Electronics > Beginners
Unsure about which Arduino to start out with for my project!
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Brumby:
If you've had no programming experience in the microcontroller world, the Arduino path isn't a bad way to start - IMHO.

I'd also recommend getting a MEGA 2560 for your initial development.  This gives you heaps of I/O and you can concentrate on getting your application going.  Once functional, you can then look at rationalising down to a physically smaller board and the 2560 can be used for future projects.

There are some caveats, though.  If you need to plug in a keyboard to the Arduino or need the Arduino to present to the host as a USB keyboard, you will need to look at the options for doing so, as not all Arduino variants have the same capabilities.
rstofer:
Arduino versus all the others...

Every possible project that can be done with an Arduino has been done and is documented on the Internet.  That statement may be a reach but it's pretty close to accurate.

It is quite helpful to gather bits and pieces from other working projects rather than rolling your own from scratch.

The mbed compatible STM boards as well as the LPC1768 mbed itself are far more capable platforms but the number of documented working projects isn't anywhere close to the Arduino.

I sure wouldn't be touting the Arduino IDE once I found that I could install an add-in to Microsoft Visual Studio and use a real IDE

https://www.visualmicro.com/

The IDE, by default, uses some regrettable colors, especially the error messages.  On my screen, with my color vision, they are unreadable.  Yes, with a bunch of searching of the Internet, it is possible to find a way to fix that.  Having done that, the IDE is still crap.

With the mbed compatible boards, you can use the online toolchain and install nothing.  The created executable is downloaded and all you have to do is drop it on the board which is acting like a mass storage device.  It's just like dragging and dropping any other file.  Hit the Reset and you're up and running.

If you need to get down and dirty debugging interrupt routines and other hardware related issues, the STM-Link V2 is quite nice.

If the STMs are an option (and they should be, they have a BUNCH of peripherals and gobs of memory) buy the book "Mastering STM" by Carmine Noviello and follow along as he installs the tools along with Eclipse for the IDE.  Do it his way, it is far more likely to work out.

I would think the hardware design for a project like this would be fairly straightforward, even for a beginner.  Not knowing how to program embedded systems is a much bigger issue.  It's going to take a ton of research to get up to speed on that.  Again "Mastering STM" may help.
picandmix:

--- Quote from: C on May 29, 2018, 12:03:46 am ---
With STM32 you can use a
"st link v2"  for all

You can get a cheap clone or use one built in to most discover boards from ST

 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=arduino+st+link+v2+

--- End quote ---

Hi,

Would appreciate some advice, a friend  has a stmF411re Nucleo board they do not use as such, and it has its own snap off StLink board.

Can this be used to re-program the bootloader  on one of those stm32103 boards to be used as Ardunio ? 

Do we need to actually need to snap it off, seems there are a lot of jumpers and header pins on the StLink section, so thought it might be possible to program  another external device while attached the to Nucleo section ?

thanks
C:


--- Quote from: picandmix on May 29, 2018, 05:56:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: C on May 29, 2018, 12:03:46 am ---
With STM32 you can use a
"st link v2"  for all

You can get a cheap clone or use one built in to most discover boards from ST

 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=arduino+st+link+v2+

--- End quote ---

Hi,

Would appreciate some advice, a friend  has a stmF411re Nucleo board they do not use as such, and it has its own snap off StLink board.

Can this be used to re-program the bootloader  on one of those stm32103 boards to be used as Ardunio ? 

Do we need to actually need to snap it off, seems there are a lot of jumpers and header pins on the StLink section, so thought it might be possible to program  another external device while attached the to Nucleo section ?

thanks

--- End quote ---

Just some find details to help all.

ST Link V2 is ST's programming tool.
As STM32 micro-controllers can be run a many different voltages this is covered.

The ST link v2 that is included with the discover boards and others is a more limited version built to work at that voltage.
From the ST documentation I have seen, you have many options.
1. You can snap off the Link v2. The documation I have seen their is two sets of holes on each side of snap point  that you can add a headers.  If you connect the headers with a cable it;s back working. but Now a separate limited ST Link V2.

2. Remove solder jumper or cut traces. Have seen this option in most ST documentation. Adding headers lets you local program or program something else STM32 at same voltage.

All the ST documentation about the boards I have seen have real good documentation of the many options a board has.

So Yes it can program a STM32 chip.

Ardunio

People often miss that the Ardunio IDE can do it's programming many ways.
The normal is installing a bootloader which then allows programming over serial
The Ardunio can use ST Link V2 to program STM32 chips.

The ST Link V2 uses JTAG SMD to program & debug a chip.
STM32 chips have the two connections for this connection.
The STM32 chip could be blank. SMD can program, read, write, erase and can be used to debug  a chip.

In Addition
A lot of STM32 chips come with a Rom Memory boot loader. Capabilities very by chip and the interfaces of that chip.

You sill often find that a STM32 that has USB can be programmed over USB.

Was looking at one STM32 that had a CAN bus interface that you could use to load a program. A different STM32 could not via CAN as it had a different Rom Memory boot loader.

ST Application note AN2606 lists the ways the Rom memory boot loader can function.
http://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/technical/document/application_note/b9/9b/16/3a/12/1e/40/0c/CD00167594.pdf/files/CD00167594.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.CD00167594.pdf

the STM32103 is SWD or USART1 using the Rom Memory boot loader.
ST sets the standard on how it works

You can load firmware that is a boot loader with different capabilities like a Ardunio boot loader which uses an Ardunio standard.

so
ST link V2 via SWD always.
A program that can do ST serial protocal via USART1
Ardunio after loading Ardunio boot loader firmware.

is what the chip can do.

Google "stm32f103c8t6 bootloader"
The cheap stm32 boards are often called "Blue Pill"

C



Sudo_apt-get_install_yum:
I would start of using a Arduino/ Genuino UNO clone from eBay, the go for few bucks since you’ll probably destroy a few since you’re a beginner. You should be able to build the project around a ATmega328P (Arduino UNO MCU) running on 3.3V since many sensor nowadays run on 3.3V and run it on its internal 8MHz and prescale it for power saving.

You could also use an ESP32 that has plenty of I/O pins, built in WIFI and Bluetooth, 4M flash and loads of Ram, it also runs on 3.3V and can be programmed through the Arduino IDE just like the UNO.

Personally I would probably use the ESP since it has the inbuilt Bluetooth but the whole project should work just fine on an Arduino UNO!
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