Debug suggestion for PICO Platformio+VS on Linux

[git2212]

Hello,

I've been successful using the RP2040 based tiny pico in Platformio using the config:

platform = https://github.com/maxgerhardt/platform-raspberrypi.git
board_build.core = earlephilhower
framework = arduino

So far so good ... now looking at being able to reliably debug sketches from within the Platformio+VS environment. From what I understand so far the PICO could use the second core for USB CMSIS-DAP based debugging. Like the idea of fewer anything that can go wrong so this seems very appealing. My currently supported upload options (as per the message in platformio) do not include pico-debug. While picoprobe is supported, it seems to require external hardware, etc.

As I am a rusty amateur on a good day, I am none the wiser after reading https://github.com/majbthrd/pico-debug/blob/master/howto/README.md Is there a way to set up pico-debug for my given dev environment on Linux? The ideal setup would run reliably and work with the USB cable (already using for uploads).

Thanks in advance :)

[maxgerhardt]

If the README is right and just have to upload the .uf2 to on it and it'll show up as CMSIS-DAP debugger (and this is somehow additive to the USB devices already created by the firmware), you'd just need to use

debug_tool = cmsis-dap

to configure PlatformIO to use it. I have not tried this yet.

Edit: Ah, so definitely don't use USB in your firmware.

the USB peripheral is used to provide the debugger, so the user code cannot use it as well

So per https://arduino-pico.readthedocs.io/en/latest/platformio.html you'll need the NO_USB configuration.

[git2212]

So here's the current state:

Downloaded the u2f files from https://github.com/majbthrd/pico-debug/releases.
Put the board in bootloader mode then using

~/.platformio/packages/tool-rp2040tools/picotool load -v -x "~/Downloads/pico-debug-maxram.u2f"

I uploaded pico-debug to the board... I can confirm that this worked as dmesg returned:

[649792.976255] usb 1-1.1.3.2: new full-speed USB device number 10 using ehci-pci
[649793.189865] usb 1-1.1.3.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1209, idProduct=2488, bcdDevice=10.05
[649793.189869] usb 1-1.1.3.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=3
[649793.189871] usb 1-1.1.3.2: Product: CMSIS-DAP
[649793.189873] usb 1-1.1.3.2: Manufacturer: pico-debug
[649793.189875] usb 1-1.1.3.2: SerialNumber: 4250304232373612
[649793.191370] hid-generic 0003:1209:2488.0020: hiddev1,hidraw3: USB HID v1.11 Device [pico-debug CMSIS-DAP] on usb-0000:00:1a.0-1.1.3.2/input0

... so the board no longer came up as a USB device :)

Then created an empty platformio project, and set the following options in the ini file:

[env:pico-debug]
board=pico
framework = arduino
board_build.f_cpu = 133000000L

platform = https://github.com/maxgerhardt/platform-raspberrypi.git
board_build.core = earlephilhower

upload_protocol = cmsis-dap
debug_tool = cmsis-dap
debug_init_break = tbreak setup

build_type = debug
build_flags = 
    -O0
    -D USE_TINYUSB
    -D PIO_FRAMEWORK_ARDUINO_NO_USB

Since I am running on linux I had to run the following command as well:

sudo apt install libhidapi-dev

Then compile ... all good ... upload however comes back with an error...

CURRENT: upload_protocol = cmsis-dap
Uploading .pio/build/generic/firmware.elf
Open On-Chip Debugger 0.11.0-g8e3c38f78-dirty (2023-02-16-01:21)
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
        http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
debug_level: 1

adapter speed: 1000 kHz

in procedure 'program'
** OpenOCD init failed **
shutdown command invoked

*** [upload] Error 1

Just out of curiousity pressed F5, debugger seemed to start but not much appears to be happening...

So not sure if I missed a step or there is something particular to my platform/setup?

[git2212]

looking at the upload command that platfomio generates, that's quite a difference to be sure

openocd -d2 -s /home/arthur/.platformio/packages/tool-openocd-rp2040-earlephilhower/share/openocd/scripts -f interface/cmsis-dap.cfg -f target/rp2040.cfg -c "adapter speed 1000" -c "program {.pio/build/generic/firmware.elf} verify reset; shutdown;"
as I understand it the pico-debug.cfg is part of the OpenOCD which is compatible with the pico-debug image... I can't find that file anywhere in .platformio/packages/tool-openocd-rp2040-earlephilhower so I am guessing the openOCD version there is not compatible... correct?

[earlephilhower]

If you're using my version of the tool chain, it's definitely in there in the share directory.

In any case, the command I listed only sets the board properly, it doesn't do an upload or debug. You'll need to figure that out yourself, combining the two.

[maxgerhardt]

Hmm actually I'm a bit skeptical about the "pico-debug is not a CMSIS-DAP" because the boards/pico-debug.cfg is literally

source [find interface/cmsis-dap.cfg]
adapter speed 4000

set CHIPNAME rp2040
source [find target/rp2040-core0.cfg]

but testing it out now.

[maxgerhardt]

Yeah but I guess it also doesn't harm it when using the dedicated config file for it, that at least has the default speed.

Works fine after adding the necessary code and builder script additions into PlatformIO, will file PR soon.

Just wondering though: With the two pico-debug variants of gimmecache (will load itself into upper SRAM) and MAXRAM (will load itself into the flash cache), I've had no success yet using the MAXRAM variant. Is the SDK or this core using that?

[maxgerhardt]

PR pending in #1427.

[maxgerhardt]

Ah then it'll just need array entry in the forked platform-raspberrypi and an addition in the boards array -- will look into tomorrow 

[earlephilhower]

FWIW there are a couple build options (-DNO_USB -DDISABLE_USB_SERIAL and build.ram_length=240k) needed during build as well.

[git2212]

Hello Gents, just in case it gets lost in the shuffle, I've tried the solution proposed and was not successful, see post for #1427

[git2212]

Ok, good news. After I noticed that my .platformio/platforms/raspberrypi/boards/adafruit_feather_can.json was missing, my platformio VS plugin was clearly not pulling down the right files... I deleted everything in .platformio/platforms/raspberrypi which forced a fresh download of everything from git after which compile, upload and debug works.
You guys are quick and responsive, in the old days I would have sent you a bottle of good scotch... these days we'll have to settle for bubble tea or something :)