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mbed is a tool for Rapid Prototyping with Microcontrollers.

Microcontrollers are getting cheaper, more powerful and more flexible, but there remains a barrier to a host of new applications; someone has to build the first prototype! With mbed, we've focused on getting you there as quickly as possible.

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Recent mbed blog entries

Maintenance and upgrades - this weekend

Posted 4 days, 12 hours ago, by Dan Ros

upgrades, website | 2 replies Share:

Hi all,

Our hosting network is going to be upgraded this weekend, which is designed to improve resiliency as well as allow for future growth. Unfortunately, some disruption to the website is unavoidable. This will be kept to a minimum as far as possible, but do expect some periods of downtime over the weekend.

While that's going on, I'll take the opportunity to do some software/hardware updates, including a major update to the compiler. After the upgrades are done, Simon will post full details of the compiler upgrade.

Thanks,

Dan

The mbed challenge - 8051 to ARM!

Posted 5 days, 5 hours ago, by Simon Ford

avnet, demo, video | 4 replies Share:

This is very cool! Jim Carver at Avnet has taken his mbed and made a video showing it off. It is a really nice intro to mbed itself, but the coolest part is what he is doing with it...

As he calls it, "the mbed challenge"; take an old 8051 MCU based board and try and bypass the chip to wire in the mbed instead. And then import the 8051 C code and try an port it across to ARM. Watch the video to see the results:

My favourite parts are the bits where he is looking at what he needs to change and comparing the architectures, showing how nice it is to code with a modern MCU!

And great to see mbed letting him experiment so easily; just what it was designed for - great work Jim!

Important: Virus Alert

Posted 1 week, 5 days ago, by Simon Ford

No tags | 1 reply Share:

We have recently had reports from some users of a virus being detected when first connecting their new mbed Microcontroller to a Windows PC. Further investigation has shown this to be a real problem, impacting some units of an mbed LCP1768 batch manufactured in December.

We are taking this very seriously and will be doing all we can to audit all devices from this batch within the distribution channels, but we have to assume more will have made it through to end users. Please read this report carefully to understand if you need to take action.

Problem summary

On receiving a virus report from a user, with their help we investigated the possible source of the problem. These investigations confirmed it was a new device, and the source of the problem was not likely to be the user’s machine. At this point we initiated an audit of our manufacturer.

With support from the manufacturer's staff and production records, we identified a potential vulnerability window in one of the production line test machines between the 4th and 12th of December, caused by their method of applying a production test software upgrade. During this time, units tested with this test machine had the potential to become infected. This means some units within the particular batch in production at that time are at risk from containing a low risk virus.

What is the threat?

The virus impacting some of the vulnerable batch is "Win32.SillyFDC" (but goes by a number of different names), which is an autorun.inf script plus files in a RECYCLER folder placed in the root of removable media, impacting Windows PCs. It has been around since 2004, and is generally considered a low risk, low impact virus. It does not impact Mac or Linux. All reputable antivirus software will find, isolate and remove the virus, with no long term effects. More detailed information about nature of this virus can be found at:

Win32.SillyFDC Summary

Is my board from the batch at risk?

We have identified the batch that was in production when the vulnerability occurred, and their corresponding packing serial numbers. Whilst only a small percentage of these could have been impacted, we will be auditing the entire batch.

The packing serial numbers this batch fell within are:

MBED-1226 to MBED-2356

We will aim to narrow it further as we confirm audit information further. If your microcontroller falls in to this range, please read on to see if you need to take action. If not, you should not be impacted. If anyone finds anything to the contrary, please contact us immediately at support@mbed.org.

To check your packing serial number, find the orange sticker on the base of the box for the mbed Microcontroller, as shown below:

In this example, the details would be:

Product Number: MBED-005.1
Serial Number: MBED-2334

What should I do if my board is from the batch at risk?

If your board is from the batch at risk, then please carefully follow these instructions.

If you have not yet used your mbed, you have a number of options to check for and avoid the problem:

If you have access to a Mac and Linux machine, you can plug in your mbed and check for an autorun.inf file. If one exists, delete *everything* from the disk (any files and directories like autorun.inf, RECYCLER, ...). Mac and Linux PCs ignore autorun.inf, so are not impacted. Your MBED.HTM will get automatically restored after you power cycle the board.
If you only have access to a Windows PC, ensure your systems antivirus software is up to date. If it does exist, your antivirus software should detect and quarantine the virus.
If you would prefer, we can arrange to audit your board for you and fix the problem if one is found; please contact us directly at support@mbed.org

If you have already plugged your mbed microcontroller in and there was an autorun.inf file, your antivirus software should have already detected, quarantined and removed any virus. We recommend you run a full system scan with your mbed plugged in to verify your machine and the microcontroller are clear of the virus.

If you do not have antivirus software and you do find an autorun.inf file on the mbed, it would be highly recommended to install some to check and, if necessary, clean your machine. Below is a list of a few different packages that would be suitable, many including free trials:

Note: if there is no autorun.inf file on the disk, then the problem doesn't exist.

If you do find your board to be infected, we would be very greatful if you could email us the MBED-xxxx Serial Number to support@mbed.org to help validate our records. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

What else are we doing?

We are working with distributors to audit all stock we can find from this batch, to limit as much as possible the numbers that get out to users in the first place. Whilst the problem only impacted a production test machine for a short time and is no longer a problem, we have also taken steps to ensure this can't happen again. We are moving from windows to linux-based test machines, and have ensured our manufacturers have the appropriate processes in place to upgrade test software.

This is a problem that shouldn't have occurred in the first place, so please accept our apologies that it has. We believe we are doing everything appropriate to address it, and will continue to do so to ensure it won’t happen again.

Finally, a big thank you to all the companies and people who have worked so quickly with us to identify the problem and put in place all the logistics to resolve it.