Options to program the Atmel SAMD21 MCU

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

I have a developed a portable RFID scanner that can scan a MIFARE tag and send the tag ID via BLE to a connected App.

Working fine using the Adafruit Bluefruit M0 feather.

Being a battery operated unit, I have a auto power logic to power up , scan and then cut out power to the board.

The issue is this : When the user presses the scan button, the MCU powers up and there is this 3 sec dealy before the bootloader yields to the machine code. User finds this delay a nuisance. Now that the code is proven I want to erase the bootloader and do away with the start up delay.

I have the choice of Atmel Studio 7 + ICE

or the Segger Embedded Studio + JLink programmer.

Which is easy to learn and use ? And are there any other options ?

2

I would modify the bootloader to read a jumper and if set, immediately execute the program.

3

jremington:
I would modify the bootloader to read a jumper and if set, immediately execute the program.

Yeah sounds logical. The problem is to now search for the M0 bootloader and then modify it. ANd being a bootloader need to do it VERY carefuly and not end bricking the module.

Any pointers to begin the serach .... welcome !!

Thanks

4

As7+atmelICE is probably easier, being more Atmel-specific.
You’ll need to cobble together a programming fixture, since the feather doesn’t have a standard SWD connector. Even if you rewrite the bootloader, you’ll need the programmer to write the new bootloader...