Software Development Tools

Most development tools used in Hexabitz are free and/or open-source to make it easily accessible by everyone. Here’s a list of tools that might be useful:

• STM32CubeIDE: STM32CubeIDE is an all-in-one multi-OS development tool, which is part of the STM32Cube software ecosystem. STM32CubeIDE is an advanced C/C++ development platform with peripheral configuration, code generation, code compilation, and debug features for STM32 microcontrollers and microprocessors.
• uVision: uVision is the industry-standard embedded software development tool for ARM devices. It is usually a pretty expensive tool, and you are only allowed 32 KB code size in the evaluation version. We were lucky, however, that ST and Keil (uVision developer, a subsidiary of ARM) decided to provide a free license for STM32F0 MCUs! (the ones used in Hexabitz mainstream implementation.) Click on the link in the top right corner of this page to claim your free license. P.s. Hexabitz now are using STM32CubeIDE instead of it.
• RealTerm: RealTerm is a handy (and free) serial and TCP terminal software that can be used to access Hexabitz CLI.
• STM32CubeProgrammer: STM32CubeProgrammer (STM32CubeProg) is an all-in-one multi-OS software tool for programming STM32 products. It provides an easy-to-use and efficient environment for reading, writing and verifying device memory through both the debug interface (JTAG and SWD) and the bootloader interface (UART, USB DFU, I²C, SPI, and CAN).
  STM32CubeProgrammer offers a wide range of features to program STM32 internal memories (such as Flash, RAM, and OTP) as well as external memories. it also allows option programming and upload, programming content verification, and programming automation through scripting. STM32CubeProgrammer is delivered in GUI (graphical user interface) and CLI (command-line interface) versions. It can be used to program Hexabitz modules as explained here.
• FLASHER-STM32: The STM32 Flash loader demonstrator is a free software PC utility from ST, which runs on PCs and communicates through the RS232 (serial port) with STM32 system memory bootloader (ST factory bootloader). It can be used to program Hexabitz modules, but now we’re using instead STM32CubeProgrammer.
• STM32 ST-LINK Utility: The ST-LINK utility is a free, full-featured software interface for programming STM32 MCUs via ST-LINK programmer connected to JTAG/SWD ports. It can be used to program Hexabitz modules, but now we’re using instead STM32CubeProgrammer.
• STM32CubeMonitor: The STM32CubeMonitor family of tools helps to fine-tune and diagnose STM32 applications at run-time by reading and visualizing their variables in real-time. In addition to specialized versions (power, RF, USB-PD), the versatile STM32CubeMonitor provides a flow-based graphical editor to build custom dashboards simply, and quickly add widgets such as gauges, bar graphs and plots. With non-intrusive monitoring, STM32CubeMonitor preserves the real-time behavior of applications, and perfectly complements traditional debugging tools to perform application profiling. With remote monitoring and native support for multi-format displays, STM32CubeMonitor enables users to monitor applications across a network, test multiple devices simultaneously, and perform visualization on various host devices such as PCs, tablets, or mobile phones. Moreover, with the direct support of the Node-RED^® open community, STM32CubeMonitor allows an unlimited choice of extensions to address a wide diversity of application types. Hexabitz modules can be built in interactive GUIs using STM32CubeMonitor.

Hardware Development Tools

• Circuit Maker: Circuit Maker is a cloud-based electrical CAD software available for free from Altium. We have designed our first 20+ modules on Circuit Maker and published most of them on our account there.
• EAGLE: EAGLE is a famous electrical CAD software now owned by Autodesk. There is a free license with some limitations in board size and layer count, but it should work with most of Hexabitz modules. We moved into EAGLE as our official electrical CAD software for module design. You can download our EAGLE design files from our GitHub account.