What is it?

The nRF52 GDB Debugger is an inexpensive Open Source Black Magic Probe compatible SWD debugger designed to be used with ARM GDB. It supports many platforms, but was primarily designed for use with our BlueMicro and BlueMacro boards (Nordic Semiconductor nRF52832 and nRF52840).

Why did you make it?

When we built our BlueMicro840 and BlueMacro840 boards, we were looking for an simple option to upload the bootloader without the need to worry about additionnal cables or adapters between the programmer and the board. Then we came across the blackmagic probe (BMP) project - an Open Source debugging tool for embedded microprocessors.

Although the BMP hardware is excellent, it requires the use of adapters to convert the standard 1.27mm 2x5 pins programming header to the larger 2.54mm pin header. So we decided to make use of their liberal open source license and build something that fits our requirements, albeit with less capabilities. To maintain firmware compatibility with the original BMP, we designed it to be compatible with the first version of the Black Magic Probe. As such, the same firmware as the Black Magic Probe can be uploaded to the nRF52 GDB Debugger.

From a software point of view, using the Black Magic Probe greatly simplifies the debugging and code uploading process by just using ARM GDB - no need to run a GDB server or use an additional complex tool like OpenOCD. Arduino Support for the nRF52 GDB Debugger has been added to the Community nRF52 Board Support Package. This further simplifies the process of uploading the bootloader to the boards.