The $5 programmer-debugger
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In my review of the Xiao Expansion Board, I praised the availability of the SWD signals but regretted the use of standard 0.1" pins instead of the secure SWD standard connector.
Why not use another Xiao board as a DAPLink programmer-debugger? DAPLink is an open-source initiative by mbed: it provides SWD and JTAG connections and reroutes the serial port. The compact size of the Xiao makes it an ideal candidate. What's better than a Xiao to debug another Xiao? The board was sampled by SeeedStudio. |
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Preparation
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On the hardware side, the Xiao is listed at USD4.90 with no pins and at USD5.90 with pre-soldered pins.
Both boards require a USB cable with a Type-C on one side, plus Dupont cables to connect to the target board. But who doesn't have those cables already? |
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On the software side, Seeed provides the Simple DAPLink application source code and binary plus ample documentation to read. External resources include
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Usage
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Once the correct parameters have been found and set, the Xiao DAPLink programmer-debugger works as expected. For example, the stock OpenOCD doesn't work well, but the Arduino version does.
The tests shown here were performed in command line. |
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When using the command-line, the three terminal windows show, from left to right:
Click to enlarge
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Conclusion
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How does this USD5 programmer-debugger compare with other solutions?
The Segger J-Link Edu mini is priced at less than USD20 but it comes with two big differences: the excellent Segger J-Link tool-suite and the responsive support through the Segger forum. The USD5 programmer-debugger is therefore perfect to get a taste of debugging, before migrating to more seasoned solutions. |
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Links
Posted: 18 Dec 2020
Edited: 24 Dec 2020
