Testing our nRF52 iBeacon with the “Locate Beacon” mobile app

Install Apache Mynewt and Embedded Rust for nRF52 and Visual Studio Code on Windows and macOS

Lup Yuen Lee 李立源

Oct 3, 2019·6 min read

Follow these instructions to install Apache Mynewt + Embedded Rust build and application files for nRF52 and Visual Studio Code on Windows and macOS for the article “Coding nRF52 with Rust and Apache Mynewt on Visual Studio Code”

Install Rust for Windows and macOS

1️⃣ For Windows Only: Click here to install Build Tools For Visual Studio 2019:
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/#build-tools-for-visual-studio-2019

Click the Individual Components tab

Select the following components:

Windows 10 SDK (10.0.18362.0)
C++ CMake Tools for Windows
(This should be automatically selected) MSVC v142 — VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 Build Tools

2️⃣ Install rustup according to the instructions here:
https://rustup.rs

3️⃣ For Windows Only: Click the link provided to download rustup‑init.exe

Launch the downloaded file rustup‑init.exe

If you see the message “Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognised app from starting”…

Click More Info

Click Run Anyway

4️⃣ At the Welcome to Rust! prompt, press Enter to select the default option:
1) Proceed with installation (default)

5️⃣ Open the Windows or macOS Command Prompt. Enter into the command prompt:

rustup default nightly
rustup update
rustup target add thumbv7m-none-eabi
rustup target add thumbv7em-none-eabihf
rustc -V

The reported version of rustc should be 1.38.0 or later:

rustc 1.38.0-nightly (435236b88 2019–08–01)

Install Source Files

1️⃣ Download the stm32bluepill-mynewt-sensor.7z file attached below…

For Windows:
https://github.com/lupyuen/stm32bluepill-mynewt-sensor/releases/tag/v10.0.0

For macOS:
https://github.com/lupyuen/stm32bluepill-mynewt-sensor/releases/tag/v10.0.2

2️⃣ Expand the .7z file with 7zip (Windows) or Keka (macOS)…

For Windows:
https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

For macOS:
https://www.keka.io/en/

2️⃣ For Windows Only: Install Arm Cross-Compiler and Linker for Windows from Arm Developer Website…
https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu-rm/8-2019q3/RC1.1/gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update-win32-sha1.exe?revision=fcadabed-d946-49dc-8f78-0732d2f43773?product=GNU%20Arm%20Embedded%20Toolchain,32-bit,,Windows,8-2019-q3-update

Select this option at the last install step:
"Add path to environment variable"

3️⃣ For Windows Only: Download the ST-Link USB driver from ST-Link Driver Website (email registration required)…
https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stsw-link009.html

Click Get Software
Unzip the downloaded file. Double-click the driver installer:
dpinst_amd64.exe

4️⃣ Install Windows Studio Code:
https://code.visualstudio.com/

Launch Visual Studio Code

Click View → Extensions

Enter cortex-debug

Install the extension “Cortex-Debug” shown below…

Cortex-Debug Extension for Visual Studio Code: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=marus25.cortex-debug

5️⃣ For macOS Only: In Visual Studio Code, click Terminal → Run Task → Install Mynewt

This installs the Arm Cross-Compiler and Linker for macOS.

Build The Firmware

1️⃣ In Visual Studio Code, click File → Open Folder
Select the downloaded folder stm32bluepill-mynewt-sensor

When prompted to open the workspace, click Open Workspace

2️⃣ Click Terminal → Run Task → [1] Build Bootloader
This builds the Bootloader Firmware, which starts the Apache Mynewt operating system upon startup. If it shows errors, compare with this build log.

Click Terminal → Run Task → [2] Build Application
This builds the Application Firmware containing our Rust program. Compare with this build log.

When our Rust program has been successfully compiled as Application Firmware, we should see this…

If you see the message Undefined reference to main, rebuild the application by clicking Terminal → Run Task → [2] Build Application

Click Terminal → Run Task → [3] Image Application
This creates the flash image from the firmware. Compare with this image log.

If any source files or configuration files are changed, rebuild the application by clicking Terminal → Run Task → [2] Build Application

Flash The Firmware

The next step is to flash the firmware into ROM. We’ll need to connect the nRF52 to the USB port of our computer via an ST-Link V2 adapter.

nRF52 Board connected to ST-Link V2

1️⃣ Connect the nRF52 board to ST-Link V2 as follows…

Plug ST-Link into your computer’s USB port.

2️⃣ Click Terminal → Run Task → [4] Load Bootloader

This flashes the bootloader, to start the Apache Mynewt operating system upon startup. If it shows errors, compare with this flash log.

3️⃣ Click Terminal → Run Task → [5] Load Application

This flashes the application firmware. If it shows errors, compare with this flash log.

If you’re unable to flash the nRF52, it’s highly likely that the flash ROM on your nRF52 has been protected. To remove the flash ROM protection, follow the steps in the section “Advanced Topic: Remove nRF52 Flash Protection With Raspberry Pi” in the article “Coding nRF52 with Rust and Apache Mynewt on Visual Studio Code”.