Setting up Development Environment
Dresden Elektronik radio modules are designed to work with a special software stack developed by Dresden Elektronik and Atmel. In order to use this stack, first the working environment and the toolchain need to be configured properly.
This section tries to provide some information on how to set up the environment in order to work with the modules.
Setting up Toolchain
The Dresden Elektronik software stack uses makefile based approach for compilation of the source code. Makefiles, originating from Unix based systems, use modified Bash like syntax. Thus it is necessary for the operating system to be able to run some Unix commands. While this is not a problem in GNU/Linux, Windows needs some additional tools to be installed in order to be able to execute the commands found in the makefiles.
The software stack expects the GNU C cross-compiler (GCC) to be used for compilation. Since two different platforms are used (AVR and ARM), also two different cross-compiler toolchains, on for each platform, are needed to be installed on the development system.
Last, but not least, some software for uploading the code to the microcontrollers is also needed.
The following subsections try to give some information about installing the tools necessary for working with the Dresden Elektronik radio/MCU modules.
Microsoft Windows
In order to work with the modules in Windows, some additional tools need to be installed. Usually, the path where they are installed, does not matter, but needs to be specified in the system path variable. Table below describes the tools, gives download links and shows the correct path that is needed to be added to the system path variable. [inst_root] means the root installation directory for the software.
| Tool | Link | Latest version at the time of writing |
System path variable | Description | Notes |
| Yagarto tools | Download | 20121018 | [isnt_root]\bin | Make command + tools for minimal Unix-like environment | Run the installer, then manually add the path |
| AVR toolchain | Download | 3.4.5 | [isnt_root]\bin | AVR compiler toolchain (avr-gcc) | Run the installer, then manually add the path |
| Yagarto | Download | 4.7.2 | [isnt_root]\bin | ARM compiler toolchain (arm-gcc) | Run the installer, then manually add the path |
| libusb-win32 | Download | 1.2.6.0 | Not needed | libusb USB library implementation for Windows | Download the .exe file and run it. When asked, do not run the filter installer wizard. |
| avrdude | Download | 6.1 | [isnt_root] | AVR programming software | Download the avrdude-#.#-mingw32.zip file. (# = 0...9) Unpack it. Modify the system path according to the unpacking directory. |
| AVRDragon driver | Download | N/A | Not needed | Windows driver for AVR Dragon AVR programmer | Download the driver. Unpack it. Plug in AVR Dragon. Use Device Manager to install the driver. |
| J-link | Download | 5.00h | [isnt_root] | Windows driver for Atmel SAM-ICE ARM programmer, J-link programming software | Download Software and documentation pack from the webpage. Unpack. Install. Make modifications to the system path. |
| deRFnode/deRFgateway USB serial driver | Download | 1.05 | Not needed | Driver for deRFnode/deRFgateway USB serial port | Download the file deRFusb V#_## (# = 0...9). Unpack it. Connect the board. Use Device Manager to install the driver. Note: As of July 2015, there was no official Windows 8.1 support for this driver. |
| J-link | Download | 5.00h | [isnt_root] | Windows driver for Atmel SAM-ICE ARM programmer, J-link programming software | Download Software and documentation pack from the webpage. Unpack. Install. Make modifications to the system path. |
GNU/Linux
See GNU/Linux related material (under construction).
Setting up IDE
The recommended IDE for usage with the Dresden Elektronik software stack is Eclipse for C/C++ Developers. It can be downloaded for free from here.
After installing Eclipse, a new project containing the Dresden Elektronik communication stack can be created by following the next steps:
- File -> New -> Makefile Project with Existing Code
- For Existing Code Location, select the path to the toplevel folder of the stack, leave other settings to default and click Finish.
