Keil vs TrueSTUDIO IDE

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on January 19, 2018 at 16:19

I have been using Keil IDE for years (as a hobbyist).

Maybe someone who knows both Keil & TrueStudio could share some details about pros & cons.

I know that the primary difference is lack of licensing limits in TS (Keil - 32kB for non F0/L0 MCUs). I have Segger programmer/debugger (read that some  features may need it on TrueStudio).

[Andrew Neil]

Posted on January 21, 2018 at 00:58

So why use an IDE where you know that's going to happen?

I'd like to drive around in a Porsche, but I know I can't afford one.

So I don't kid myself by blagging a test-drive - I have to be realistic and buy a car within my budget.

[Zang Man]

Posted on January 21, 2018 at 01:43

Fair enough. But thankfully, there are options at the moment which allow me to work without running into size limits. Honestly, TrueStudio 8 Lite was all I ever needed even without the pro-tools. And if that wasn't available, I would have probably considered going through the trouble of setting up CoIDE.

[Pavel A.]

Posted on January 21, 2018 at 12:46

Alex,

The v 9.0 already is 'pro' so these pro features should be unlocked.

Have you got the printf over ITM working?

I could not figure out how to do this in Atollic, In uVision it works for me just fine, either via Keil component or by calling ITM_SendChar directly. In the Atollic gdb - no way?

Though the editor of uVision looks a bit aged - with this debugger experience as it is now, Keil and IAR don't need to worry yet.

-- pa

[John Craven]

Posted on January 22, 2018 at 16:47

While it

TrueStudio

is '

just another Eclipse+GCC'

I can't tell you how many hours i have wasted, trying to follow outdated 'setup guide' for 

Eclipse, for this use or that use, on window and Linux!  

Way to many hours! And something always broke, if the setup every ran as the tutorials showed! Every time a total PITA!

TrueStudio

 downloads, setups up in a click or two. I run CubeMX and my project is setup in

TrueStudio, in 

one more click. The first time i use it, there might be a couple clicks/entries to setup an ST-Link or J-Link. And then i am building with no issues! I have used 

TrueStudio

 since early V7. Upgraded multiple times before the STM V9 with zero issues each time.

There was more work filling in the download request form and then deleting the subsequent emails from partners trying sell me PRO or other tools, than getting it running! LOL

Back to 

'

just another Eclipse+GCC'...

The difference, is it works!, and getting productive is uber simple!

With 

TrueStudio, 

All the time spent on

Eclipse 

setups and ongoing maintenance, goes to coding, not to waste!

I never tried the PRO eval, didn't want to know what i was missing! LOL

Thanks to ST, I now get the pro features too! 

However, i reserve the right to to tell you if am still happy later, when i am fumbling around with some other IDE, after i need some none STM32 mpu! LOL

I tried lots of the others.

I started with free Keil. Hit the 32kb barrier on a project. Pushed my to eval others and settled on

TrueStudio

.

For awhile, i was hard not having some debug features that I had in Keil.

But i got around that using STM Studio and STM32 ST-LINK Utility with 

TrueStudio, rather than the PRO version viewer in the IDE.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on January 22, 2018 at 18:10

It seems that it works better than what I've seen earlier using other Eclipse based tools (gcc, java).

[John Craven]

Posted on January 22, 2018 at 18:28

Keil vs

TrueStudio (diffs that slow me down)

Editor Intellisense

Keil is hands down, better and more responsive than 

TrueStudio.

I have to hit ALT space in 

TrueStudio

Look what TrueStudio gives me when i am 6/9 of the way to HAL_Delay! LOL

Viewers for Registers and Peripherals)

TrueStudio offers a single viewer, for all mpu regs and periph reg.

Every time you recompile and return to the debug perspective, the tree collapses!

It your watching a periph at the bottom of the list, you have to scroll down and re-expand... LOL

Keil you can open separate viewers of each peripheral!

Keil periph viewer does collapse on closing debug, but its only one click to see the bits a periph

 reg.

Keil mpu reg  viewer is separate viewer stays expanded.

I hope ST/TrueStudio will copy this, but ...  leave the view expanded!

That's the view that i setup! Don't change it til i change it!! LOL

[Pavel A.]

Posted on January 22, 2018 at 19:31

Atollic now have 

https://forum.atollic.com/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=fc23baba175e363fd0bd6a924d602ff7

for the new TrueStudio STM32. 

-- pa

[Matthew Staben]

Posted on January 25, 2018 at 18:58

A big difference is KEIL is a version controlled compiler and can be used for FDA type projects; GCC cannot.  FDA projects require documented, full re-test of ALL PATHS whenever the checksum changes.  With GCC, the GCC/libraries themselves have to be tested.  Similarly, one likely won't use FreeRTOS for FDA projects because it's not controlled as is Wittenstein's SAFERTOS - unless a full documented, full re-test is performed.  

[fdan00]

Posted on January 29, 2018 at 13:29

From the practioners perspective not much difference. Both get the job done. Keil or iar has better support, to a paying customer.

Truestudio previously supported non stop chips but not any more. It also automatically links on spl. While some may consider that a plus, I personally find it's lack of configurability undesirable, as I write code without Hal or spl.

Keil 5.0 and later has the right idea in rtp. But it's implementation isn't so great. In that respect, coide got it right, before 2.0. but they are unfortunately dead so you have to manually play with it with newer chips.

[T J]

Posted on January 30, 2018 at 01:35

Visual Studio is an excellent, well behaved IDE.  but GDB costs over $100.

Very profession, very fast.

I use the SWD port, single step, no problem.

I have programmed '091 '767 L072, L073 all on VS, all very stable.

I have 1 board left still running on Keil uV5,

I find it quite difficult to work with.

I will move it across to VS before the 256k trial runs out

:(

I wont be paying in excess of $5000 for that painful, slow, uncooperative, old hand IDE.