Windows OS host

The following sections provide steps to run a demo compiled with Arm GCC on Windows OS host.

Set up toolchain

This section contains the steps to install the necessary components required to build and run a MCUXpresso SDK demo application with the Arm GCC toolchain on Windows OS, as supported by the MCUXpresso SDK.

Install GCC Arm Embedded tool chain

Download and run the installer from GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain. This is the actual toolset (in other words, compiler, linker, and so on). The GCC toolchain should correspond to the latest supported version, as described in MCUXpresso SDK Release Notes.

Note: See Appendix B for Windows OS before compiling the application.

Parent topic:Set up toolchain

Add a new system environment variable for ARMGCC_DIR

Create a new system environment variable and name it ARMGCC_DIR. The value of this variable should point to the Arm GCC Embedded tool chain installation path.

Reference the installation folder of the GNU Arm GCC Embedded tools for the exact path name.

Parent topic:Set up toolchain

Parent topic:Windows OS host

Build an example application

To build an example application, follow these steps.

  1. Open a GCC Arm Embedded tool chain command window. To launch the window, from the Windows operating system Start menu, go to Programs -> GNU Tools Arm Embedded <version> and select GCC Command Prompt.

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  1. Change the directory to the example application project directory, which has a path similar to the following:

    <install_dir>/boards/<board_name>/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc

    For this example, the exact path is:

    <install_dir>/boards/evkmimx8mm/demo_apps/hello_world/armgcc

  2. Type build_debug.bat on the command line or double click on the build_debug.bat file in Windows Explorer to perform the build. The output is as shown in Figure 2.

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Parent topic:Windows OS host

Run an example application

This section describes steps to run a demo application using J-Link GDB Server application. To perform this exercise, the following step must be done:

  • You have a standalone J-Link pod that is connected to the debug interface of your board.

After the J-Link interface is configured and connected, follow these steps to download and run the demo applications:

  1. Connect the development platform to your PC via USB cable between the USB-UART connector and the PC USB connector. If using a standalone J-Link debug pod, also connect it to the SWD/JTAG connector of the board.

  2. Open the terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, and connect to the debug serial port number (to determine the COM port number, see How to determine COM port). Configure the terminal with these settings:

    1. 115200 baud rate

    2. No parity

    3. 8 data bits

    4. 1 stop bit

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  1. After GDB server is running, the screen should resemble Figure 2:

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  1. If not already running, open a GCC Arm Embedded tool chain command window. To launch the window, from the Windows operating system Start menu, go to Programs -> GNU Tools Arm Embedded <version> and select GCC Command Prompt.

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  1. Change to the directory that contains the example application output. The output can be found in using one of these paths, depending on the build target selected:

    <install_dir>/boards/<board_name>/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc/debug

    <install_dir>/boards/<board_name>/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc/release

    For this example, the path is:

    <install_dir>/boards/evkmimx8mm/demo_apps/hello_world/armgcc/debug

  2. Run the command of arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe <application_name>.elf. For this example, it is arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe hello_world.elf.

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  1. Run these commands:

    1. target remote localhost:2331

    2. monitor reset

    3. monitor halt

    4. load

  2. The application is now downloaded and halted at the reset vector. Execute the monitor go command to start the demo application.

The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not true, check your terminal settings and connections.

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Parent topic:Windows OS host

Parent topic:Run a demo using Arm GCC