# 0x0e Watchdog Rust Driver This repository contains a Bare-Metal Rust driver demonstrating the **Hardware Watchdog** on the **RP2350** (and RP2040) microcontrollers. It includes: - A demo (`src/main.rs`) that configures the hardware watchdog, checks the reset reason on boot, and then enters a loop to periodically "feed" the watchdog to prevent a reset. - A reusable library module (`src/watchdog.rs`) providing a hardware-agnostic `watchdog_lib` containing the driver state machine and formatting helpers. - Board initialization logic (`src/board.rs`). ## 🚀 Getting Started from Scratch If you're starting with a fresh machine, follow these exact steps to install the toolchain, build the code, and flash it to your microcontroller. ### 1. Install Rust First, install `rustup` (the Rust toolchain installer) if you haven't already: ```bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh ``` *Note: Restart your terminal or run `source $HOME/.cargo/env` after this finishes.* Ensure your Rust compiler is up to date: ```bash rustup update ``` ### 2. Install the Target Architecture This project is configured for the **RP2350** (ARM Cortex-M33). We need to install the cross-compilation target for it: ```bash rustup target add thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf ``` *(If you were targeting the RP2040, you would use `thumbv6m-none-eabi` instead).* ### 3. Install Build Tools You will need a few extra tools to help link and format the firmware for the RP-series chips. Install `flip-link` (adds zero-cost stack overflow protection): ```bash cargo install flip-link ``` Install `picotool` (used by `cargo run` to flash the chip): - **macOS:** `brew install picotool` - **Linux/Windows:** Follow the official Raspberry Pi documentation to install `picotool` or build it from source. ### 4. Building the Code To compile the code for the microcontroller, simply run: ```bash cargo build ``` To build a highly optimized release version (smaller and faster): ```bash cargo build --release ``` ### 5. Flashing to the Microcontroller This project is pre-configured in `.cargo/config.toml` to use `picotool` as the custom runner. To flash the code: 1. Hold down the **BOOTSEL** button on your RP2350 board. 2. Plug it into your computer via USB (or press the RUN/RESET button while holding BOOTSEL). 3. Run the following command: ```bash cargo run --release ``` *`cargo` will compile the code and automatically use `picotool` to upload the `.elf` file directly to your board and start executing it!* ### 6. Testing on the Host Because the data manipulation and string formatting logic is separated into a reusable library without touching hardware registers, you can run the unit tests natively on your computer! However, because this project sets a default bare-metal target (`thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf`) in `.cargo/config.toml`, running a plain `cargo test` will fail because the standard library doesn't exist on the microcontroller. You must explicitly tell Cargo to compile the tests for your host computer's processor architecture: **Mac (Apple Silicon):** ```bash cargo test --lib --target aarch64-apple-darwin ``` **Linux (Intel/AMD 64-bit):** ```bash cargo test --lib --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu ``` **Windows (64-bit):** ```bash cargo test --lib --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc ``` ## 🧠 Code Walkthrough This section explains exactly how the code works, where the entry point is, and traces the flow of execution as if you were stepping through it line-by-line. ### 1. The Entry Point (`src/main.rs`) Unlike a standard computer program, bare-metal microcontrollers do not have an operating system to call `main()`. Instead, we use the `#[entry]` macro from the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) to define the very first function that runs after the chip boots up. * **`main() -> !`**: This is the absolute start of our code. It takes ownership of all the hardware peripherals (`hal::pac::Peripherals::take().unwrap()`) and immediately passes them into `board::run(...)`. The `-> !` means this function never returns (because embedded devices run in an infinite loop). ### 2. Board Initialization (`src/board.rs`) Once execution enters `board.rs`, we initialize the system clocks, pins, UART (for logging), SysTick (for delay), and the hardware Watchdog peripheral. * **`run(...)`**: The master setup function. It first gets a handle to the `hal::Watchdog`, initializing the system clocks with it. After setting up UART, it checks the reset reason, initializes the driver state, and enters the infinite `feed_loop`. * **`watchdog_caused_reboot()`**: Reads the raw `WATCHDOG REASON` hardware register via the PAC (Peripheral Access Crate) to determine if the timer elapsed or if a forced reboot occurred. * **`watchdog_enable(...)` / `watchdog_feed(...)`**: Small wrapper functions that call into the `rp-hal` implementation to configure the hardware timer and reset its counter, respectively. * **`feed_loop(...)`**: An infinite loop that calls `watchdog_feed()` to pet the dog, updates the driver state, prints a message, and sleeps for the 1000ms interval. ### 3. The Reusable Watchdog Library (`src/watchdog.rs`) While `board.rs` directly manipulates the hardware Watchdog registers, `watchdog.rs` tracks the logical state of our watchdog process and handles string formatting for logging. * **`WatchdogDriverState`**: A struct that acts as a state machine. It stores whether the watchdog is `enabled`, the configured `timeout_ms`, and the total `feed_count`. It abstracts away the global variables commonly used in C SDKs. * **`enable(...)` / `feed(...)`**: Methods to transition the driver state. * **`format_fed(...)` / `format_reset_reason(...)` / `format_enabled(...)`**: Helpers to generate the UART console messages. * **`format_u32(...)`**: Implements custom `u32` to decimal ASCII string conversion without allocating dynamic memory, enabling `core` library compatibility (`no_std`).