!) and digital outputs (for GPIB) and I initially lighted on the Teensy as that seemed to have an ethernet option (add your own magjack), but the debug facilities seem similar to Arduino (printf) which isn't great for more complex code.Is there a board like this out there with a JTAG connector to which one can attach a debug probe like the Jlink? I've never mounted BGAs which makes the design your own less appealing (although I guess it should be possible using the metcal hot air station).All I've found is the MIMXRT1060-EVKB eval board which clearly would do what I need but seems overkill and expensive (although I guess one could develop with this and then use a Teensy for the final version).[The goal is definitely for self-contained software so not looking at the various single board computers running linux or similar]Any ideas welcome!

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2023, 01:30:15 pm
content: Depending on other requirements (speed, memory, other peripherals etc.), would one of the Ethernet enabledNucleo 144be suitable?They have an embedded, break-away, ST-link for debugging. It should also be possible to re-program itas a J-Link.If you want/can spend a bit more, some ST Discovery board provide displays, sensors, audio etc.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2023, 02:58:52 pm
content: Othershave modded Teensy 4.1 for JTAG (UART)(with further details from Paul Stoffregen (Teensy developer)here). SWD will not work with Teensy 4.x; it is permanently disabled.

author: peter-h
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2023, 07:50:16 pm
content: What are you trying to interface to?It sounds rather like the product I've been developing for the last 2 years

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2023, 12:39:01 am
content: Did you have a size limit?There are a bunch of larger boards with Ethernet, from vendors like ST ("Nucleo") and TI ("Launchpad".) Even Microchip has the SAME54 Xplained devkit.

author: fchk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2023, 10:18:59 am
content: Quote from: alan.bain on July 14, 2023, 01:10:33 pmSuggestion:https://www.ti.com/tool/EK-TM4C1294XLThere is a debugger onboard.The processor is also available in TQFP and has Ethernet MAC and Ethernet PHY integrated.https://www.ti.com/product/de-de/TM4C1294NCPDTfchk

author: alan.bain
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2023, 10:10:12 pm
content: I'm trying to talk to my phase noise measuring equipment; SA, Several Synths, phase noise interface. I don't want to rebuild an HP3048 it has too many restrictions on which bits of HP gear one can use in each position and funny HP BASIC software (I don't have the requisite DSA for example and while I am sure I would fix one if it landed on the bench).Also I enjoyed using HP9000/xxx hardware over 20 years ago, I would rather use a modern PC (wish I had kept all the HPIB cables those old systems used though as they would have been useful). I have been using the amazing AR488s as USB interfaces but with a complex setup this starts to feel a bit unstable (the com port assignment seems to depend on the order in which you connect things)There are commercial interfaces out there - the Prologix is the best I've found but they aren't very cheap.

author: ArdWar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 17, 2023, 02:07:16 am
content: Quote from: newbrain on July 14, 2023, 01:30:15 pmMake sure you pick Nucleo with STLink V2 (one with TQFP package) if you want to convert it to JLink. AFAIK STLink V3 (with QFN(?) package) isn't supported yet.Nucleo-32 form factor also don't have easily externally usable SWD pins. Pick Nucleo-64 or 144 form factor if you want to use it for external MCU debugging.

author: alan.bain
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 04:46:48 pm
content: So as a "how it worked out" post I used a Nucleo F439ZI which was excellent. I used the LWIP + FreeRTOS option as I didn't want to keep polling for TCPIP traffic. I used the STM32CubeIDE and while the IDE was great the software stack around FreeRTOS and LWIP had quite a few "rough edges" but everything worked. The hardware debugging was essential.The next stage is I guess a standalone STM32 board although I suspect that will increase rather than reduce the cost given the usual Sum_i(Mouser Price(part_i)) > Cost Populated Board phenomenon and the fact that I don't really want a six layer board, but maybe I can simplify.

author: metebalci
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 06:02:23 pm
content: Recently launched STM32 H5 boards, nucleo and discovery are pretty good. They have stlink v3 onboard, as well as ARM trace connector (20 pin) and discovery also has ARM debug connector (10 pin).