The folks over at RT-Thread decided to make a IOT-Contest using hardware from different vendors and their RT-Thread OS. I was luckily enough to get chosen for a networking project with the NXP i.MX RT1060 EVKB, so I decided to document my journey first getting started with RT-Thread. Here we go! 🙂

Getting started

First of all, its important to know that there are two version of the MIMXRT1060 - the EVK and the EVKB. The EVK seems to be an older version which also includes a Camera sensor module, the EVKB version the recent one. RT-Threads example on Github is for the EVK version, which means things like User LED blinking does not work out of the box, but we will take care of this later.

NXP i.MX RT1060 EVKB files and documentation

You'll need to create a free user account on NXPs webpage to download the User manual and Schematic, otherwise the last two links will not work.

• Main Page: https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-rt1060-evaluation-kit:MIMXRT1060-EVKB
• User manual: https://www.nxp.com/webapp/Download?colCode=MIMXRT1060EVKBUM
• Schematic: https://www.nxp.com/webapp/Download?colCode=MIMXRT1060-EVKB-DESIGNFILES

RT-Thread Setup

• Main RT-Thread Github Page for the NXP i.MX RT1060: https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread/tree/master/bsp/imxrt/imxrt1060-nxp-evk
• If not yet done, download and install Git
• RT-Thread Studio: https://www.rt-thread.io/studio.html
  • Just download and install (e.g. D:\RT-ThreadStudio)
• envTool: https://github.com/RT-Thread/env-windows/releases
  • Pick the latest env-windows-v*.7z and download
  • Unzip the included folder (e.g. D:\RT-ThreadStudioEnv\env-windows-v1.3.5)
  • Start env.exe
  • Click on the Hamburger Menu, Settings, Integration
  • Click on "Register" and "Save settings", close the settings menu and the envTool
  • More detailed info for the envTool can be found: https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread/blob/master/documentation/env/env.md
• RT-Thread Github Repo: https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread
  • Clone the repo ( git clone https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread.git ) to your system, (e.g. to D:\RT-ThreadGithub)
• First project
  • Start RT-Thread Studio
  • File -> Import -> RT-Thread Bsp Project into Workspace
  • Bsp Location (within the Github Repo): D:\RT-ThreadGithub\rt-thread\bsp\imxrt\imxrt1060-nxp-evk
  • Project Name: What you want, I choose blinky
  • Chip Name: MIMXRT1060
  • Debugger: DAP-LINK
  • click finish
  • This will lead to an error, pointing you to the workspace folder ( e.g. mine is D:\RT-ThreadStudio\workspace.metadata ) where a .log file resides. Open it up and scroll to the end. At this time in the development, there seems to be an error with the initial compilation shown with this error: "!MESSAGE D:\RT-ThreadGithub\rt-thread\bsp\imxrt\imxrt1060-nxp-evk>scons --dist-ide --project-path=D:\RT-ThreadStudio\workspace/blinky --project-name=blinky"``. To fix this issue, navigate with the windows explorer to the folder ``D:\RT-ThreadGithub\rt-thread\bsp\imxrt\imxrt1060-nxp-evk``. Within the folder, hold shift and right-click and choose ``ConEmu Here`` - the envTools will open up. Just copy and paste the complete scons command (``scons --dist-ide --project-path=D:\RT-ThreadStudio\workspace/blinky --project-name=blinky) into the envTools window and press enter. It should compile now.

    user@system D:\RT-ThreadGithub\rt-thread\bsp\imxrt\imxrt1060-nxp-evk
    > scons --dist-ide --project-path=D:\RT-ThreadStudio\workspace/blinky --project-name=blinky
    scons: Reading SConscript files ...
    Newlib version: 4.1.0
    make distribution....
    => imxrt1060-nxp-evk
    => start dist handle
    => copy imxrt bsp library
    => copy bsp drivers
    => copy bsp peripherals
    => components
    => include
    => libcpu
    => src
    => tools
    Update configuration files...
    suggest to use command scons --dist [--target=xxx] [--project-name=xxx] [--project-path=xxx]
    dist project successfully!

After this step, click finish in the still open import menu in RT-Thread Studio again, it should work now and generate the new project.

• Navigate within Project Explorer through the Projectname to applications\ and open the main.c file.

• Replace

  /* defined the LED pin: GPIO1_IO9 */
  #define LED0_PIN               GET_PIN(1, 9)
  
  int main(void)
  {
  #ifndef PHY_USING_KSZ8081
      /* set LED0 pin mode to output */
      rt_pin_mode(LED0_PIN, PIN_MODE_OUTPUT);
  
      while (1)
      {
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_HIGH);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_LOW);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
      }
  #endif
  }

  with

  /* defined the LED pin: GPIO1_IO8 */
  #define LED0_PIN               GET_PIN(1, 8)
  
  int main(void)
  {
  #ifndef PHY_USING_KSZ8081
      /* set LED0 pin mode to output */
      rt_pin_mode(LED0_PIN, PIN_MODE_OUTPUT);
  
      while (1)
      {
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_HIGH);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_LOW);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
      }
  #endif
  }

  and save the file. The User LED on the EVKB board is not on IO PIN 9, but 8. Also, this pin is shared with the ethernet controller - so if we enable this later, the User LED will not work anymore.

• Click on the hammer icon ("Build 'Debug'") and it should compile the new software.
• Click on the downward green arrow ("Flash Download") to download the program to the hardware board. The User LED should now be flashing.
• There can be multiple issues at Download:
  • A window with "J-Link Emulator selection" pops up and asks for connection methods. This error means that RT-Thread Studio tries to program via Segger Link, which is the incorrect flash tool for the EVKB. If this comes up, please click no on the J-Link screen. Then check on the little black arrow attached to the Flash Download icon, that "DAP-LINK" is checked. Afterwards try Downloading again.
  • "pyocd.core.exceptions.TargetSupportError: Target type 'mimxrt1060' not recognized." If this error arises it can mean two things:
    • You did not enter the Chip Name correctly. Please check that the error is really mimxrt1060 - and no spelling issues are there. If there are, go to the Cogwheel Icon ("Debug configuration"), Debugger tab and correct the Chip Name within the Device name area. Click Ok to save and try again.
    • Scroll up through the error list and you might see the path of the pyocd software, e.g. RealThread\PyOCD\0.1.3 - this would mean you're running the default PyOCD 0.1.3 - which has some errors that will mean you cannot download to flash. Directly next to the "Flash Download" icon is the "SDK Manager", open it up and scroll down to the "Debugger_Support_Packages", "PyOCD". Choose the latest version (e.g. 0.2.0) and click on "Install packages". You can then select the old version(s) you have installed and click on "Delete packages". Afterwards close the SDK Manager. This should fix the issue.

• If there are no issues with the Download, can you also "Open a Terminal" (computer screen icon close to "Flash Download"). And start with the correct settings (e.g. 115200 BAUD and the correct Serial port, should be chosen automatically if you already flashed a program before). You should see the RT msh console running on your EVKB and be able to send a "help" to get an overview over the device

  
  \ | /
  - RT -     Thread Operating System
  / | \     5.0.1 build May 28 2023 14:25:59
  2006 - 2022 Copyright by RT-Thread team
  msh >help
  RT-Thread shell commands:
  clear            - clear the terminal screen
  version          - show RT-Thread version information
  list             - list objects
  help             - RT-Thread shell help.
  ps               - List threads in the system.
  free             - Show the memory usage in the system.
  pin              - pin [option]
  reboot           - reset system
  
  msh >

• To get a little bit further into a project, I replaced the main.c PIN definition and main() with following code

  // wrong definition, GPIO1_IO9 is ethernet leds on EVKB
  // #define LED0_PIN               GET_PIN(1, 9)
  
  // D8 (GPIO01-08) is the user led
  #define LED0_PIN               GET_PIN(1, 8)
  // SW5 (GPIO5-00) is the user button
  #define SW5_PIN                GET_PIN(5, 0)
  
  int main(void)
  {
  #ifndef PHY_USING_KSZ8081
      // set LED0 pin mode to output
      rt_pin_mode(LED0_PIN, PIN_MODE_OUTPUT);
      // set SW5 pin mode to pullup
      rt_pin_mode(SW5_PIN, PIN_MODE_INPUT_PULLUP);
  
      while (1)
      {
          if (!rt_pin_read(SW5_PIN)) {
              rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_HIGH);
          } else {
              rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_LOW);
          }
          /*
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_HIGH);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
          rt_pin_write(LED0_PIN, PIN_LOW);
          rt_thread_mdelay(500);
          */
      }
  #endif
  }

  This will couple the LED to the status of the user switch (SW5): If its pressed, the LED will turn on, if its not pressed, the LED will stay off. Just save, re-compile and re-download.

Bugs

As seen there are some bugs already found:

• RT-Thread Studio error upon trying to import a project
• RT-Thread Studio failing to choose the correct debugger even though it was selected on creation/import of the project
• pyocd error upon download of firmware to the NXP MCU due to old pyocd version shipped with RT-Thread Studio
• Integration of the menuconfig tooling as "RT-Thread Settings" within RT-Thread Studio - but it just does not have any effect on the project

I hope that these issues get solved soon - but with the infos above you should be able to get started. I will see you in the next post - probably going through the project I made :).