RISC V from WCH , looks interesting

[MadScientist]

Just came across the CH risc v range of microcontrollers from WCH , lols very promising , some nice small footprints including 8 pin TSSOP , lots with CAN , and extremely cheap, LSCC  seem to stocking  a small selection

Anyone any experience of this range

[GromBeestje]

There are already some threads about them on here.
See
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/wch-$0-10-risc-v-mcu/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/ch32v307-risc-v-minicore-with-ethernet/

[brucehoult]

And Dave's video this week:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1524-the-10-cent-risc-v-processor-ch32v003/

They seem to be a solid company, good manuals translated into good English, decent amount of sample code etc. Serious about entering the international RISC-V market.

[dorkshoei]

If the chip is $0.10,  you'd expect that dev board to be $2 not $10.   The impact of low volume I guess.

[westfw]

If the chip is $0.10,  you'd expect that dev board to be $2 not $10.

SURE you would.  Feel free to attempt to make your fortune by selling similar boards at a lower price.

From the WCH Official AliExpress store, the "development kit" is $5.51, and includes the dev board, a programmer board, and 5 chips.  Is that better?  (Plus postage that exceeds that amount.  Sigh.)
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804709476544.html

[dorkshoei]

If the chip is $0.10,  you'd expect that dev board to be $2 not $10.

SURE you would.  Feel free to attempt to make your fortune by selling similar boards at a lower price.

Can I suggest you unknot your undies.  It might help.

[MadScientist]

There are already some threads about them on here.
See
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/wch-$0-10-risc-v-mcu/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/ch32v307-risc-v-minicore-with-ethernet/

Thanks for that

[uliano]

Not sure if it is appropriate to continue in this thread or start a new one (possibly in the beginner section).

Anyway, here are my (silly?) questions (I have this board https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005004367173443.html and this debugger https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005004500525618.html).

With MounRiver Studio I'm able to compile, download and debug this example https://github.com/openwch/ch32v307/tree/main/EVT/EXAM/GPIO/GPIO_Toggle and blink LEDs

1) in main.c only one header "debug.h" is included. I searched for it and it seems (to me) quite uninteresting so, where in hell is the "rest of the stuff"?? Where I can find all the #define and try to gather information on the API???

2) the code seems to initialize an USART (which one??? in the MCU? in the debugger?) and uses printf() to write to it (how considerate!). However I tried to connect a terminal emulator to COM7 (the port at which the debugger is attached) only to see the cursor blinking. The debugger has four pin other than power and gnd: SWD and SCK which I connected to the MCU board and TX, RX which I left unconnected. Are these latter pins supposed to be connected to one of the 8 USART of the MCU? which one??

[mon2]

Which kit are you using? You should download the code examples for that target cpu.

[uliano]

Which kit are you using? You should download the code examples for that target cpu.

The board and the example code are linked above, they are matched for a ch32v307 (the chip is VCT6 variant)

[uliano]

2) the code seems to initialize an USART (which one??? in the MCU? in the debugger?) and uses printf() to write to it (how considerate!). However I tried to connect a terminal emulator to COM7 (the port at which the debugger is attached) only to see the cursor blinking. The debugger has four pin other than power and gnd: SWD and SCK which I connected to the MCU board and TX, RX which I left unconnected. Are these latter pins supposed to be connected to one of the 8 USART of the MCU? which one??

Sometimes the effort to write your question as clear as possible (enhanced by foreign language barrier) is enough to point you to the answer:

So it is USART1 pins A8,A10 and yes it needs to be connected to the TX, RX pin of the debugger.

This board and development system seems really nice! I'm getting aroused.