Ebay, STM32 dev boards. What's on the CD's? Where to find more info?

[paulie]

Yeah... 35 cents would have been a great price for 103c. Even double that. As mentioned my record so far is 80 cents. In fact whenever they are anywhere close to a buck I grab them because one of my clients will pay close to full price even knowing they are 2nd class chips.

I do wish there was GCC for STM8. Probably because these are such crummy MCUs for HLL. Only one register instead of the normal dozen probably makes life difficult for GNU coders. Reminds me of the old PICs crippled in the same way. The compact and efficient STVD package includes an excellent assembler though so fits my one dollar one minute bill quite nicely. Cosmic and Raisonance are probably good compilers too but I'm not willing to go through all that registration baloney just to play. Another nice thing about GCC.

[westfw]

STM32 were not featured in the ghetto thread.

Huh?  The ghetto thread STARTED talking about STM32f030 chips, and only got diverted into STM8 experiments when he noticed how cheap they were...

[paulie]

True, but as mentioned in my last post STM32 means 103c in "paulie talk". I was pleased to see the 103c finally brought into the fold there.Really quite ghetto too considering there's not a huge difference in price compared to F0. In many cases cheaper than F0, particularly considering memory and IO.

[Sailor]

Cheapest I could find so far was this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARM-CortexM3-STM32F103C8T6-STM32-Core-System-Development-JTAG-AMS1117-33-Board-/301283707327

Hmmm, yes, but scroll down the page to the full product description. It's the same board, and you can read the STM32F103... on the chip, but have a read of the description at the very end:


1 PCS BC04-B Bluetooth to UART Module Industrial Master-Slave Wireless Bluetooth
Article-Nr.:5200137
Product Details:
BC04-B Bluetooth to UART Module
Condition: New

Description:
1. Adopt the mainstream CSR bluetooth chip, the bluetooth V2.0 protocol standard
2. Serial port module working voltage 3.3 V, Transmission distance is about 15 meters
3. Default baud rates is 9600,it can be set by user
4. Working status indication, connection and disconnected status signal output, is advantageous for the MCU to track the state of module
5. Core module size: 26.7 x 13 x 2.2 mm
6. Working current:matching: 2~30mA .matched but not communication: 5~6mA communicating: 10mA
7. Sleep current: don't sleep, but support low power mode
8. Used for GPS navigation systems, water and electricity gas meter reading system, industrial control system
9. Can add bluetooth adapter with bluetooth laptops, computers, PDA and other equipment for seamless connection

Specification:
1. Bluetooth protocol: Bluetooth Specification v2.1+EDR
2. USB protocol: USB v1.1/2.0
3. Frequency: 2.4GHz ISM band
4. Modulation: GFSK(Gaussian Frequency Shift keying)
5. Transmission power: 4dBm, Class 2
6. Sensitivity: -84dBm at 0.1% BER
7. Rate:Asynchronous: 2.1Mbps(Max)/160 kbps,Synchronous:1Mbps/ 1Mbps
8. Security features: Authentication and encryption
9. Support profiles: SPP(master & slave)
10. Power supply: +3.3VDC 50mA
11. Working temperature: -20~+55 Centigrade
12. Size: 26.7mm x 13mm x 2.2 mm

NOTE :BC04-B is the master-slave integrated bluetooth serial port module,Master-slave can be changed by command
Color and more details are shown as pictures
PLS NOTE that due to lighting effects, monitor's brightness/ contrass settings ect, there could be some slight differences in the color tone of the pictures and the actual item!

Package Included:
1 x BC04-B Bluetooth to UART Module
 

Still, for $8.21 it's hard to quibble, and what appears to be the same board is also advertised on that same page for $7.96, and then $6.59.

[Brutte]

OT:

The stm8s ... you almost break your leg stumbling over those while looking for stm32's on ebay.(...)Too bad there's no gcc for it.

No GCC, but there is a working SDCC for STM8 (plus several other free STM8 attempts).
The real problem is that there is no free and open source gdb for STM8.
Well, there is gdb7 (GPL) from STM that works great with STM8 but unfortunately this is an old version of GDB (without MI) so it would require rebuilding + minor tweaks to work under Eclipse.

[paulie]

Still, for $8.21 it's hard to quibble, and what appears to be the same board is also advertised on that same page for $7.96, and then $6.59.

First of not all of those are lowest cost options. For example that $6.59 turns into $8 when you actually click on it. Not everyone on these forums is a great shopper but with a little experience one can quickly find the best deals. In this case following my "cortex board" lowest cost suggestion from the other thread will allow you to save a couple bucks. Also note that another dollar or two gets knocked off on Aliexpress due to no Paypal or Ebay fees. I prefer the Ebay protection so usually willing to pay a little more, a LITTLE more.

Due to increased publicity prices are creeping up in these listings. When my buddies and I purchased they were $5 and change on Ebay and $4 at Aliexpress.

On a listing as confusing as that one there are two possibilities: you might get it for free or you might get stiffed. If there's not too much money involved and you are polite it's usually full refund. Otherwise expect 50% settlement. For an escalated case it's up to Ebay customer support to decide and if you don't get tricky or do this on a daily basis they usually decide in favor of the buyer.