STM32 software development tools (IDE)

[martin159]

Posted on September 28, 2013 at 17:01

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Hi, I have ordered

http://dx.com/p/stm32f103rbt6-minimum-system-development-board-154173

with STM32F103RBT6.

Can you please recommend to me any good software development tools?

I have experience only with Atmel AVR (8bit) with

http://arduino.cc/

IDE.

I found

http://leaflabs.com/devices/maple/

- port of Arduino to STM32.

http://leaflabs.com/docs/ide.html

is roughly the same as Arduino IDE.

On the STM web is

http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/FM147/CL1794/SC961/SS1533

of software development tools.

I would like to use free (no pay for education and commercial use) IDE that works on Linux and have a lot of code examples and documentation.

I found some infromation about programming STM32 in Java. I am programming in Java every day so I would like use it. Have I need specially version of MCU or can I use STM32F103RBT6?

Which IDE is ''the best''?

Thank you.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on September 28, 2013 at 18:26

Which IDE is ''the best''?

Subjectively the one you like the most, but you've rather limited the field.

ST Java implementations expects you to buy specifically licensed chips, and an expensive dev tool.

http://www.stm32java.com/portal/

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/STMicroelectronics/STM32-JAVA/?qs=bPTXh1mEtKf/4GkJal0f%252bw==

[frankmeyer9]

Posted on September 30, 2013 at 10:47

Subjectively the one you like the most, but you've rather limited the field.

I agree. Toolchains which hide most of the internal details of a MCU are not very common within this niche of the ebedded market. So you might be served best with MapleLeaf.

There are several free /and good) toolchains under Linux, which are more laborious, compared to all-in-one IDEs like Keil or IAR.

ST Java implementations expects you to buy specifically licensed chips, and an expensive dev tool.

 

Not only this, the Java sub-page on this forum here seems to consist of largely self-talk.

Another point:

I hope you realized that the board you ordered does not include a debug adapter.

You might want to get one which is supported by your favourite toolchain.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on September 30, 2013 at 15:58

Not only this, the Java sub-page on this forum here seems to consist of largely self-talk.

Well I think what you're seeing is that email or other frequently asked questions have been posted in order to provide some content. It would certainly appear the platform has practically no traction, and in dire need of some community organizer. The buy-in cost would seem to be way too high for the kind of people attracted to this type of solution.

[dthedens23]

Posted on September 30, 2013 at 18:05

ST is a little behind in this ''ease of use'' and ''cheap tools'' area.

NXP just purchased Code Red and released the LPCExpresso IDE with C/C++, 256K flash limit.  Free.  (it is just Eclipse, ARM compiler tool chain, and GDB server for the SWD)

try these

http://www.emblocks.org/

http://www.emide.org/index.html

or roll your own Eclipse, GCC, tools   (kind of hard)

everything else for ST is ''pay through the nose''

Java?  Not likely.  You can do java, then you can do C++.

[frankmeyer9]

Posted on October 01, 2013 at 10:43

NXP just purchased Code Red and released the LPCExpresso IDE with C/C++, 256K flash limit.  Free.  (it is just Eclipse, ARM compiler tool chain, and GDB server for the SWD)

 

At least the older versions of this free toolchain variant supported only the closed/proprietary LPCLink debugger, which was/is supported by nobody else.

I believe the last versions support the LPCLinkV2, which has open source firmware, and supports an OCD mode. However, the OP will need an additional debug adapter.

try these

 

http://www.emblocks.org/

Emblocks is recently in alpha state, with a somehow shaky GUI, and tremendous code size. I recently had a threefold codesize, compared to Crossworks/ARM, using the same settings (and both are gcc). If you try, save often, and don't be tight on Flash size.

Java?  Not likely.  You can do java, then you can do C++.

 

Not only is the java forum here indicating everthing but great interest, the prices of evaluation tools and software having sufficiently deterring effect to hobbyists.

If C++ can be seen here as a good replacement for Java depends on the OP.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on October 01, 2013 at 12:18

ST is a little behind in this ''ease of use'' and ''cheap tools'' area.

Software development costs a lot of money, especially if you have good developers and want to keep them. People who want free software make incredibly poor customers. Cheap doesn't help much either, as $500 doesn't pay for much support overhead.

NXP, and Philips before them, are losing a shit-ton of money on this. TI isn't doing well either, and has canned thousands of OMAP guys, prospects aren't good for Stellaris/Tiva/whatever either. If the CodeRed guys have cashed out, the talent is probably already heading for the door, or will when the corporate overlords arrive.

ST makes their money on the white appliance business, not makers and hobbiests. Buying a tool chain business is a money losing game in the race to the bottom. It only works if you have to support a proprietary instruction set, and no one cares about it, ie !(ARM | MIPS). Then you'd still be better off sponsoring a GNU/GCC port than yet another IDE.

Keil and IAR need to get a clue on pricing and understand commoditization a lot better, before it kills them. Something sub $500, but as inferred earlier that needs to be a cash-n-carry business with support billed hourly.

[martin159]

Posted on October 01, 2013 at 14:28

 

[frankmeyer9]

Posted on October 01, 2013 at 14:59

First, it is advisable not to write one's comments in the cited text of the latest post. That has  a high probability of being overlooked - and ignored.

Is necessary to have JTAG adapter? On Arduino is possible do ''debug'' by printing values to serial port which is sufficient for first education (like LED blinking).

 

Not strictly.

You can push your software in with the ROM based bootloader.

But what if you don't get as far as getting debug output ?

Have you seen, and understood, the code to initialize the UART peripheral ?

Developing embedded software without debugging capability is a PITA.

You can get really cheap debug adapters for STM32. Even a STM32xxx-discovery can serve as debug pod, as it has an integrated STLink V2.

[bjorn2]

Posted on November 10, 2013 at 09:00

Emblocks is recently in alpha state, with a somehow shaky GUI, and tremendous code size. I recently had a threefold codesize, compared to Crossworks/ARM, using the same settings (and both are gcc). If you try, save often, and don't be tight on Flash size.

I just discovered EmBlocks and I don't agree.  I'm coming from eclipse but working with emblocks is a relief. Very fast and stable.

I think that the codesize of commercial's are general smaller because they can invest in libraries but the threefold is nonsense. I have ported several large projects and the differences between the free ones are not that big.

https://answers.launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+question/222957

https://answers.launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+question/225079

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[frankmeyer9]

Posted on November 10, 2013 at 10:03

I just discovered EmBlocks and I don't agree.

 

I was talking about V1.01 and V1.1. The current release, V1.31, is more stable, I haven't seen GUI crashes yet. However, the executables are still huge. A current project has more than twice the size, compared to Crossworks, with minimal libs (>95kB, compared to 45kB). And I could observe this factor of about 2 for several projects, even those without libs.

But most I miss a Linux version.