Getting Started with NuttX – LM3S6965-EK (Ubuntu Linux)

This guide is based on NuttX revision 5544 date 20130121, and using an Ubuntu 12.04 (64-bits) development machine. It is not an exhaustive guide, but should be useful for those starting with NuttX on the LM3S6965-EK.

Note that NuttX has a thorough documentation through this website, this wiki, and the README files in the source code. This Guide was strongly based on documentation available at:

Building NuttX

1. The first step is to obtain the code from the Downloads page. When this guide was written, the code was obtained as follows:

  svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/nuttx/code/trunk nuttx-code
  cd nuttx-code/nuttx
  TOPDIR=`pwd`

2. Configure NuttX for the LM3S6963-EK

We're going to configure NuttX to use the nsh shell.

  tools/configure.sh lm3s6965-ek:nsh

3. Install the kconfig-frontends package

  # Install kconfig-frontends dependencies (the upcoming configure may catch more dependencies)
  sudo apt-get install gperf libncurses5-dev
  git clone https://patacongo@bitbucket.org/nuttx/tools.git tools
  cd tools/kconfig-frontends/
  ./configure --enable-mconf --disable-gconf --disable-qconf
  make
  sudo make install

4. Install the buildroot toolchain

  # Install buildroot dependencies (the upcoming configure may catch more dependencies)
  sudo apt-get install libgmp-dev libgmp3-dev libmpfr-dev libmpc-dev

The GMP version from the previous packages might not be enough for gcc-4.6.3, it's better to obtain the latest from http://gmplib.org/. In my case, this was enough:

  mkdir --parents $HOME/temp
  cd $HOME/temp
  wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-4.3.2.tar.gz
  tar xzvf gmp-4.3.2.tar.gz 
  cd gmp-4.3.2/
  ./configure
  make
  sudo make install
  # optional cleanup: rm -rf $HOME/temp/gmp-4.3.2*

Then you're ready to install buildroot.

  git clone https://patacongo@bitbucket.org/nuttx/buildroot.git buildroot
  cd buildroot
  cp configs/cortexm3-eabi-defconfig-4.6.3 .config
  make menuconfig # and just exit
  make

5. Configure NuttX to use buildroot

  cd $TOPDIR

  # Be sure you have: 
  #   Build Setup
  #     `--> Build Host Platform (Linux)
  #   System Type
  #     `--> Toolchain Selection (Buildroot (Cygwin or Linux))
  #     `--> [ ] OABI (vs EABI)  # De-select
  make menuconfig

  # Set the environment
  export TOOLCHAIN_BIN=<path to buildroot binaries>
  export PATH=$TOOLCHAIN_BIN:$PATH

6. Build

  make

After you build, you'll have generated a nuttx.bin file.

Installing NuttX

The installation is based on the openocd tool.

1. Connect your LM3S6965-EK to your development PC.

Connect your board to your computer, using both the USB cable and the Ethernet cable.

2. Start the openocd daemon

Install openocd.

  sudo apt-get install openocd

There's a helper script and a configuration file available at nuttx/bords/arm/tiva/lm3s6965-ek/tools. The configuration file ek-lm3s6965.cfg is based on the already existing files provided by openocd:

  • /usr/share/openocd/scripts/interface/luminary.cfg
  • /usr/share/openocd/scripts/board/ek-lm3s6965.cfg
  • /usr/share/openocd/scripts/target/stellaris.cfg

To start the openocd daemon:

  cd $TOPDIR
  boards/arm/tiva/lm3s6965-ek/tools/oocd.sh $PWD

3. Connecting GDB

For this step you need GDB, it's no particularly important which one you use, whether arm-nuttx-elf-gdb or one provided by a CodeSourcery toolchain like arm-none-eabi-gdb.

  cd $TOPDIR
  arm-none-eabi-gdb
  (gdb) target remote localhost:3333
  (gdb) symbol-file nuttx
  (gdb) monitor reset
  (gdb) monitor halt
  (gdb) load nuttx

4. Using nsh

Now you can connect to your board using a tool like termnet and termnetd. This is my configuration for the USB port in /etc/termnetd.conf

  3001:on:/dev/ttyUSB0:B115200   CLOCAL IGNBRK CS8 CREAD;

When you're done configuring termnetd, you can restart the termnetd service to load the new configurations:

  sudo service termnetd restart

Then:

  termnetd localhost 3001

You can then reboot your board and watch it boot until you get your nsh line:

  nsh> ls

See Also

References

TI/Luminary Stellaris LM3S6965 Evaluation Kits

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