Mbed Build Prerequisites

Prior to building a no-OS project for Mbed platforms, it is required to install the Mbed CLI tools and ARM compiler.

Linux

Prerequisites

• Install Mbed CLI 1 as per the guide at https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v6.15/build-tools/install-and-set-up.html. Usually the following steps should be sufficient:

  $ sudo apt install python3 python3-pip git mercurial gcc-arm-none-eabi
  $ sudo python3 -m pip install mbed-cli pyelftools==0.29
  

• Configure the compiler location with Mbed CLI. This can be carried out by running:

  $ mbed config -G GCC_ARM_PATH "path-to-your-gcc-compiler"
  

Building a project

To build a project, type:

$ make PLATFORM=mbed TARGET_BOARD=...

The TARGET_BOARD specifies the board for which the project is built. If not specified, it defaults to SDP-K1.

The build process creates a build directory in the project folder:

build
├── app
├── bsp
├── obj
├── project_name.elf
└── tmp

Running/Debugging

Once the .elf file has been generated, make sure the board is powered on, cable connected and use the following commands to upload the program to the board:

$ make run

Windows

Prerequisites

Important

Use Git Bash to run these commands.

• Initialize the Mbed submodule in no-OS by running:

  $ git submodule update --init mbed-os
  $ git submodule update mbed-os
  

• Install Python 3.11.2.

• Install the virtual environment package by running:

  $ pip install virtualenv
  

• Create a virtual environment by running:

  $ python -m venv <name_of_virtual_environment>
  

  This will create a virtual environment with the set name in the current directory of the Git Terminal.

• Activate the environment by running:

  $ source <location_and_name_of_virtual_environment>/Scripts/activate
  

• Install GNU Arm Embedded Compiler (version: 9-2019-q4-major).

• Remove line 20 of requirements.txt inside the mbed-os folder (hidapi>=0.7.99,<0.8.0;platform_system!="Linux").

• Install the requirements by running:

  $ <location_and_name_of_virtual_environment>/Scripts/pip install -r requirements.txt
  

  Doing this will run the pip command using the Python inside the virtual environment.

• Install the previously removed line from requirements.txt by running:

  $ <location_and_name_of_virtual_environment>/Scripts/pip install "cython<3.0.0"
  $ <location_and_name_of_virtual_environment>/Scripts/pip install "hidapi>=0.7.99,<0.8.0;platform_system!='Linux'"
  

• Install Mbed CLI using:

  $ <location_and_name_of_virtual_environment>/Scripts/pip install mbed-cli
  

• Configure the compiler location with Mbed CLI. This can be carried out by running in Git Terminal:

  $ mbed config -G GCC_ARM_PATH <path_to_your_gcc_compiler>
  

Building a project

Important

Make sure that the virtual environment is activated (environment name enclosed in parenthesis appears in the git terminal) and that the packages from prerequisites were installed.

To build a project, type:

$ make PLATFORM=mbed TARGET_BOARD=...

The TARGET_BOARD specifies the board for which the project is built. If not specified, it defaults to SDP-K1.

Running/Debugging

The running and debugging steps are the same as on Linux. See the Linux section above for make run.