content/hp34970a_6.rst

==========================================
 HP 34970A Data Acquisition Unit - part 6
==========================================


:Author: David Douard
:Category: Electronics
:Tags: HP, 34970A, HP34970A, DMM, repair, test equipment
:series: HP 34970A repair
:series_index: 6


Quick follow up; I recently got back on this project to try to complete it and fix
remaining problems.

The source code for the firmware is available here:

  https://hg.sdfa3.org/hp34970-firmware

The Kicad project is available here:

  https://hg.sdfa3.org/hp34970-pcb


Making the USBDevice work
=========================

As described in the `previous episode <{filename}/hp34970a_5.rst>`_, I could not make
the USBDevice of the STM32F303RD work with `mbed-os <https://os.mbed.com/>`_ framework I
use to write the firmware.

The `STM32F303RD
<https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f303rd.html>`_ is not yet
officially supported by mbed-os (mainl because there is no `NUCLEO
<https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32-nucleo-boards.html>`_ board with
this CPU.

However the STM32F303RE is supported, at least partially. For example, the USBDevice is
not working at all in the latest version of mbed-os (6.15.0). But some `work has been
done recently <https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os/pull/15116>`_ to enable USB_DEVICE on
CPUs of the STM32F3 family. But this last PR was not enoght to make the USB device work;
I have submitted a `PR <https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os/pull/15132>`_ that needs to
be merged to make the USB device actually work.

Also, the difference between the 2 being (as far as I know) only the size of the flash size
(384KB vs. 512 KB).

So I had 3 problems to solve:

- compile the code for a custom board using the mbed framework in platformio,
- use a custom CPU decription,
- use a patched version of the latest version of mbed-os in platformio (while the
  officially supported version at this moment is only the 6.9.0).


Custom version of mbed in platformio
------------------------------------

Using a custom version of a framework (here mbed) in platformio is not properly
documented. But thanks to `the response
<https://community.platformio.org/t/support-for-mbed-os-6-stable-and-mature-apis-cloud-services-support-enhancements-to-the-bare-metal-profile/15079/9>`_
to my question on the `platformio forum <https://community.platformio.org/>`_, I could
make it work. Obviously, I submitted `a PR
<https://github.com/platformio/platformio-docs/pull/214>`_ to `platformio-docs
<https://github.com/platformio/platformio-docs>`_.

So now I have my (more or less) `up to date repository
<https://github.com/douardda/platformio-framework-mbed>`_ usable as `platform_packages`
config argument.

Custom board and CPU description
--------------------------------

This part I am not completely sure how it should be done. There are actually 2 parts:
- tell mbed about the CPU description,
- tell platformio about is and use it.

The platformio part is `documented here
<https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/creating_board.html>`_

It mostly consists in creating a json file in the `boards/` directory of the platformio
project directory.

For this project, I used the description of the NUCLEO_F303RE as starting point. The
file is `boards/hp34970_fp_f303rd.json
<https://hg.sdfa3.org/hp34970-firmware/file/tip/boards/hp34970_fp_f303rd.json>`_ in the
`firmware source code repository <https://hg.sdfa3.org/hp34970-firmware/>`_.

Once the board is described, it can be used in the `platformio.ini` file:

.. code-block:: bash

   ~/e/hp34970-firmware$ pio boards | grep hp34
   hp34970_fp_f303rd          STM32F303RDT7    72MHz        384KB     64KB      HP34970 Replace Front Panel Board (STM32F303RD, 64k RAM, 384k Flash)


Then we need to tell mbed about this board. This is `documented there
<https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v6.15/porting/porting-custom-boards.html>`_

It is a matter of creating a `custom_targets.json` file with the board description.
Again, I used the existing NUCLEO_F303RE as starting point, then added/removed what I
needed for this project:

.. code-block:: json

   {
     "HP34970_FP_F303RD": {
       "inherits": [
         "MCU_STM32F303xE"
       ],
       "overrides": {
         "clock_source": "USE_PLL_HSE_XTAL"
       },
       "device_has_add": [
         "USBDEVICE"
       ],
       "mbed_rom_size": "0x60000",
       "bootloader_supported": true,
       "device_name": "STM32F303RE"
     }
   }

Then the actual description (pins, memory config, etc.) are C files put in a
`TARGET_HP34970_FP_F303RD` directory. Here again, started from files copied from the
`STM32F303xE target
<https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os/tree/master/targets/TARGET_STM/TARGET_STM32F3/TARGET_STM32F303xE>`_.


End result
==========

It took me some time, but in the end, I finally got a firmware that works OK, including
a working USB serial port. For now, this serial connection is still used only for
debugging purpose (and firmware upload in DFU mode), but it may be improved in the
future, if needs be.

So I could put the HP34970A back together (at last). I drilled a couple of small holes
for the Reset and DFU buttons and a (not so) square hole for the USB plug in the blue
glass.

The result looks very decent to me:

.. image:: {static}/images/hp34970a/finished.jpg
   :alt: finished look of the device with the replacement front panel
   :class: image-process-large-photo

.. peertube:: 1b954399-4dd6-46ad-a263-ff8201b5455e