SMT32F0-Discovery free sample

cachomachine

Senior Member
Aprox 2 weeks ago and following a thread that stated free samples, you only have to register, (Tried to search for the thread but was unsuccessful) I registered and applied for the free sample.
I never received a confirmation that my request was accepted nor do they contacted me that they were shipping but yesterday, there it was in my mailbox.

http://www.st.com/internet/evalboard/product/253215.jsp

•STM32F051R8T6 microcontroller featuring 64 KB Flash, 8 KB RAM in an LQFP64 package
•On-board ST-LINK/V2 with selection mode switch to use the kit as a standalone ST-LINK/V2 (with SWD connector for programming and debugging)
•Board power supply: through USB bus or from an external 5 V supply voltage
•External application power supply: 3 V and 5 V
•Four LEDs:
•LD1 (red) for 3.3 V power on
•LD2 (red/green) for USB communication
•LD3 (green) for PC9 output
•LD4 (blue) for PC8 output
•Two push buttons (user and reset)
•Extension header for all LQFP64 I/Os for quick connection to prototyping board and easy probing
•An additional board is provided which can be connected to the extension connector for even easier prototyping and probing.

I did not have a lot of time to play with it and I wonder how many of you applied and how many received it?
 

westaust55

Moderator

cachomachine

Senior Member
They have Arduino developement projects on their web site for the discovery so it should not be very far from Picaxe
 

mrburnette

Senior Member
Almost every processor / uController has a "launch" budget that includes the distribution of discovery boards and such: some at a discount (like TI and some FREE.) The payback is significant even if only a small percentage of those getting the units actually go on to design and produce products. Then, there is the "sustain" budget that provides for 'free' chip samples for professionals (and creative hobbyists.) The economics are easy to understand and much of the processes are old-school way of doing business for the big fab houses. It's great advertising, gets interest stirred, and generates some return for the business.

@westaust55: you and I have both previously 'mentioned' to fellow forum members about the need to keep the forum aligned with PICAXE products and topics since the cost for the forum is strictly with RevEd. However, I think cachomachine's comment is appropriate and that the Forum is to blame because there is no place for enthusiasts to be enthused!

RevEd's main business may be education, but a significant amount of good-will is generated by hobbyists who have a real need to share good fortune. I have done this myself with the dual-LCD displays from eBay. We see the rules bent often for products such as the digital oscilloscope that is really a for-sell product but forum members received a discount. Surely "FREE" is the biggest discount that a company can offer: cachomachine's good experience has (In My Opinion) just as much right to this digital forum as womai's oscilloscope project.

The fault is solely RevEd's for not having an area of the forum where such information can be shared. This hypothetical area does not need to be indexed and it can auto-archive on some regular basis to keep storage minimal... or simply auto-delete since most of the posts are time-sensitive anyway. Anyway, I AM PROPOSING THE CREATION of such an area... as far as I'm concerned, it is something that is long overdue.

@RevEd: ball is in your court

-Ray

PS: for those in the U.S. looking for a fantastic deal on a color, all digital storage oscilloscope with USB/PC interface, check out: http://www.tequipment.net/RigolDS1102E.html AND http://www.tequipment.net/RigolDS1052E.html for a great deal w/ free shipping. Mine arrived double-boxed and with Rigol factory security tape completely covering the seams. The unit has 2 probes and a CD with PDF and software. See YouTube for Rigol advertisements. There are reported issues with the firmware, but nothing that concerns my use.
 

cachomachine

Senior Member
They have Arduino developement projects on their web site for the discovery so it should not be very far from Picaxe
I have never worked with Arduino but almost every electronic part that is sold on the internet for the Arduino can be interface with a Picaxe
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
ST seem to promote a variety of hardware, both free and extremely low-cost, and it's undeniably value for money and well put together.

Like many micro development systems it's a completely different experience to what one gets with a PICAXE; having to find, configure, and understand third-party tools and there can be a steep learning curve if not familiar with the hardware, tools and paradigms used.

Just because it's free or cheap doesn't make it better so in that respect it's probably not 'competition' for PICAXE as such but more something which may, or not, be useful when used with a PICAXE.

I've got a number of STM8S Discovery boards lying in a drawer gathering dust, because the effort to make them do things became just too much and ultimately it was easier to use PICAXE. For me the lure of cheap hardware wasn't matched by ease of use nor gave me anything particularly useful as a result. I therefore gave the SMT32F0 Discovery a miss as having nothing compelling about it to merit the commitment of effort to use it; it will be interesting to see how you get on with it and what uses you find you can put it to.
 

mrburnette

Senior Member
I have never worked with Arduino but almost every electronic part that is sold on the internet for the Arduino can be interface with a Picaxe
In this context, you are correct; even RevEd sells 3 "shield" items such as: http://www.techsupplies.co.uk/epages/Store.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Store.TechSupplies/Products/AXE401KIT

BUT...

Consider that RevEd's intellectual property is the PICAXE firmware and that this code runs on a uController made by Microchip. The Arduino is an "environment" that has an open source following and uses many tools under the Arduino which is a kind of GUI wrapper. The Arduino environment creates compiled code that is loaded onto chips made by ATmel, a competitor to Microchip.
Key points:
- PICAXE is an proprietary interpreter for BASIC (dialect PICAXE) that is implemented on PIC uControllers from Microchip

- Arduino is a software open source wrapper over many tools (compiler, linker, libraries, downloader) that generally target chips made by ATmel and more specifically targets boards manufactured to the Arduino specification.

Because Arduino boards such as the UNO and Mega are designed to a certain ATmel chip and because the Arduino project publishes the electrical specifications of the boards, it is possible for a company such as RevEd to produce a board with similar physical characteristics so that the many sensor boards that are inexpensively available for the Arduino line can be used with the PICAXE (via connection to the PICAXE uC shields.)

In a perfect world, everyone would live happily for-ever-after... but ATmel and Microchip are fierce competitors. RevEd is strategically aligned with Microchip as a business model, so there is some tenseness in these PICAXE - Arduino and Microchip - ATmel discussions.

@cachomachine: my advice is to be sensitive to this discussion since it involves businesses with different business models (Windows vs Linux different!!!) and involves users with alliances to hardware and technology implementation - it might as well be a religious argument. Be careful, there are no winners here. As for myself, I play in many worlds and I'm comfortable with the Arduino or the PICAXE or the TI platform. This even transcends into my having both Windows and Linux platforms around the house.

- Ray
 

mrburnette

Senior Member
I've got a number of STM8S Discovery boards lying in a drawer gathering dust...
For me the lure of cheap hardware wasn't matched by ease of use nor gave me anything particularly useful as a result.
Oh, my Hippy... was one board not enough to persuade you or were you just collecting specimens for your personal museum? :D

- Ray
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Oh, my Hippy... was one board not enough to persuade you or were you just collecting specimens for your personal museum? :D
I usually buy in three's; one to get working, a second to develop the next version on, and a spare for when I inevitably blow one up !

Having more than one also means you can do comparative testing if something doesn't work or you suspect you have blown something up; if one works and one doesn't it's likely hardware, if both behave the same it's likely software.

There's also nothing worse than not having bought enough and then finding you can't get another when you kill one or have another project in mind.

It looked to be limited offer at the price asked so I took a gamble which unfortunately did not prove to be the bargain expected. Luckily the low-cost meant little money was wasted and, in terms of the overall adventure, it was probably a fair price to have paid.

It's like "yummy cake, 1p each" at the supermarket and just two left on the shelf; do you pass on the offer, buy one and maybe wish you'd bought the second, or buy two and risk finding you hate the taste! Is it a bargain, or is it their way to shift awful tasting cakes ?
 

mrburnette

Senior Member
I usually buy in three's; one to get working, a second to develop the next version on, and a spare for when I inevitably blow one up !

It's like "yummy cake, 1p each" at the supermarket and just two left on the shelf; do you pass on the offer, buy one and maybe wish you'd bought the second, or buy two and risk finding you hate the taste! Is it a bargain, or is it their way to shift awful tasting cakes ?
When it comes to bargains, I understand and appreciate the urge to be one-up with the item... and 3 is a reasonable number. I can't remember ever seeing a "yummy cake", but the concept probably applies to little fried-fruit pies, something I have a significant tendency to be unable to resist.

- Ray
 
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