Flash RAK8211-NB board in MacOS

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  • Hi,

    I am new to Espruino and would like to try it for programming my RAK Wireless RAK8211-NB board (Quectel BG96).

    In the official RAK wireless docs it suggests flashing espruino using nRFgo studio. The problem is that when I tried to get nRFgo studio from Nordic's site using this link , it sais that the application is Windows only, and I am using a Mac computer.

    Is there any other way of flashing Espruino software into this board?
    I don't have access to any Windows PC or virtual machine ATM and I also wonder if it willl work using a Windows VM in Mac OS.

    I have found the app rknrfgo (MAC os version of nRFgo) on https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/b/blog/po­sts/tools-for-os-x-development and installed it on my MAC. However, I do not understand correctly how to flash the device, as the GUI is different thant the nRFgo studio one. I have attached a screenshot.

    Should I just select the "Use code" checkbox, browse the location of the espruino hex file and then press Wipe and Program?

    Thanks guys


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  • I have made it work.
    These are the steps to do it here for future reference:

    1. Select the "Use code" checkbox, browse the location of the espruino hex file
    2. Press "Both" , this will Wipe and then Program the firmware
  • Great! Thanks for letting us know!

    If you're using an nRF52DK to program the board it should also appear as a flash drive called JLINK - just copy your hex files there and you're sorted, no need for nRFGo!

  • I use a nRF52dk and it works fine from my mac as Gordon describes. I build Espruino and do everything on a macbook pro.

    Note: the 8211 uses a BC95 cell module and a L70 GPS.
    The 8212 uses the BG96. The BG96 GNSS has GPS and Glonass, so it has better performance.

    You probably want to update the BC95 firmware at some stage. I just did mine today. It requires a bit of jiggery-pokery to do. You need to solder some jumper wires from two resistors on the board to the uart pins. You can then use the usb->serial board to download new firmware - you need Windows for this as the Quectel app is windows only. It works well running a Win7 VM using Virtualbox.

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Flash RAK8211-NB board in MacOS

Posted by Avatar for a.santos @a.santos

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