[LPC802] LED blinky programming for dummies. ~1~


I would like to puck up this time an easy programming on MCU for child or dummies.

The program is going to be a LED Blinky program, it simply blinks LED’s.

Actually, you might have seen this type of articles somewhere.

I tried to show an MCU programming using development environment that is  a free of charge, which is being used at work in an actual environment.

To get MCU working requires you to study an architecture of MCU how MCU works and what registers are.

Such study however is not interesting to most people, so I would like to get MCU to work without having to study it.

Of course, I would explain a basic thing if necessary how it works.

I will divide it in three parts, “Preparation”, “First off, try with the sample project” and “Let’s try programming by own yourself”.

Ok, let’s do it, then.

1 Prepare evaluation board

LPCXpresso802
Source:NXP Semiconductors OM40000 LPCXpresso802

I selected LPCXpresso802 because it is cheap and easy to use, user-friendly board.

This board is really cheap and has a lot of LED’s, and you can play a lot with it. It is the best board for beginners.

In such sense, you might think that the board is not often to be used in an actual environment, but to the contrary it is highly demanded and it has been used in many applications as it is very cheap.

LPCXpresso802 board uses LPC802 MCU from NXP semiconductors.

LPC802 block diagram
Source:NXP LPC802 block diagram

参考LPC80x NXP Semiconductors Web page

You can buy it from Electric hobby shop. But if you can not find it, you can buy it from NXP web site directly, too. Below button to lead you to NXP Semiconductors LPC802 page. Then, click “Buy”. If you buy it on line, NXP exports the board to your country.

OM40000 LPCXpresso802 board

2 Download IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

NXP provides a completely free of charge Development environment, which is MCUXpresso IDE. You can program and compile it and even debug it with free of charge. There is no limitation of compilation size at all, it’s free to use completely, even if it is hobby, or even for work.

MCUXpresso IDE Page
MCUXpresso IDEダウンロード
MCUXpresso IDE Download page
バージョン10.2
version 10.2
ダウンロード利用規約
Software terms of conditions
MCUXpresso IDE OSバージョンの選択
Section of supported OS

3 Installation of MCUXpresso IDE

Now that you are going to install MCUXpresso IDE.

Basically, there is no complicated things. Alll you have to do is to click “Next”.

Below installation is based on MacOS.

Because my environment is Japanese, the attached screenshot is Japanese. Very sorry…

Install MCUXPresso IDE

利用許諾
Software license agreement
インストール先の選択
Select a place to install
ソフトウェア利用許諾
Software license agreement, you need to agree to use it.
インストール完了
Finish installation

Run MCUXpresso IDE

Run the MCUXPresso IDE. If your PC is MacOS, you can run it from LaunchPad.

LaunchPadから起動
Run it from LaunchPad

When it starts up, you need to select “Workspace” that is the place for work to program for your project.

You can select the default workspace if you are not familiar.

This “workspace” can be any place where you want, just make a folder for the workplace anywhere.

ワークスペースの選択
Specify Workspace
ネットワーク受信接続の許可
Allow to access to MCUXPresso via network.
MCUXpresso IDEの立ち上がったところ
MCUXpresso IDE

5 Download LPC802 SDK

MCUXpresso SDK needs to be built for specific device you want. There is a SDK Builder page you can built for your target devices.

MCUXpresso SDK Builder page
MCUXpresso SDKビルダーページ
MCUXpresso SDKBuilder
Search LPC802
Search LPC802
Request to build
Request to build
Download from Dashboard
Download from Dashboard
MCUXpresso SDKライセンス同意
MCUXpresso SDK License agreement
Download SDK
Download SDK

This is the end for downloading SDK package.

5 Installation SDK

Long way, but this is the last step

Installation SDK in MCUXpreso
Installation SDK in MCUXpresso

Once you downloaded the SDK, it is supposed to be Zip file. Now that you can drag and drop it into MCUXPresso “Install SDK’s” tab as you can see.

Then, the SDK will be automatically properly installed.

At the end

This time, I showed how you can download MCUXpresso IDE and SDK, then you are now ready to play with LPCXpresso802 board.

From now on, you will actually get the board working.