Debugging solutions now compatible with Arduino and IDE

Update: October 7, 2021

SEGGER and Arduino have announced that SEGGER’s J-Link debugging solutions are now completely compatible with Arduino Portenta boards and IDE. Developers can obtain a J-Link from the Arduino store. At the moment, Arduino can provide four of the J-Link models: J-Link EDU Mini, J-Link BASE Compact, J-Link PLUS Compact and J-Link PRO.

J-Link EDU Mini is the educational model for non-commercial usage only. J-Link BASE Compact is a much faster model for commercial applications. J-Link PLUS Compact comprises an unlimited number of flash breakpoints and the Ozone J-Link debugger, the company’s full-featured graphical debugger for embedded systems. The J-Link PRO is full-featured and even faster. As well as USB, it also has an Ethernet connection.

The solutions are claimed to be the most widely used debug probes on the market. They open the door to all major development tools, from commercial toolchains to GDB-driven ones. With unique features such as RTT for interactive user I/O in embedded applications and HSS for data acquisition, it maximises the visibility of the target system in a non-intrusive way.

“By offering our J-Link debug probes, Arduino is raising the level of professional development tools and methods available to its community,” said SEGGER CEO, Ivo Geilenbruegge. “J-Link makes application development on Portenta boards faster, easier and more efficient.”

“Our partnership with SEGGER marks a step forward to further support developers in creating their own embedded systems,” commented Stefano Implicito, product marketing manager at Arduino. “We are excited to announce compatibility of SEGGER debugging solutions with Arduino Portenta.”

The tutorial ‘Using the SEGGER J-Link Debugger with the Portenta Breakout’ assist the user in getting started quickly. It demonstrates how to debug an Arduino sketch by connecting the Portenta Breakout to the J-Link device and using the Ozone debugger and performance analyser.

To connect the Portenta boards with the debug probes, two adapters are available. SEGGER’s 50-Mil 10-Pin Patch Adapter and the 19-pin Cortex-M Adapter. The 50-Mil 10-Pin Patch Adapter provides custom connections/wiring between the 20-pin and 10-pin side. The 19-Pin Cortex-M Adapter enables JTAG, SWD, and SWO connections between J-Link and Cortex-M-based target hardware systems.