STM have released their STM8 core

FYI…

I noticed that STM have released their STM8 core to github..

See https://github.com/stm32duino/Arduino_C … tree/0.1.0

It currently seems to support two STM8 Nucleo boards, and uses the Cosmic compiler.
There is a Boards Manager package to install the core.
Correction.
Vincent tells me the Boards Manager package will be available later this week.

Hopefully Vincent or Frederic will be able to give us more details.

this is interesting

Do I smell another core? Is this what it takes for me to finally give up on my collection of ATtiny85 ?

ST have been developing this core for over a year.

I think they first mentioned it, sometime in 2017 with proposed release date at the end of 2017, but I presume things must have been more complicated than they imagined.

I’m not sure if it will move anyone away from the ATTiny.

AFIK the STM8 is a fairly old , 8 bit, MCU, but is sold in huge quantities, probably because of its very low price.

I’m not sure if many people on this forum would use it in preference to the STM32F103C8, even though the STM8 is a bit cheaper.

But there are lots of Chinese made modules e.g. Voltage, Current and Temperature meters, Thermometers and Thermostats, “USB analysers” etc and I recall something on HackADay about a 120W variable load, which also used the STM8.

And this core may allow people to re-purpose these sorts of things a lot more easily.

[RogerClark – Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:17 pm] – I’m not sure if many people on this forum would use it in preference to the STM32F103C8, even though the STM8 is a bit cheaper.

Not cheaper, half the price:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-ST … 29870.html

These are th e cheapest MCU dev boards you can get.

Hi,

Effectively, we are delivering a new core to support STM8 architecture. The core and the tools are available, I am now packaging the compiler and BoardManager. Should be available within the week.

The compiler used is Cosmic, it is translating the C++ code into C.
Today, the 2 STM8 Nucleo boards are supported and we tried to be as close as possible to STM32 core. The port is based on STM8 Standard Peripheral Libraries.

Feel free to interact on GitHub and with Cosmic if any issue.

Vincent

VIncent

Thanks.

I think people will be interested in the cheap boards

I just checked the github repo and support, currently seems to be for more higher spec STM8 devices.

Do you think that the Core will work on STM8S003 of STM8S103 etc, if some new “variants” are created?

I think it should be ok.

I took a quick look at the datasheet of the STM8S103F3P6 _ > https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers/stm8s103f3.html
Specs are quite interesting like:
Nested interrupt controller with 32 interrupts
Up to 27 external interrupts on 6 vectors
Only “drawback” (if I can say this): Only 1kB RAM. The “standard” ATmega 328 has about 2kB, so maybe there are compatibility issues with some libraries.
But for € 0,73 for this board it’s ok. (Only two LED’s to desolder )

Edit: This one is “expensive”, but look at the headers and size: Nice to have multiple VCC + GND:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Sh … 23695.html

The boards Manager file is available. We used the same repo as STM32 :
https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles

You can use Arduino IDE with this json file :
https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardMana … index.json

In the Arduino_Core_STM8 readme, you will see that we provide support for the 2 Nucleo boards (based on STM8L152R8 and STM8S208RB).
Regarding the SPL, this means :
STM8L15x/16x/05x/AL3Lx/AL31x
STM8S/A
So our core should work with all the microcontrollers from this families.

Personnally, I don’t have any needs for STM8. If I wish something small, I take the road to the STM32F030 …
Here is a small board too :
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/48-mhz-S … 17785.html

In the Arduino_Core_STM8 readme, you will see that we provide support for the 2 Nucleo boards (based on STM8L152R8 and STM8S208RB).
Regarding the SPL, this means :
STM8L15x/16x/05x/AL3Lx/AL31x
STM8S/A
So our core should work with all the microcontrollers from this families.

Vincent:

Thank You and the STM Team!

I am particularly excited by the work being done with the Official Arduino core for STM devices. We all know that ST has a very well evolved Professional Development Software, but having an Arduino-level core provides for some really quick prototyping and tinkering. Well done.

Ray

[madias – Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:28 am] –
…
Only “drawback” (if I can say this): Only 1kB RAM. The “standard” ATmega 328 has about 2kB, so maybe there are compatibility issues with some libraries.
But for € 0,73 for this board it’s ok. (Only two LED’s to desolder )
…

I think the better comparison would be the ATtiny85 with 512Bytes of SRAM. I’ve done some neat projects with the ’85 in the low-power space. As always, one can never have too many core libraries to choose from as this enhances the engineering selection process for the best uC fit for the need at hand.

Ray

[martinayotte – Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:15 pm] –
Personnally, I don’t have any needs for STM8. If I wish something small, I take the road to the STM32F030 …
Here is a small board too :
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/48-mhz-S … 17785.html

… me thinks Martin would welcome the receipt of an STM8 evaluation board to warm-you-up to the little beast

I, too, likely have no need for an STM8 when I have something like 25+ blue pills and MM in the lab, but I also had a whole tube of AVR tiny85s at one time and I’m down significantly at this time. Variety is as important as Quantity.

Ray

unfortunately i’m still sort of stuck and probably need to use sdcc as i’m very much working in linux
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2682#p35538

going to windows would take a whole reboot cycle in an environment which i hardly maintained

i’ve about 2 pieces of those $1 boards, but sheer lazyiness means that they sit there collecting dust (probably for more than a year)
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2261
and to some extent i’m finally agreeing with martin that it is possibly a wiser decision to get the stm32f030* series after all

incidentally with blue pills approaching the $1 mark, perhaps soon we’d not even need to bother about stm32f030, stm32f103 blue pills works just as well and better and you have the usb thrown in
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale- … board.html

[mrburnette – Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:27 pm] –
I think the better comparison would be the ATtiny85 with 512Bytes of SRAM.

For what it’s worth the recently introduced STM8S001J3 variant (https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource … 390996.pdf) is an 8 pin package. Surface mount S08N, but with old-guy-friendly pin spacing .

The STM8S105 line is more directly comparable to the AtMega328 with regard to memory specs.

Having dabbled with STM8 in various environments over the past two years, I’ve accumulated quite a few board samples and will have to give this a try. Like ag123, I’d much prefer to be working in a Linux environment.

Also, last time I used it, the Cosmic compiler download was free, but required registration and periodic renewal. Is this still the case?

Register and download free:

http://www.cosmicsoftware.com/download_stm8_free.php

+10

Yes, it is small but it is not old at all. Cheap boards can be compared with Attiny, I believe.

[mrburnette – Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:34 pm] –
Register and download free:

http://www.cosmicsoftware.com/download_stm8_free.php

Just a quick note, after installing thanks the board manager, at the first build, a pop up will be raised to register

[mrburnette – Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:27 pm] –

[madias – Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:28 am] –
…
Only “drawback” (if I can say this): Only 1kB RAM. The “standard” ATmega 328 has about 2kB, so maybe there are compatibility issues with some libraries.
But for € 0,73 for this board it’s ok. (Only two LED’s to desolder )
…

I think the better comparison would be the ATtiny85 with 512Bytes of SRAM. I’ve done some neat projects with the ’85 in the low-power space. As always, one can never have too many core libraries to choose from as this enhances the engineering selection process for the best uC fit for the need at hand.

Ray

I agree, the small size, low pin count, no external parts required (at least for simple operation), high software support (Tinys can run most arduino libraries) combined with the low cost is the niche that ATTiny is for me. In this regard, an STM8 with 1k RAM would be a lovely upgrade, especially with Arduino compatible cores, assuming the cost is lower than an STM32F1 :p

[MoDu – Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:44 pm] –
…
I agree, the small size, low pin count, no external parts required (at least for simple operation), high software support (Tinys can run most arduino libraries) combined with the low cost is the niche that ATTiny is for me. In this regard, an STM8 with 1k RAM would be a lovely upgrade, especially with Arduino compatible cores, assuming the cost is lower than an STM32F1 :p

Downgrade?

The trick is to understand that economy-of-scale does not generally apply to the hobbyist/experimenter. Even in 25 quantities, the price-break may not pay for shipping. Unless “fun & education” are included, most hobbyists are better served by a limited inventory of microcontrollers. Focus on knowing everything about your target unit.

But, variety has many advantages, one being using the correct controller for the correctly matched project. This usually distills into using the controller’s peripherals in total, or leaving little unused. It does require some experience to intuitively know that the project code will not overrun chip resources. I consider this fun. In the commercial space, the selection can be critical to profit margins.

Thinking about an under $2 development board, is it really a sin to not fully utilize the silicon? I think not. Time permitting, porting a project over to an STM8 may be fun. But, the converse situation means we mischose the target processor or our requirements were not nailed-down firmly when we started with the STM8. The port will not be fun because we made a mistake and time will be lost in project completion.

For newbies, please do not go down the STM8 route until you have sufficient experience to properly analyze your needs (and the fun factor.)

Ray

My test, Win10 home edition, IDE 1.8.5 (I have to install 1.8.7)

1) Added the json link, started board manager and installed the core.
2) Choose a board, loaded an example sketch, started to compile.
3) Appeared a little window asking for a license file or license server.

So I searched into the core and went there
packages\STM8\tools\cxppstm8\4.1.3
where I found RegArdui.exe
I lauched it, filled the three field and pushed ower web registration.
It started my browser (a new tab since my browser was already opened), inserted the captcha number and got the license file in the mail.
In RegArdui I opened the license file but the install button was then grayed.

So I started again to compile and in the small window I choose the license file and got the sketch compiled.

I don’t have any STM8 nucleo board, only the cheap chinese boards but I hope that I will add it in the future having the instruction like in the STM32 core!

For the compiler, on the first compilation, you have a popup to register on Cosmic website. You just have to fill it once, then you are able to compile.

Normally, we tried to be as close as possible to STM32. So you should have to add a variant directory with your board specificities.

I repeated on another machine, Windows Seven Professional and IDE 1.8.7.

I got the FlexNet License Finder as before but this time I pushed on “Cancel” button and got the Registration Form popup.

Once got the license file this time (this time I used a Gmail account and the Cosmic mail was in spam folder!), after the licence file selection I pushed “done” button, so the popup closed and the compiling finished.
So the first time it was my error.

So, next step will be a new board!

Thanks!