Firmware using West

You can use the online GitPod.io if you want a simple way to generate a new firmware without setting up this whole build system. Click the Link below. You can make quick changes and test things without all the setup. If you plan on using a debugger or being able to use the west flash command to write to your board quickly then continue on.

pageFirmware using GitPod.io

This guide mostly follows the instructions on the Zephyr Gettings started Guide. Some install locations have been modified so that code completion and debugging paths match what is set in ht/firmware/src/headtracker.code-workspace and ht/firmware/src/.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json

Getting Started Guide — Zephyr Project Documentation

Install Chocolatey + Required Packages

Follow the instructions here to install chocolatey. You could install all the requirements yourself but this makes the installation easy.

Installing ChocolateyChocolatey Software

Open a Administrative PowerShell Terminal. Use the Win + X keystroke and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) or Terminal (Admin) Depending on Windows version OR

Run the following commands to install the necessary files

choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation

choco install cmake --installargs 'ADD_CMAKE_TO_PATH=System'
choco install ninja gperf python311 git dtc-msys2 wget 7zip
choco install vscode # Optional
choco install github-desktop # Optional

You can skip the optional ones if you don't want to use VSCode or Github Desktop

Install Chocolatey GUI as will if you want an easy way to work with Chocolatey Package manager choco install chocolateygui

Install West using PIP

Open a new PowerShell terminal as a regular user. Use Win + X keystroke and choose Windows Powershell or Terminal

pip3 install -U west

Get the HeadTracker source + required submodules

cd c:\
git clone https://github.com/dlktdr/HeadTracker.git ht
cd ht
git submodule update --init

Get the Zephyr source & update

cd c:\ht\firmware
west init zephyr
cd zephyr
west update
west zephyr-export

Install the extra required packages using PIP

pip3 install -r c:\ht\firmware\zephyr\zephyr\scripts\requirements.txt

Download the Zephyr SDK

Download the Zephyr SDK Bundle - https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/sdk-ng/releases/tag/v0.16.5-1 This is all the build tools for ARM,RISC,xtensa, etc.

https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/sdk-ng/releases/download/v0.16.5-1/zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1_windows-x86_64.7z

After download completes, move the file to c:\HT\firmware

Extract SDK, Rename, Register cmake package

Open PowerShell as a regular user

cd c:\ht\firmware
7z x zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1_windows-x86_64.7z
move zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1 zephyr-sdk  #Rename folder so default VScode setup can find compilers
rm zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1_windows-x86_64.7z
cd zephyr-sdk
.\setup.cmd /c  #Register Cmake Package

Test Compiling the code

Open a PowerShell as a regular user. The environment variable ZEPHYR_BASE must be set so west knows where to look for the zephyr source code. If you do this in VScode the variable is set on the terminal from the headtrackercode.workspace file so you can skip it if using the vscode terminal

cd c:\ht\firmware\src
$env:ZEPHYR_BASE = 'c:\ht\firmware\zephyr\zephyr'
west build -p -b arduino_nano_33_ble

Open Visual Studio Code

From File Choose open Workspace From File and open C:\ht\firmware\src\headtracker.code-workspace file. This will load all the settings which will make building quicker.

From VScode close any terminals that are open and start new ones. This is to be sure the ZEPHYR_BASE environment variable gets set properly. It's set in the workspace file for you.

You can now build for various boards using the commands they are listed in the GitPod documentation here,

Firmware build using GitPod.io | Head Tracker v2.2

Flashing the board

You can flash directly form the command line. Do this after you successfully compile the code for whatever board your working on. The flash utility will change depending on the selected board.

west flash 

For the Arduino boards it's also helpful to specify the com port. e.g. COM4. If you have multiple ports on your system west flash may not properly find it.

west flash --bossac-port COM4

To find the port. Double tap the reset button to place the board in bootloader mode. Check the device manager to see what port is listed. The port number will change when in bootloader mode and in normal run mode.

To see all the flashing runner options for the supported boards run,

west flash --context

Debugging with a J-Link

Install Segger J-Link. https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/ Install the cortex-debug extension in visual studio code There are various launch tasks setup in headtracker.code-workspace to make debugging easy with a jlink. Highlight the board you want then press F5 to compile and upload

**Be sure to delete the build folder before switching from a release to a debug modes.

There is an example using OpenOCD for a ESP. Next time I go to use this I'll update the docs. Your on your own for this one.

Common Issues

• Issues with building can often be resolved by deleting the build folder under c:\ht\firmware\src\build and trying again. Build with the -p flag to start with a clean build. Required which switching between various boards.

• If you see the error "unknown command "build"; Your ZEPHYR_BASE environment variable isn't set properly.
• ERROR: source directory "." does not contain a CMakeLists.txt; You tried to build from the incorrect folder. You must build from c:\ht\firmware\src

  
• Could not find a package configuration file provided by "Zephyr-sdk". You need to enter the zephyr-sdk folder and register the cmake package. cd firmware/zephry-sdk ./setup.cmd /c

Others questions and issues please ask on Discord in the #dev channel. Link Below

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