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Installation & workspacev0.1.0

SynapticOS is a Zephyr module distributed as a west manifest repository. One workspace gives you both targets: the QEMU emulation environment for instant iteration, and the FRDM-MCXN947 hardware build.

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu 24.04 (or compatible Linux)
  • Zephyr SDK 0.17.0 or newer
  • Python 3.10+ with west
  • For hardware flashing: NXP blhost (ships with SPSDK)

Set up the workspace

SynapticOS is the manifest repository — west init -l pulls Zephyr v3.7.0 and its modules around it.

shell
mkdir ~/workspace && cd ~/workspace
git clone https://github.com/Dimitrios-Kafetzis/SynapticOS.git synaptic-os
cd synaptic-os && west init -l . && cd .. && west update
pip install -r zephyr/scripts/requirements.txt

Build & run on QEMU

No hardware needed — the deterministic NPU stub produces repeatable inference results, which is exactly how the CI suite runs all 133 tests.

shell
west build -b qemu_cortex_m3 synaptic-os/samples/hello_inference --pristine
west build -t run
Note · QEMU memory

The qemu_cortex_m3 target has 64 KB of RAM. Keep CONFIG_SYNAPTIC_TENSOR_ARENA_SIZE in the 4–8 KB range — the default of 128 KB (131072) will not fit. See the Kconfig reference.

Build for the FRDM-MCXN947

shell
west build -b frdm_mcxn947/mcxn947/cpu0 synaptic-os/samples/hello_inference --pristine

Flashing over ISP with blhost — including the SW3/SW1 button sequence to enter bootloader mode — is covered on the next page.

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