stm32bluepill-makecode: MakeCode for STM32 Blue Pill

MakeCode visual programming tool for STM32 Blue Pill based on libopencm3

This is an experimental code editor for STM32 Blue Pill - try it at https://lupyuen.github.io/pxt-maker

• See https://medium.com/@ly.lee/work-in-progress-stm32-blue-pill-visual-programming-with-makecode-codal-and-libopencm3-422d308f252e
• Read the docs

Setup

1. Make sure you installed the GNU Toolchain for Windows / Mac / Linux: https://developer.arm.com/open-source/gnu-toolchain/gnu-rm/downloads

2. On Windows, use the Windows Ubuntu bash shell: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

3. Install Node.js 8.9.4 or higher.

4. Install ninja. For Ubuntu and Windows Ubuntu, run sudo apt install ninja-build

5. For Mac and Linux: Install Docker. For Ubuntu (but not Windows Ubuntu), run sudo apt install docker.io. Do not install Docker for Windows.

6. Clone the stm32bluepill-makecode super-repository, which includes pxt, pxt-common-packages and pxt-maker.

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/lupyuen/stm32bluepill-makecode
   cd stm32bluepill-makecode
   

7. Install the dependencies of pxt and build it

   cd pxt
   npm install
   npm run build
   cd ..
   

8. Install the pxt-common-packages repository

   cd pxt-common-packages
   npm install
   cd ..
   

9. Install the pxt-maker dependencies.

   cd pxt-maker
   npm install
   

10. Install the PXT command line

    npm install -g pxt
    

11. Link pxt-maker back to base pxt repo

    npm link ../pxt
    npm link ../pxt-common-packages
    

Note the above command assumes the folder structure of

       stm32bluepill-makecode
          |
  ----------------------------------
  |       |                        |
 pxt      pxt-common-packages  pxt-maker

Running

Run this command from inside pxt-maker to open a local web server

pxt serve --localbuild 

If the local server opens in the wrong browser, make sure to copy the URL containing the local token. Otherwise, the editor will not be able to load the projects.

While fixing the build you may suppress the browser like this:

pxt serve --localbuild --no-browser

Because Docker is not supported on Windows Ubuntu, and the build runs on faster on macOS without Docker, set the following environment variables to disable Docker:

export PXT_DEBUG=1          # - display extensive logging info
export PXT_FORCE_LOCAL=1    # - compile C++ on the local machine, not the cloud service
export PXT_NODOCKER=1       # - don't use Docker image, and instead use host's arm-none-eabi-gcc (doesn't apply to Linux targets)
export PXT_RUNTIME_DEV=     # - DISABLED: always rebuild the C++ runtime, allowing for modification in the lower level runtime if any
export PXT_ASMDEBUG=1       # - embed additional information in generated binary.asm file

You may find these build and debugging scripts useful:

https://github.com/lupyuen/pxt-maker/tree/master/scripts

The build scripts are also accessible as Visual Studio Code tasks when you open the workspace files stm32bluepill-makecode/build.code-workspace (for faster builds, with Intellisense disabled) or stm32bluepill-makecode/workspace.code-workspace (for easier coding, with Intllisense enabled):

https://github.com/lupyuen/stm32bluepill-makecode/blob/master/.vscode/tasks.json

Building the Blink sample

In the pxt-maker folder enter these commands:

cd projects/blink
./build.sh
cd ../..

This creates a ROM file projects/blink/built/flash.bin that contains the ROM image of the Blink executable. You may flash the Blue Pill to run it, or run it with the qemu_stm32 emulator.

The ELF file (before linking with the Blink code) is located in pxt-maker/projects/blink/built/codal/build/STM32_BLUE_PILL. To dump the contents of the file:

arm-none-eabi-objdump -t -S projects/blink/built/codal/build/STM32_BLUE_PILL >STM32_BLUE_PILL.dump

Updates

Make sure to pull changes from all repos regularly. More instructions are at https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt#running-a-target-from-localhost

Repos

This pxt target for STM32 Blue Pill depends on several other repos. The main ones are:

• https://github.com/lupyuen/pxt-maker, MakeCode target for STM32 Blue Pill
• https://github.com/lupyuen/codal-libopencm3, CODAL framework ported to libopencm3 for STM32 Blue Pill
• https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt, the PXT framework
• https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt-common-packages, common APIs accross various MakeCode editors
• https://github.com/lancaster-university/codal-core, CODAL core project