PC prerequisites

Recommended setup: Native Linux PC

Purpose

This article explains and describes the hardware configuration required to be able to activate and run the STM32 MPU platforms.

Recommended PC configurations

The PC requirements depend on the Package you want to use.

The table below guides through the selection and configuration of the host PC environment according the targeted Package:

Host Environment	Starter Package	Developer Package	Distribution Package
Windows (64 bits)  Tested with Windows7 and Windows10  Preferred version Windows 10	native	Virtual Machine	Virtual Machine
Linux (64 bits)  Tested with Ubuntu 18.04 and 16.04	native	native + additional packages (see Linux PC chapter )	native + additional packages (see Linux PC chapter )

There are no absolute minimal requirements regarding the PC hardware configuration, however ST recommends to meet or exceed the following hardware configurations when using Developer Package or Distribution Package.

The table below correspond to the minimal validated configuration:

Hardware item	Minimal validated configuration	Comments / Recommendations
CPU	core i5-2540M @ 2.6GHz 2 cores (4 threads) 3MB cache	64 bits instruction set is mandatory 8 cores/threads or more is a good config moreover for Developer Package and Distribution Package.
RAM	8GB	16GB or more is recommended especially for Virtual Machine setup , Developer Package and Distribution Package.
Hard Drive	320GB	1TB is probably a better config when using Distribution Package

Windows PC

Starter Package may run on Windows.
Developer Package and Distribution Package require a Linux environment.

ST solutions, while reportedly functional when running on a Linux Virtual machine, are only validated for Linux native setups ...

There are several ways to run Linux system on top of a Windows host PC, ST recommends to use a Virtual Machine System:

1. Install a virtual machine such as VMWare
2. Setup a 64 bits Ubuntu image compatible with your virtual machine

ST, in an experimental way, has also run Developer Package and Distribution Package on a WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux 2); see WSL2 chapter.

Virtual Machine System

Virtual Machine installation

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ST has selected VMWare as Linux virtual machine solution.

VMWare is a commercial company specialized in virtualization solutions. The available solutions to support a virtual Linux machine on a Windows PC are:

• VMWare Workstation Player (paid solution) for commercial use (download here )
• VMWare Workstation Player (free solution) for home use (download here )

Please proceed with the installation of the virtual machine.

Before running the virtual machine, make sure the virtualization is activated in the BIOS (it should be activated by default for any retail PC).

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Download the Ubuntu image for the virtual machine

The "osboxes.org" website provides virtual machine images compatible with VMWare(*.vmdk).

Setup have been validated and tested on Ubuntu 18.04 (64bit) and Ubuntu 16.04 (64bit).

Download the 64 bits Ubuntu image available at and:

1. Unzip the downloaded file
2. In VMware create a virtual machine using the Ubuntu virtual disk downloaded from osboxes.org.
   

The recommended usage is to dedicate, at least, half of the host machine to the virtual machine:

- CPU: 2 cores at least,
- RAM: 6 Gbytes or more is a good choice (the more RAM allocated to Virtual Machine the better - the RAM allocated to Virtual Machine must be 4GB minimum),
- Network: NAT is good and an easy way to benefit form a network connection within the virtual machine.

Virutal size of virtual disk downloaded from osboxes.org is about 500GB. Even if the real size of the file of the virtual disk is less at beginning, the size could growth up to 500GB over compiling distribution package or development package.

For VMware, you need first to create a default virtual machine then add the .vmdk file, previously downloaded. Please refer to the VMwarePlayer screenshot tutorial.

Launch of Ubuntu image

For "AZERTY" keyboard users: The default keyboard configuration is "QWERTY". In order to configure the keyboard for "AZERTY", start by opening a session (take care that the keyboard layout is QWERTY). TIP: the password for the default user "osboxes.org" is "osboxes.org". TIP: the '.' character is obtained by clicking ':' on an AZERTY keyboard configured in QWERTY. Once the session is opened, click the 'En' icon on top/right of the screen, select the French ('Fr') keyboard layout and move it to the first position in the list. Optionally the 'En' keyboard can be completely removed. If the 'Fr' option is not present, it can be added with the 'Text entry setting' menu.

Default Credentials of the Ubuntu are set to "osboxes.org" for both login and password.

Adjust screen resolution: The (default) resolution used by the virtual machine is 800x600 (smallest available). It is not automatically adjusted to the display resolution. In order to adjust the resolution, click the "settings" icon ('toothed wheel' on top/right of the screen), then "system settings ..." > "display" and select the appropriate resolution for the display (do not to forget to click the "Apply" button on bottom/left of the "Screen Resolution Setting" window).

For a better experience with the VMware virtual machine, install "vmware-tools" in order to be able to use the clipboard to drag-and-drop and copy/paste files between VMware and Windows. A step-by-step installation procedure of vmware-tools is available in the document: PreRequisite-Vmware-tools.pdf

The virtual machine is up and running!

The Ubuntu setup must be finalized according recommendations provided in Linux PC chapter

USB connection's speed: USB connection is requested for accessing STLink (debugger and serial port) and by STM32CubeProgrammer. The speed of the USB connection between Linux running in the virtual machine and the external USB devices can be severely impacted by: the virtual machine USB setup; the USB controller in the host PC; the USB device connected to host PC; any USB hub between the USB host and the USB device. If the speed of your USB connection is too low, we suggest to: try different USB configurations of the virtual machine; connect the USB device directly on the host USB port (without any USB hub); try connecting the USB device to another USB port of the host (some PC have different USB controller on different USB port).

WSL2 (experimental)

Even if STMicroelectronics strongly recommends to use a Linux® environment, the Developer Package and Distribution Package works in WSL2 (Windows Sub-system Linux 2) environment. WSL is a feature provided by Windows 10®.
ST has run unsuccessfully Developer Package and Distribution Package on WSL but successfully on WSL2. WSL2 is available on Windows 10® since build 18917.

WSL 2 is a new version of the architecture that powers the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run ELF64 Linux binaries on Windows (more details on aka.ms/wsl2).

• WSL2 - Installation :
  • To install WSL2 please read this webpage: https://docs.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windows/wsl/wsl2-install
  • Once WSL2 installed, jump to chapter #Linux_PC to make your WSL2 ready to run Developer Package and/or Distribution Package.
• WSL2 - Limitations :
  • WSL2 up to now (09/2019) does not support hardware such as USB devices, serial, ... (more details).

    This means, STM32CubeProgrammer should be used through native Windows

  • WSL2 files are not browsable from Windows native file explorer.

    To share files between WSL2 and Windows, the prefered way is to use the mount point /mnt/c from WSL2 and do copies.

• WSL2 - Tips :
  • Launch graphical application : On wiki.ubuntu.com the page on WSL contains a chapter Running Graphical Applications.

References

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