STM32, Maple and Maple mini port to IDE 1.5.x

[PaulRB]

UPDATED 28/04/2015:

A new forum has been set up to replace this thread:

http://www.stm32duino.com

This thread will continue to be updated but only for posting any major announcements in the future. Please use the new forum to continue any current discussions, raise new issues or ask for advice.



UPDATED 28/12/2014:

As this thread is now over 50 pages long, a Wiki has been created to organise all the useful information from the thread:

https://github.com/rogerclarkmelbourne/Arduino_STM32/wiki


ORIGINAL POST:

It sounds amazing value at first glance...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-STM32F103C8T6-ARM-STM32-Development-Board-Module-For-Arduino-Tool-/251621420724?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item3a95ce2eb4

but how is it connected with Arduino (or claiming to be)?

Neither of the web addresses seem to work either!

[Coding Badly]

It's connected to the Arduino in the sense that it is a competitor.

This should get you information about similar boards...
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=STMicroelectronics+arduino

[mart256]

These Hong Kong vendors put the word "Arduino" on any electronic device just to sell more stuff.

This is a microcontroller, brand is STM and it's core is ARM 32 Cortex-M3.
It's kinda the little brother of Arduino DUE, and it's much cheaper.
Includes debug on board (USB).

[mcnobby]

This one is even cheaper -> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARM-Cortex-M3-Leaflabs-Leaf-Maple-Mini-Module-STM32-for-Arduino-/111450858151?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item19f2fd22a7

Does this actually connect to the arduino IDE ?
anyone know or have any information ?

Regards

EDIT : STM32 Maple / Arduino WIKI :
https://github.com/rogerclarkmelbourne/Arduino_STM32/wiki

[mart256]

If you read the description it says it has its own ide called maple, they claim it is code compatible with Arduino. This means you can grab the blink example and paste it on maple ide, and it will compile.

[PaulRB]

This one is even cheaper

And the Maple IDE and implementation of Wiring looks very Arduino-like.

Good spot mcnobby!

[luisilva]

I believe that can be difficult using some shield because there will not be some compatible libraries.

[mart256]

I believe that can be difficult using some shield because there will not be some compatible libraries.

It depends on how big the community is.
The launchpad community seems to be growing and they have translated many arduino libraries, same with teensy and pinguino.

[mcnobby]

I just bought one of those mini maple leafs, at only a few quid it is worth the risk just to find out how it flies.

I already have a Due, and I love its speed, just dont like the bulk, so for me I dont care about shields

Once it arrives and I have had a play I will be back to let you all know

[PaulRB]

I just bought one of those mini maple leafs, at only a few quid it is worth the risk just to find out how it flies.

Me too (the Maple clone, not the original item I posted)

The Maple documentation & IDE seems reasonably good. Lets hope these clones are not significantly different in any important respect. The only differences the vendor mentions is related to power supply and board layers. This may mean we won't get the 11~12 bits accuracy of the original Maple on the analog inputs.

Shame the Maple forum is a graveyard compared to Arduino forum! Sounds like LeafLabs may be abandoning support, or at least future development for the Mini.

[mcnobby]

|t would be nice if Arduino could pick up the old Maple Leaf support and bundle it in with the arduino IDE

[PaulRB]

|t would be nice if Arduino could pick up the old Maple Leaf support and bundle it in with the arduino IDE

They've had plenty of time to invent a Due-Mini, but seem to have decided to explore other avenues (Yun etc)

[Paul__B]

I just bought one of those mini maple leafs, at only a few quid it is worth the risk just to find out how it flies.

And me too - marginally cheaper again on the Australian site.  The seller (I figure one seller frequently operates under a number of names; they come with the same postmark!) might wonder about/ be amused by the sudden "blip" in sales of one item. 

It's sort of a beefed-up Nano, as is Crossroads' device. Runs at 3.3V so you really, really don't want to stress the regulator.  And the clone is very much stripped-down from the original, missing the analog noise minimisation features.

[mrburnette]

Note: Please make reference to:
https://github.com/rogerclarkmelbourne/Arduino_STM32/wiki
For a summarized version of pertinent information contained in this lengthly
thread.  Also, some simple Mini Maple projects with source may be found on
my blog: http://www.hackster.io/rayburne


I just completed a 90-day play with the PSoC $4 32-bit ARM prototype boards running at 48MHz with 32K EEPROM and 4K SRAM.
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=92146

My initial observations and my final feelings are posted here (also the projects are on this site):
http://www.hackster.io/rayburne/psoc-4-the-arduino-killer

But in general, the ARM 32-bit is just another processor.  In most of the projects that I cloned from the Arduino world, the 8-bit Arduino worked equally as well as the 32-bit ARM.  The Cypress PSoC has some great hardware features such as OpAmps, Configurable digital blocks, and way cool PWM.  But, the downside is the community... small communities mean more work for me (you) as you must research, implement, write, lots of support software.

Personally, except for specific things such as FFT or native 32-bit algorithms, I think the Arduino 8-bit and Due 32-bit environments are more productive.  Although the GUI is a sad excuse when compared to what professional tools can provide.

In my case, it comes down to fun.  I learned a lots with the 32-bit ARM but I also used a lots of 4-letter words from my old Air Force days.

Here is the last sentence of my blog:

Hurry-up and wait in the Arduino translated to hurry-up and wait longer in the PSoC.

Ray

[PaulRB]

Hi Ray,

You're absolutely right on 2 counts (at least):

1. The community is often the most important component for getting a project working! It was/is true of the PicAxe forum and its true here.

2. Simpler is often better for the hobbyist. That's why Arduino has been successful. When the hobbyist outgrows the 8-bit AVRs, the need is often simply for more speed, ram and/or flash.

Megas, Bobuinos and the like only really provide 2 of those 3. The 16 (or 20) MHz limit, combined with 8-bit architecture, can become the next bottleneck.

Having said that, and before anyone else comments, I expect 4 out of 5 Arduino users hit those limits because of inefficiencies in their own sketch. Learning to make better use of those limited resources is where they should probably focus, rather than immediately reaching for more powerful hardware, because that will only result in their sketch becoming even more inefficient!

You probably remember my fascination with Conway's Game of Life. I would still like to adapt my algorithm for a larger matrix. For that I would need more ram. Currently it maxes out the ram on a mega328 processing a 128x64 matrix. A Mega644/1284 would allow that, but to keep up the speed on that larger matrix, I would need more processing speed too. So that's one thing I would like to try out on this ARM-thing one day.