CubeIDE forcing you to login to ST is complete [...]

[JDoe.2]

I don't care if the title of this post breaks some sort of forum usage rule, I just need to make it absolutely plain that I am sick and tired of every last company on Earth insisting I have an account with them and use it whenever I so much as breathe, drink a glass of water or, Chtuluh forbid ! update a HAL library for a microcontroller.

I believe there are more than enough bugs in CubeIDE, let alone actual necessary features that are missing, to keep your developers occupied forever. You did not need to waste everyone's time forcing people to login to ST. This feature brings nothing, helps no one but yourselves, and was asked by absolutely nobody, ever. So please, may I suggest you rethink this stupid, bordering on evil new addition to CubeIDE, and remove it with the next version ?

FYI, some of us work in companies where our computers are not, must not and cannot be, connected to the internet. It's already tough enough installing some of your HAL libraries (the patches) while being offline, we do not need the additional hassle of a login system that does nothing useful anyway.

A tool has to be convenient. If my screwdriver required an internet connection so as to snitch on how many turns I do in each direction depending on my GPS location, I'd start considering switching to fingernails or rocks.

You are welcome to try and make a case as to why you need me to log in to download updates to stuff you provide free of charge. I do need a good laugh.

Oh and I haven't checked on my last CubeIDE ticket... did you finally fix the bug where CubeIDE is confused when launching firmware on a target with Flash banks swapped ? Because that would sure be of actual use to the legions of programmers doing FOTA.

[rutrap]

Hello, I have 10 nucleo-L476RG for students in my school. In my studio, there is a system for restoring computers from an image and I cannot allow students to log in to their st.com account. Is it possible to install drivers and libraries for the board without logging in to the st.com account? Alternatively, is it possible to create an account and log in to the account from 10 computers at the same time?

[Pavel A.]

@rutrap Since the logon is needed only for updating/installing stuff, you make a "master" setup using your own account, test it, remove your login info (*) and finally provision this image to all student stations. Students in this scenario are not supposed to modify their setup.

How to remove the login info? Search for it in the registry (Windows only) or user files.

[rutrap]

Thank you for your answer, I will try it tomorrow and let you know. However, I think it should be possible to install library updates without logging in. In my case, I will have to update the libraries in the image myself from time to time.

[Pavel A.]

Yes it is possible to unpack and install the Cube firmware libraries manually without logging in. At least it worked before the latest CubeMX/IDE update. But you still have to log in to download them. You can also get most of the released versions from github, without login.

[Richard Lowe]

Agree, the forced login is simply uncalled for. There is no clear benefit to the users and no potential benefit to any increase in ease of use or productivity. Please provide a clear advantage to its use or remove it.

[Piranha]

The advantage is that an educated manager Walter can tick a box in his PowerPoint presentation and explain to the bosses how they improved the enjoyable cohesive experience.

@STOne-32 , @mattias norlander , @KDJEM.1 , @Khouloud ZEMMELI , pass this post to the ones, who did this (especially the Walter), so that they can see themselves from aside...

[STOne-32]

Dear @Piranha , all,

As stated in previous post, we are considering your valuable feedback in order to provide best customer experience : Debug and Software tools ecosystems are now key factor for considering an MCU product in next project design at same level as its performance and features. As you can see here from last Embedded Survey - May 2023 with a panel over 600 experienced embedded engineering staff .

 

STM32CubeIDE is key element for STM32 MCU/MPU ecosystem and we can not ignore your valuable feedbacks. Our Marketing and Technical teams will take it into account in the future roadmap for our customers best experience. 

by the way, very nice nickname “Piranha”- it was the internal project code  name for the very first and famous  MCU STM32F103XB :) I was among the team working on it :)

Cheers,

STOne-32

[Harvey White]

There are a number of things to consider:

1. The desirability of using a product is related, in part, to the convenience in using it.  Difficult to understand, limited (in terms of function), and administratively limited products have no desirability.
2. ANY and EVERY microprocessor manufacturer MUST have free tools.
   1. Nobody will pay thousands of dollars to experiment with a product that may have no utility.
   2. Limited programs unless you pay money will eliminate "casual" users and may limit you to large corporations.
   3. Large corporations may buy 10000 of your product, but it only takes 1000 people buying 10 of the same product (at a higher cost) to surpass that corporation.  Ignoring the small user has penalties.
   4. Making a comment (by a corporate representative) about how the small user (or anyone) should be grateful that you are providing free tools is extraordinarily counterproductive.  Annoy enough small users and you may well notice it on your bottom line.
   5. Tools need to be as versatile and as easy to use as possible.  Seems simple, but long learning curves are destructive to user learning.
   6. Commented code, WELL commented code, is essential to understanding your product.  The more who understand it, the more uses it will be put to.
3. Those tools must be the foundation of your demonstration code.
   1. Using something like BSP (which seems to be a closed system) says that "we know and you don't"
   2. it also says, the tools we have (MXIDE) don't do what we want it to do.
   3. Examples USING MXIDE will promote the use of MXIDE
      1. Examples that are not well commented will not teach, and those examples that do not teach will be useless.
      2. Knowing YOU know how to make something work is wonderful.  But if you don't, who would?
   4. While ST Micro Nucleo, Discovery, and EVAL boards are wonderful, how do you support the "I buy your processor and put it on my custom board? projects......
      1. There's a remarkable lack of documentation on how to do such projects.
      2. Examples using your own custom hardware become useless when using your own custom BSP drivers.
      3. Do BSP drivers come with a "how to use them"?
      4. do BSP drivers come with a "this is how we designed them?"
      5. NOT looking for how to write software, but DO look for how this software interacts with your custom hardware.
   5. IF you add in things like FreeRTOS, StemWIN, emDOS, TouchGFX
      1. Please pay attention to the above and provide information on how to write drivers.  Not so much the drivers themselves, but
         1. What your software structure expects.
         2. Why you designed it that way
         3. what does that part of the code really do and why?
      2. Note that TouchGFX in particular lacks information
         1. I'm not likely to use it because it seems very limited in how the code works
         2. what the drivers do and when seems to be a problem
      3. Since StemWin seems to be obsolete, it makes itself irrelevant
   6. Having to dig information out of badly commented code is counterproductive.
4. Just because the code works does not make it comprehensible without additional information
   1. EVERY program is written with assumptions on how it is coded, how it is to be used, and even what it ought to be doing
   2. Leaving out that information makes it hard to understand at best, and useless at worst, regardless of how well it demonstrates that "wow!  this is neat!" feature
5. Some things to consider
   1. I do write software
   2. I've done it for a while
   3. Clarity in writing is a good goal

[Richard Lowe]

Wow, could not have said it better. 

[Pavel A.]

But look again at #2: he wants the tools and tutorials to be free, but in real world there is no free. Someone has to pay for it. We end users usually have to pay with our time and effort. Or we can pay someone else for their time and effort.

Good educators are rare, this is a special talent and it is scarce. /* My hope is with the AI: imagine a consultant that  always has time for you, never bored, ingests tons of code, manuals, errata in a second. But this sounds too good for us to get? */