Difference between cubeIDE's buitin cubeMX and standalone cubeMX?

[Rodo]

Hi,

I'm new to the STM32 ecosystem. Before I installed anything I was reading about the tools (STM32cubeIDE, STM32cubeMX, STM32cubeH7, etc) and I read that there is a buit-in version of cubeMX in cubeIDE so I didn't install the standalone cubeMX. CubeMX for cubeIDE was dowbloaded when I first created a project for the Nucleo-H745 demo board in cubeIDE. I think it also downloaded cubeH7. Each was big ... like 1GB in size. 

Do I need to install the stanalone version of cubeMX? I'm wondering purely about functionality. I understand that some people may prefer the standalone tool for whaever reasons but I'm more interested in functionality. Can the standalone cubeMX do something the built-in version can not? Take into account how new I am please. I rather don't install the standalone cubeMX tool just because of some advance option I don't need right now. Just to be clear, I'm new to STM32 not to MCUs. 

Thanks

[KnarfB · Accepted solution]

If you use STM32CubeIDE for development (compile, link, debug) anyway, there should be no noticeable difference between both CubeMX versions. The stand-alone STM32CubeMX is needed when you want to use a different IDE for development. For example, you can generate a Makefile for your project. Some people do that, and a combination of STM32CubeMX + Visual Studio Code is an increasingly popuplar alternative to STM32CubeIDE.

Note that STM32CubeH7 etc.. will be dowloaded automatically when you generate the first project. There is no need for a separate installation. Check the %userprofile%/STM32Cube/Repository (Windows) or $HOME/STM32Cube/Repository/ (Linux) folder for installed firmware packages. They also come with many example projects.

hth

KnarfB

[Pavel A.]

> Can the standalone cubeMX do something the built-in version can not?

Yes it can. The standalone version is not limited to CubeIDE. It can open any .ioc file in any random location and generate code for several IDEs.

For me this is more convenient, as I use several IDEs and have several variants of .ioc files, not directly connected to CubeIDE projects. I don't want nonsense complains like the .ioc file does not match the project name, or located in wrong place.

Also, the standalone version is not limited by the Eclipse GUI, it can be zoomed to full screen more easily.

On the other hand, more available options in the GUI give more chance for human error to beginners.

Either version downloads the MCU packages to the same path and should recognize packages downloaded by other version.