The following code may not be the best, but it is simple and it should work (if I've missed anything out or not been clear enough anywhere, please let me know so I can fix it). I'm not an expert with ST's microcontrollers, but I have at least managed to get something running on the microcontroller after a few frustrating hours spent with the current documentation. I personally found the documentation quite baffling, and judging by a thread on Hack a Day I wasn't the only one. Hopefully that will improve as more people get hold of these new kits, as their incredibly low price and self-contained nature makes them ideal for beginners (no need to build up a collection of parts or buy a programmer to get started, just plug and play). Unfortunately, what appears to be lacking at the moment – not surprisingly for a new product – is guidance for absolute beginners with ST's microcontrollers.
It's solidly built and comes attractively packaged, with clear instructions on the back of the box on how to run the demo program (just plug it in to a USB port!) and where to go next for development tools. I really wasn't expecting much for £4.25, but am very impressed with the hardware. All you need to do is provide a USB A to USB B cable and download the various development tools (Windows only at the time of writing), datasheets and libraries. ST's recommended price is $7 I bought mine for £4.25 from Farnell. A jumper can be used to select 5V or 3.3V operation.Ī green LED and a touch sensitive key are built into the evaluation board the device comes pre-programmed with a demo program that flashes this LED at different rates when you touch the key.Īll in all, a decent piece of kit – but what really sets it apart is its price. Standard 0.1" pin headers are provided to permit you to connect the board to other components, and a small wrapping area is also present. The circuit board has been designed so that you can simply snap off the ST-LINK part if you'd like to use the microcontroller on its own. The evaluation board is pretty feature-packed, and includes an integrated ST-LINK for programming and debugging over USB.
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