New User Questions - Suggestions

chipmc

As a new user, I am working through the documentation and, as I do, I have run into some roadblocks. My hope here is to share these questions as I think they may be relevant to others and also share lessons learned in the hope they can be helpful too.

First, I want to say that I am very impressed with the work Jared has done to make this experience as painless as possible. I full expect there will be some bumps in the road as I am coming from a very turnkey platform - Particle.

What I have done so far:

Installed the Zephyr plugin to VS Code
Installed the Serial drivers needed for my Mac
Installed newtmgr
Built and flashed the “Blinky” sample application to my nRF9160 Feather
- First question, what is the difference between the circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160ns and the one with no “ns”?
Installed the nRF Connect for Desktop v3.9.1 and the LTE Link Monitor v2.0.0 and connected to the device
- This is much more confusing than it should be as the documentation does not show the current LTE Link release
- Confusion documented here: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/81357/lte-link-monitor-2v0-with-serial-usb-adapter/337583#337583
- I am sure it is difficult to keep the documentation current with Nordic’s tool releases but the UI in LTE Link is very different.

OK, here are my couple noob comments that I hope will help others:

There are a few references to editing prj.conf in the documentation but a search for this file shows that there are many of these. Perhaps some clarification as to which prj.conf file is used would be helpful
The documentation on Verizon says you need to use the command %SHORTSWVER but I could not make this work. I did get a response of “mow_nfr9160_1.2.3” when I used AT+CGMR. Since this is not the v1.1.2 for Verizon. It seem that I am stuck until I order a programmer (~$50) and a Tag Connect Cable (~$45) - correct?
It might be helpful to indicate in the documentation which of the sample applications assume you have installed and activated a SIM card.

So, it seems like the next steps for me are to:

Buy the programmer / cables and then
Flash the firmware to 1.1.2
Activate a Verizon Sim using the Verizon Thingspace and associate it to my Feather’s IMEI
Set up an NRF cloud account
Test cellular connectivity using a sample app - like “tracker”
Then I would be ready to move on to Golioth

Please let me know if I am missing a step. Thanks in advance for putting up with my questions and - again - thank you for all you have done to make this a less painful transition.

Chip

jaredwolff

chipmc First question, what is the difference between the circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160ns and the one with no “ns”?

The nRF91 has an ARM chip that supports TrustZone which allows for security/sandboxing. The “ns” stands for non-secure. Application code should be on-secure while something like the partition manager should be. The bootloader, I think, is secure.

chipmc This is much more confusing than it should be as the documentation does not show the current LTE Link release

Yea, they changed up the UI recently. Frustrating! I’ll try to get some new shots.

chipmc There are a few references to editing prj.conf in the documentation but a search for this file shows that there are many of these. Perhaps some clarification as to which prj.conf file is used would be helpful

You want to edit the prj.conf in the folder of the example/project you’re building. For example if you’re building the accelerometer sample in NFED you want to edit nfed/samples/accelerometer/prj.conf

chipmc The documentation on Verizon says you need to use the command %SHORTSWVER but I could not make this work. I did get a response of “mow_nfr9160_1.2.3” when I used AT+CGMR. Since this is not the v1.1.2 for Verizon. It seem that I am stuck until I order a programmer (~$50) and a Tag Connect Cable (~$45) - correct?

You should be able to use Verizon for production purposes though you would have to use the supported modem firmware. Once the board goes to the B1 silicon I’ll work on updating Verizon to match the latest MFW (modem firmware)

chipmc It might be helpful to indicate in the documentation which of the sample applications assume you have installed and activated a SIM card.

I’ll work on that!

jaredwolff

chipmc I updated the screenshots for LTE Link Monitor. I also added some notes in the sample list of which one requires a SIM.

Hope that helps! Thanks again for all your feedback.

chipmc

@jaredwolff ,

Thank you! I hope this will help future users who might have similar basic questions.

Continuing on my journey, I have received the nRF5340 and the TagConnect cable. I have installed the programmer app in the nRF Desktop Connect but, I am getting the following error (last line of this log file):

2021-12-22T20:55:41.570Z INFO Application data folder: /Users/chipmc/Library/Application Support/nrfconnect/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2021-12-22T20:55:42.058Z DEBUG iface: undefined
2021-12-22T20:55:42.058Z DEBUG IP4: undefined
2021-12-22T20:55:42.059Z DEBUG IP6: undefined
2021-12-22T20:55:42.059Z DEBUG MAC: undefined
2021-12-22T20:55:42.059Z DEBUG Client Id: unknown
2021-12-22T20:55:42.062Z DEBUG Google Analytics for category pc-nrfconnect-programmer has initialized
2021-12-22T20:55:42.103Z DEBUG App pc-nrfconnect-programmer v2.0.1 official
2021-12-22T20:55:42.104Z DEBUG App path: /Users/chipmc/.nrfconnect-apps/node_modules/pc-nrfconnect-programmer
2021-12-22T20:55:42.104Z DEBUG nRFConnect 3.9.1, required by the app is (^3.8.0)
2021-12-22T20:55:42.104Z DEBUG nRFConnect path: /Applications/nRF Connect for Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar
2021-12-22T20:55:42.104Z DEBUG HomeDir: /Users/chipmc
2021-12-22T20:55:42.104Z DEBUG TmpDir: /var/folders/22/2lzmn8d97yq40jvxfd13hypm0000gn/T/
2021-12-22T20:55:43.852Z ERROR Error while probing devices, more details in the debug log: JLINKARM_DLL_COULD_NOT_BE_OPENED (Origin: "Error when running nrfdl_enumerate")

I have double checked the Tag-connect and am using the clip to hold it in place.

On the nRF5340 board, I see less 1-4 blinking in sequence
I do not see any LEDs on the nRF Feather board.

Suggestions on what to try next?

jaredwolff

chipmc what sample are you trying to program? I typically do not use the nRF Connect Programmer as it’s hard to tell for a newcomer which file to flash.

With that said make sure:

Bootloader is enabed
You’re programming merged.hex to your device. (This file contains both the bootloader, SPM, and your application)

chipmc

jaredwolff

Thank you for the quick response. I am using the programmer to downgrade the firmware on the nRF Feather so I can use it with Verizon. My understanding from here is that I need to take this step before activating a Verizon SIM.

I am attempting to follow your instructions here: updating modem firmware from the docs

I opened a ticket on the Nordic support forums: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/83066/using-nrf5340dk-to-program-an-nrf9160---error-when-running-nrfdl_enumerate

My hope is to get to v1.1.2 and then activate a Verizon SIM. Did I misunderstand the next step in setting up my device?

Thanks,

Chip

jaredwolff

Hey @chipmc

I know you have a programmer coming, but if you ever need to update the modem firmware without one, I’ve documented the solution here: https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-managing-mfw.html#modem-firmware-update-over-uart

Thanks again

BrianAtDocumentedDesigns

Sweet! That’s a relief to know.