pc-ble-driver is a static and shared library that provides serial port communication (using SoftDevice API serialization) to an nRF5x IC running the connectivity firmware included. It is a C/C++ library that can be interfaced directly but it is more often used by higher level bindings:
The library is included as a submodule by the repositories above, and it should be built as part of them.
See the license file for details.
The library is compatible with the following SoftDevice API versions and nRF5x ICs:
- s130_nrf51_2.x.x (nRF51 series ICs)
- s132_nrf52_2.x.x (nRF52 series ICs)
The .hex files included in the hex/ folder include both the SoftDevice and the connectivity firmware required to communicate with it.
- Windows (XP, 7, 8, 8.1, 10) 32 and 64-bit
- GNU/Linux (Ubuntu tested) 32 and 64-bit
- macOS (OS X) 32 and 64-bit
This communication library works over any kind of serial port (UART), but it is most often used over a Segger J-Link USB CDC UART. To set up the required J-Link drivers simply download and install the version matching you operating system:
Additionally to flash the connectivity firmware you will need nrfjprog which is bundled with the nRF5x Command-Line Tools, which can be downloaded from:
- nRF5x Command-Line Tools for Windows
- nRF5x Command-Line Tools for Linux 32-bit
- nRF5x Command-Line Tools for Linux 64-bit
- nRF5x Command-Line Tools for OS X
To use this library you will need to flash the connectivity firmware on a nRF5x IC
Once you have installed the nRF5x Command-Line Tools, you can erase and program the IC:
$ nrfjprog -f NRF5<x> -e
$ nrfjprog -f NRF5<x> --program hex/connectivity_115k2_with_s13x_2.<x>.<x>.hex
After you have installed the required drivers and connected a J-Link enabled board (such as the Nordic Development Kits) the port should appear automatically
The serial port will appear as COMxx. Simply check the "Ports (COM & LPT)" section in the Device Manager.
The serial port will appear as /dev/ttyACMx. By default the port is not accessible to all users, type this command to add your user to the dialout group to give it acces to the serial port:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout <username>
The serial port will appear as /dev/tty.usbmodemXXXX.
IMPORTANT NOTE
On macOS (OS X) there is a known issue with the Segger J-Link firmware (that runs on the Debug probe on the board) related to USB packet sizes. There are two ways to solve this issue:
-
Use the Segger firmware, but disable the Mass Storage Device (MSD) feature. Instructions are available here.
-
Replace the firmware on the Debug probe with the mbed DAPLink firmware:
- Enter bootloader mode by powering off the nRF5 Development Kit and then pressing IF BOOT/RESET while you power on the kit.
- Drag and drop the nrf5x_osx_fix.bin file into the BOOTLOADER mass storage device.
If you want to revert back to the Segger firmware you will have to download the it from this location
The .hex files that contain both the SoftDevice and the connectivity application only need to be recompiled if you want to run them on a custom board. For standard Nordic Development Kits the supplied .hex files can be used directly.
- Download and unzip
nRF5_SDK_11.0.0_89a8197.zip - Apply patch
hex/SD20_SDK11.patchfrom the unzipped SDK folder (e.g.git apply -p1 --ignore-whitespace /repos/pc-ble-driver/hex/SD20_SDK11.patch) - Open
<sdk>/examples/ble_central_and_peripheral/ble_connectivity/pca100XX/ser_s13X_hciproject in the compiler of choice - Add defines
APP_SCHEDULER_WITH_PROFILERandHCI_LINK_CONTROL - Compile
- Merge the built connectivity hex file with corresponding SoftDevice hex file (e.g.
mergehex -m connecitivy.hex softdevice.hex -o connectivity_with_softdevice.hex)
The Boost static libraries required by this drivers must be built before you can build any of the repositories above that depend on pc-ble-driver.
Note: This step is not required for macOS (OS X).
Use the following link to download the Boost source code:
- Boost (>=1.54.0)
- Download and extract Boost to a folder of your choice.
- Set the environment variable
BOOST_ROOTto the path where you have extracted Boost.
For example on Windows assuming you've unpacked Boost in c:\boost\boost_1_xx_y:
BOOST_ROOT = "c:\boost\boost_1_xx_y"
And on Linux or macOS (OS X) assuming you've unpacked Boost in ~/boost/boost_1_xx_y:
BOOST_ROOT = "~/boost/boost_1_xx_y"
Install Microsoft Visual Studio. The following versions supported are:
- Visual Studio 2013 (MSVC 12.0)
- Visual Studio 2015 (MSVC 14.0)
Open a Microsoft Visual Studio Command Prompt and issue the following commands:
> cd %BOOST_ROOT%
> bootstrap.bat
> b2 toolset=msvc-<VV.V> address-model=<32,64> link=static --with-thread --with-system --with-regex --with-date_time --with-chrono
Note: If you intend to build a 64-bit version of Boost, and depending on the version of Visual Studio you use, you might need to open a 64-bit command prompt such as
"Visual Studio 2015 x86 x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt" or similar, or run vcvarsall.bat x86_amd64 or setenv.cmd" /Release /x64.
Note: Refer to the compiler list of the Boost documentation
to find the version of the MSVC that you need to provide using the toolset= option.
Note: Select 32 or 64-bit with the address-model= option.
Note: Use dumpbin /headers <file> to check whether a particular object file is 32 or 64-bit.
Build 32-bit Boost with Visual Studio 2013:
> b2 toolset=msvc-12.0 address-model=32 link=static --with-thread --with-system --with-regex --with-date_time --with-chrono
Build 64-bit Boost with Visual Studio 2015:
> b2 toolset=msvc-14.0 address-model=64 link=static --with-thread --with-system --with-regex --with-date_time --with-chrono
If you want to be able to have both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Boost available, add --stagedir=./stage/x86_32 when building the 32-bit version and --stagedir=./stage/x86_64 when building the 64-bit one, and they will be placed in stage\x86_32\lib and stage\x86_64\lib respectively. Later on you when building repositories that depend on this one, you will be able to point CMake the correct version of the libraries by using -DBOOST_LIBRARYDIR="c:\boost\boost_1_xx_y\stage\x86_XX\lib.
Install the required packages to build Boost:
sudo apt-get install git make gcc g++
Additionally if you want to build non-native binaries (for example 32-bit binaries on a 64-bit Ubuntu installation):
sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib
Open a terminal window and issue the following commands:
$ cd $BOOST_ROOT
$ ./bootstrap.sh
$ ./b2 toolset=gcc cxxflags=-fPIC cflags=-fPIC address-model=<32,64> link=static --with-thread --with-system --with-regex --with-date_time --with-chrono
Note: Select 32 or 64-bit with the address-model= option.
Note: Use objdump -f <file> to check whether a particular object file is 32 or 64-bit.
If you want to be able to have both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Boost available, add --stagedir=./stage/x86_32 when building the 32-bit version and --stagedir=./stage/x86_64 when building the 64-bit one, and they will be placed in stage/x86_32 and stage/x86_64 respectively. Later on you when building repositories that depend on this one, you will be able to point CMake the correct version of the libraries by using -DBOOST_LIBRARYDIR="~/boost/boost_1_xx_y/stage/x86_XX/lib.
Install Xcode from the App Store.
The simplest way to install Boost is to use Homebrew. If you don't have Homebrew installed simply run on a terminal:
$ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
If you already have Homebrew installed, make sure it's up to date with:
$ brew update
$ brew upgrade
Once Homebrew is installed you can use the brew command on a terminal to install
$ brew install boost --universal
This will download the boost source and compile it, so it might take a while.