RTL8710 and Arduino IDE

Technical Support
1

I have an RTL8710 dev kit and I want to use it with an Arduino IDE. On Ameba ARDUINO: Getting Started with RTL8710 – Realtek IoT/Wi-Fi MCU Solutions it says I need to add boards with the JSON package which I did. Also, I need to install the MBED driver with mbedWinSerial_16466.exe. It says that there is no MBED board.

Do I need to use Ameba motherboard? Is there any other way to use only RTL8710 with Arduino IDE? If so, please provide some getting started steps.

Thank you.

2

Hi @dekip ,

Thanks for reaching out to us, to answer your questions,

  1. I guess the RTL8710 dev kit you mentioned is actually the RTL-00 as depicted in the webpage you provided

    Screenshot 2021-01-19 100557
    Screenshot 2021-01-19 1005571418×414 88.6 KB

  2. The complete RTL8710 dev kit comprises of a main board and the RTL-00 module on top of it, and only when plugged in can you install the MBED driver correctly

  3. In order to upload image to RTL-00 on Arduino IDE, you need the DAP chip on the main board, without it, you will have to DIY/purchase additional tool which takes a lot of extra works and is not compatiable with Arduino IDE

Hope this clears some doubts~

3

The motherboard is not cheap at all. According to the spec of it, for communication with PC, it uses an LPC11U35FHI33/501. The chip is not cheap, too.
Is there any other way to upload a sketch from an Arduino IDE? As I can see, it needs an SWD programmer. Do it has to be the one with this chip above, or it can be some other. I do have one. CJMCU Jlink SWD. Not sure will it do the job.

I would like to start from some point.

4

Hi @dekip

The chip on the motherboard is a DAP chip, it helps to download firmware and debug the RTL-00 module thus is compatiable with Arduino IDE.

Alternatively, you may download the firmware using JLINK as you mentioned, RTL-00 has JLINK/JTAG pins as shown in the picture below,

Screenshot 2021-01-20 090940
Screenshot 2021-01-20 0909401113×683 107 KB

JLINK downloading command can be found here in the SDK,

However, please note that JLINK download is not compatible with Arduino IDE which relies solely on the DAP chip for downloading, but still you can use Arduino IDE to compile the firmware and then drag it to the correct path before using JLINK command to download it

2 Likes
5

This part is pretty new for me. If JLINK is an option, I then need some software? Is there some sort of tutorial on how to?

To make a BIN file in Arduino IDE is not a problem. To connect JLINK with RTL00 is ok. To upload a file on the board is. Just because I never use it.

6

@dekip to flash the .bin binary file with JTAG, you can use the Segger J-Flash or other any other open-source tools.

1 Like
7

Yes, you will need to donwload the Segger J-Link Software and Documentation Pack like @Salmanfarisvp has mentioned above, and possibly a linux setup like Cygwin with GNU make if your OS is windows, and also the Ameba 1 Realtek Standard SDK I mentioned above.

You need Cygwin to run bash scripts and GNU make to run Makefile.

There is a document in the abovementioned SDK that will guide your through the setup and can be found here too.

2 Likes
8

Nice, it has detailed instruction on how to set up the GCC tools chain, Thanks for sharing.

1 Like
9

Yes, it is over a year, but, the topic is the same. As the author :slight_smile:

Meanwhile, I successfully designed the board for an RTL8720D. To upload a sketch through Arduino IDE I use LOG RX/TX pins and a UART adapter. Everything works fine.

The question is, is it the same with the RTL8710? Can I use the same design? Are the LOG pins in the same places? Can someone put some light on this topic?

1 Like
10

Hi @dekip so happy to hear that you have design your own version of RTL8720D board, hope you had a lot of fun doing that, (I did when I design the ameba stamp XD )

Sorry, as for this chip, it is discontinued thus no further updates since your last post, its still just 2 ways to flash –

  1. Via the DAP chip on board
  2. Via JLINK downloader
11

Some light on JLINK?

12

Please refer to the Application Notes for Ameba D Chips at chapter 1.4 and 1.5

13

LOL. I see I talk to the same guy here and there. Let’s talk only here.

I have looked at the PDF. But nothing to tell me how to upload a sketch from Arduino IDE to RTL8710 using a JLINK. I have a SEGGER mini.

There is RTL8710 support for the Arduino IDE, while actually, there is no support at all. There is not a single example of how to upload a code from Arduino IDE to RTL8710 using JLINK. JSON package does not give a programmer option. If I use Arduino IDE to write a sketch and use any other to upload it, then it is no way to do it.

14

Here is the Make recipe for flashing with JLINK