Codal target for the STeaMi Board

Codal target for the STeaMi programming board. Codal comprises the core set of drivers, mechanisms and types that form the runtime for a board in Makecode.

Overview

The codal runtime, developed by Lancaster University, provides an easy-to-use environment for programming the board in the C/C++ language. It contains device drivers for all the hardware capabilities, and also a suite of runtime mechanisms to make programming easier and more flexible. These range from control of the LED matrix display display control to peer-to-peer radio communication and secure Bluetooth Low Energy services.

Besides supporting development in C/C++, the runtime is specifically designed specifically to support higher level languages targeting physical computing and computer science education. It is currently used as a support library for Microsoft MakeCode

Codal-core must be implemented by third party developpers to support new hardware target.

Board Information

STeaMi is a STM32 microcontoller-based programming board tailored for the classroom. STeaMi is designed for projects that use a ton of sensors, all built-in!

You can explore your world, measure, log and learn! Transmit data over Bluetooth to a computer or mobile device for data plotting and logging, or save it for later use.

Feature List (and if implemented in codal)

• STM32WB55 Application Processor
• Bluetooth Wireless Communication
• Tact momentary push buttons
• Circular display
• Motion sensors
• Environemental sensors
• Light sensors
• Distance and gesture sensor
• Power supply management
• USB Serial Communications
• Flash memory
• Expansion connectors:
  • micro:bit edge connector
  • Jacdac connectors
  • Qwiic/STEMMA connectors
  • Additionnal Croc connectors

Easy Installation

Install all dependencies for cross compiling on a programming board could be a tedious (and time consuming) experience. To allows developers to benefit from a consistent experience when writing, compiling, and debugging their code for Codal we create an additionnal repo called codal-letssteam. To use it follow this steps :

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/letssteam/codal-letssteam.git
   cd codal-letssteam

2. Open with VSCode:

   • Open VSCode.
   • Open the file codal-letssteam.code-workspace and click on Open Workspace button.
   • Choose the "Open in a Dev Container" option to automatically configure the environment.

3. Use build tasks:

   • Use the tasks defined in the Makefile to compile and deploy your program.

Manual Installation

Before using this target, you need to configure your platforms with software. Codal is also a build system to simplify as much as possible the experience of novice users, so the steps are simple:

1. Install git and ensure it is available on your platforms path.
2. Install the arm-none-eabi-* command line utilities for ARM based devices and ensure they are available on your platforms path.
3. Install CMake(Cross platform make). CMake is the build system that handle all the compilation and configuration.
4. Install Python (if you are unfamiliar with CMake). Python scripts are used to simplify the build process and hide CMake.
5. Clone the repository https://github.com/lancaster-university/codal

Building

• Create a codal.json file :

  {
    "target": {
      "name": "codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
      "url": "https://github.com/letssteam/codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
      "branch": "master",
      "type": "git",
      "test_ignore": true
    }
  }

• In the root of the codal repository type python build.py -c the -c option cleans before building.
• The bin file STM32.bin will be placed at the location specified by codal.json, by default this is the root.
• To test the sample program, you can just copy the binary file in the mass storage of the board.

Advanced use

If you would like to override or define any additional configuration options (#define's) that are used by the supporting libraries, the codal build system allows the addition of a config field in codal.json:

{
  "target": {
    "name": "codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
    "url": "https://github.com/letssteam/codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
    "branch": "master",
    "type": "git",
    "test_ignore": true
  },
  "config": {
    "NUMBER_ONE": 1
  },
  "application": "source",
  "output_folder": "."
}

The above example will be translate "NUMBER_ONE":1 into: #define NUMBER_ONE 1 and force include it during compilation. You can also specify alternate application or output folders.

Execute a specific sample application

By default, the application present in the source directory is the content of the samples directory of this repository. Since you can just execute one example at the time, you need to configure your target to specify the one you want.

For example, if you want to test the BLE_TEMPERATURE_ALARM_SAMPLE, you need to configure the corresponding #define with the following codal.json:

{
  "target": {
    "name": "codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
    "url": "https://github.com/letssteam/codal-stm32-STEAM32_WB55RG",
    "branch": "master",
    "type": "git",
    "test_ignore": true
  },
  "config": {
    "BLE_TEMPERATURE_ALARM_SAMPLE": 1
  },
  "application": "source",
  "output_folder": "."
}