Introduction¶

Instead of using the mbed online compiler for development, users can also use the mbed SDK to develop their applications offline. This wiki page will outline the steps required to get an offline development environment for the MultiTech mDot up and running.

Prerequisites¶

To use the mbed SDK to build applications offline, a number of prerequisites must be taken care of:

• install Git
• install the GCC ARM Embedded toolchain from here if running Windows or here if running Linux (this wiki assumes Ubuntu)
• install python 2.7, setup tools, and pip

If running Ubuntu, python setup tools can be installed using apt-get from the command line:

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

Setting Up¶

The mbed SDK can be cloned from the mbed GitHub page now that the prerequisites are out of the way:

git clone https://github.com/mbedmicro/mbed.git
cd mbed
python setup.py install

Depending on the operating system, the setup script may need to be run with root privileges:

sudo python setup.py install

Attempting to build without setting up workspace tools will definitely generate a warning and can potentially cause the build to fail, depending on which operating system and toolchain is being used. Workspace tools should be configured as described here before any builds are attempted.

Building mbed Libraries¶

After workspace tools are configured, it should be possible to build the mbed libraries.

python workspace_tools/build.py -m MTS_MDOT_F411RE -t GCC_ARM -c -j 0 --rtos

The following table explains the different command line options used in this command.

The build script will display all possible command line options when run with the help option:

python workspace_tools/build.py -h

Downloading the mDot library¶

Now that the mbed libraries are built, application development can begin. First, the latest version of the mDot library should be downloaded. The GCC ARM Embedded version of the mDot library will need to be used instead of the ARMCC version of the mDot library found in the online compiler on mbed. It can be downloaded from the MultiTech Developer Site. If the ARMCC version is used, application builds will fail.

The tarball contains the library archive and appropriate header files. After the tarball has been downloaded, it should be moved into the application source directory and extracted:

cp <path to tarball> <path to source directory>
cd <path to source directory>
tar -xzvf <tarball>

Building Applications¶

Now that the mDot library is in place, applications consuming it can be successfully built. After application source has been written, the make.py script is used to build the application:

python workspace_tools/make.py -m MTS_MDOT_F411RE -t GCC_ARM -c -j 0 --rtos --source=<source dir> --build=<build dir>

The following table explains the different command line options used in this command.

The make script will display all possible command line options when run with the help option:

python workspace_tools/make.py -h

Much of this guide was derived from the mbed SDK getting started guide located in docs/BUILDING.md in the mbed SDK or here. It can be used as a general reference for topics that this page doesn't cover as well as a general troubleshooting guide for issues encountered using the mbed SDK.