Free toolchain for STM32F2xx series?

[szbrozek9]

Posted on September 06, 2011 at 15:29

I just built a board only to discover that the Ride7 + RKit-ARM toolchain does not support the new processors without an expensive support contract.

Is there a truly free toolchain that supports the new processors?Thanks,Sasha #no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on September 06, 2011 at 19:08

>>Is there a truly free toolchain that supports the new processors?

You'd think GCC would be just fine creating code for the M3 STM32F2xx parts. Along with the FW library code. I'd wager that I could download an old version of WinARM/Yagarto and the FW library and build F2 applications. Being ''free'' generally means you have to do some things yourself. ie Free of cost,  not free of effort.

[infoinfo989]

Posted on September 07, 2011 at 01:43

Did you see this forum thread, just a few lines below your own:

[DEAD LINK /public/STe2ecommunities/mcu/Lists/cortex_mx_stm32/Flat.aspx?RootFolder=/public/STe2ecommunities/mcu/Lists/cortex_mx_stm32/Open source tools for the STM32&FolderCTID=0x01200200770978C69A1141439FE559EB459D7580009C4E14902C3CDE46A77F0FFD06506F5B&currentviews=45820]Open source tools for the STM32 It's a pretty long thread about free tools for the STM family. Whether it's an F1x or an F2x family makes no difference to the compiler. It's all Cortex-M3 based. Peripheral libraries, start-up code, etc, you'll want to take from the ST standard peripheral libraries anyway. For me personally, I'm using the CodeSourcery G++ free version, which is a full unlimited command-line based compiler / linker. Use any GUI you like - Eclipse is popular but there are others. As Clive says you'll have to do some work yourself to integrate everything together, sort out your make files, etc. It's all free, but you'll have to do some work. Google will be your friend. If you want handholding, everything put together already for you to save you that effort, take a look at the many commercial offerings instead.

[Andrew Neil]

Posted on September 07, 2011 at 08:34

''Whether it's an F1x or an F2x family makes no difference to the compiler. It's all Cortex-M3 based''

Indeed.''you'll have to do some work yourself to integrate everything together, sort out your make files, etc. It's all free, but you'll have to do some work. Google will be your friend'' Yes - I've said it before, and I totally agree with clive1 & van_hooft.frank.001 here!

http://www.8052.com/forumchat/read/183313

''If you want handholding, everything put together already for you to save you that effort, take a look at the many commercial offerings instead'' Yes - that is precisely what you pay for! In particular, it seems to me that it's the debug that differentiates the ''free'' (sic) from the paid offerings - even the ones that use ''free'' (sic) tools (GCC, etc), it's the debug that you're (mostly) paying for. 

http://www.8052.com/forumchat/read/183310

Last time I looked, the cost for the CodeSourcery edition comparable to Keil (ie, with debug, support, IDE, etc) was, well -comparable to Keil!

[Andrew Neil]

Posted on September 07, 2011 at 14:25

I've just received an email from Mentor Graphics (who bought CodeSourcery) with the latest pricelist for what they now call Sourcery CodeBench:

http://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/sourcery-tools/sourcery-codebench/editions

I think my earlier comments stand.