STMicroelectronics adds free design software to STM32 ecosystem
Following the acquisition of Draupner Graphics, by STMicroelectronics, the TouchGFX suite has now been integrated in STM32Cube ecosystem
The graphics-development tool and software framework for STM32 microcontrollers, offers easy interoperability with STM32Cube software, says the company. The license- and royalty-free package is accessible and supported globally through ST.
The STM32 microcontrollers (MCUs) are attractive are now supported by free software for creating rich, smooth, and colorful graphical interfaces for IoT products and smart devices.
The STM32 is based on the Arm Cortex MCU family, with over 800 device variants and a powerful ecosystem comprising tools, middleware, software libraries, sample code, and evaluation boards that simplify product development and accelerate time to market. ST is now making the TouchGFX graphical user interface (GUI) development suite available free of charge for production and redistribution with STM32 MCUs.
“Many customers have already successfully used TouchGFX to bring smartphone-like experiences to new products running on STM32 microcontrollers,” said Daniel Colonna, marketing director, microcontrollers division, STMicroelectronics. “By incorporating the latest version in our STM32Cube ecosystem, with no license or royalty fees, and supported by our 10-year longevity commitment, we are making this . . . accessible on a global basis.”
TouchGFX is ready to use with STM32 microcontrollers and includes a C++ framework that enables the user-interface code to occupy as little as 10kbyte SRAM and 20kbyte flash memory. It leverages the Chrom-ART Accelerator featured in STM32 MCUs with advanced graphics capabilities and contains a rendering algorithm that minimises the number of pixels to be updated. This enables better graphics and smoother animations on a low memory and power budget. TouchGFX supports user interfaces with colour depth of one, two, four, 16, or 24 bits per pixel and can run with or without a real-time operating system (RTOS).
Also included is the TouchGFX Designer tool, which lets users quickly develop graphical interfaces by simple drag-and-drop operations. It features automatic code generation as well as font, text, and image conversion.
TouchGFX version 4.10 is available now.
