Build, debug & fine-tune STM8 applications for free

14th March 2016

Jordan Mulcare

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STMicroelectronics has extended incentives for designers to choose its popular STM8 MCUs for economical computing tasks in the smart devices that support modern work and life. The latest move by ST, working with Cosmic, means all the software tools that designers need to build, debug, and fine-tune STM8 applications are now available free of charge.

While other MCUs have free tools, these often come with limited features or code size. The free Cosmic C-compiler for STM8 (COS-C-COMPILER), is unconstrained and complete and supports all variants of the STM8 family including the largest 128KB devices.

As a result, designers can begin prototyping with these 8-bit MCUs for just $8, which is the price of the STM8S-DISCOVERY hardware kit for exercising the main features of STM8S Access-Line MCUs. The family also includes the STM8L ultra-low-power line, and the STM8AF and STM8AL automotive lines, giving a choice of over 120 device variants with versatile configurations of on-chip memory, package style, and peripherals such as communication interfaces, timers, and converters.

“The STM8 family is now even more attractive in the 8-bit arena, the largest market sector, roughly 40% of MCU sales,” said Michel Buffa, Group VP, General Manager, MCU Division, STMicroelectronics. “We are committed to ensuring that STM8 devices are chosen to power the majority of the tens of millions of applications that rely on the simplicity and economy of 8-bit MCUs.”

“Cosmic has been working with ST on several generations of STM8 MCUs and our C compiler, CXSTM8, is a perfect fit for this architecture,” said Luca Ubiali, Key Account Manager at Cosmic. “We are happy that its best-in-class performance and flexibility are now freely available to all STM8 users. Moreover, as project safety requirements increase, CXSTM8 field-proven reliability can be easily completed with Cosmic's Unit Testing and RunTime Core Validation products.”

The new, free Cosmic CXSTM8 C compiler integrates seamlessly with the ST Visual Develop (STVD) environment. STVD is part of the free ST MCU toolset that also includes the ST Visual Programmer (STVP) programming interface, the ST Assembler Linker and STMStudio for fine-tuning application behavior.

STVD includes everything designers need to manage application development, from building and debugging application code to programming the MCU. It provides a software-based simulator and handles low-cost RLink and ST-LINK in-circuit debugger/programmers and the STice advanced emulator for STM8 MCUs. The C Compiler was the last software tool that was not free, but now STM8 users can take advantage of the complete set of software tools from ST and its partners, at no cost.