How to setup ChibiStudio

Introduction

In this article we are going to see how to setup ChibiStudio, an Eclipse-based toolchain that conveniently helps to develop embedded firmware for different microcontroller families.

We are going to install ChibiStudio for Windows 2022-01 but the user should always pick the latest version for his Operating System. Every update of ChibiStudio comes with a newer version of ChibiOS, Compiler and Debugger. Older versions of ChibiStudio, as well as a changelog can be found here.

Step by Step Procedure

Get the latest version of ChibiStudio

1. Go to the Official page of ChibiStudio
2. Download Windows or Linux latest version

Extract the package

1. Open the downloaded package with 7zip ( download it for free from 7-zip.org)
2. Select the folder ChibiStudio
3. Click on Extract
4. Choose C:\ as destination
5. Press ok
6. Check that ChibiStudio is located at C:\ChibiStudio otherwise the toolchain will not work

Launch the toolchain

1. Copy the link Chibi Studio GCC x.x onto the desktop and double click on this link to launch the toolchain
2. Check the Project Explorer contains ChibiOS Tools and Documents
3. Check the bar title contains the version of ChibiStudio and ChibiOS in use as well as the location of the workspace
4. Check the toolchain starts with the perspectives C and Debug

Throubleshoot

My ChibiStudio looks very different from the picture above

Cause

It is probable that some files got corrupted or lost while extracting ChibiStudio. There are a few possible causes:

• You are not using 7zip as package extractor
• You extracted the package in a folder and then copied it under C: and some files got corrupted as their path became longer then 260 characters.
• Your antivirus wrongly classified some of the files from ChibiStudio as potential threats and quarantined them.

Solution

Clean up the previously extracted folder and start over being sure to:

• Use the latest version of 7zip
• Extract directly under C:\
• Configure your antivirus for an exception on ChibiStudio files

My ChibiStudio starts but I got errors when building projects

Cause

It is probable that you extracted ChibiStudio at the wrong path or that your antivirus blocked/quarantined the compiler executables.

Solution

Clean up the previously extracted folder and start over being sure to:

• Use the latest version of 7zip
• Extract directly under C:\
• Configure your antivirus for an exception on ChibiStudio file