This is a collection of tutorials that show how to get started with STM8 development using free tools and various evaluation boards. The tutorials include an LED TIMER, which shows a binary counter that increments exactly once per second using the board LEDs and the STM8 timers, RS232 output using the STM8 UART, and standard benchmarks for embedded systems (both Whetstone and Dhrystone; Coremark is not included due to its license, but can easily be ported using the Whetstone and Dhrystone tutorials as examples).
The author used a Debian GNU/Linux system, but the tutorials should work for other Linux distributions, *BSD or other Unices.
All tutorials use:
- The C compiler SDCC, version 3.7.0 or later to compile C programs for the STM8.
- stm8flash, to write programs onto devices.
Minimal boards
These are very simple and cheap boards that have an STM8 µC, but very little else included. They are typically made by unnamed manufacturers. The ones featured here are a bit atypical since most come with pin headers already mounted. Many very cheap boards do not come with pin headers at all.
Discovery boards
The STM8-Discovery are cheap boards made by ST that tend have only very few peripherals included. They have an integrated ST-Link or ST-Link/v2 though, which makes them ideal for getting started with little effort and cost.
Arduino-compatible boards
The STM8 Nucleo-64 boards are made by ST and have Arduino Uno V3 connectivity support and ST morpho headers. These allow easy expansion of the Nucleo open development platform functionality with a wide choice of specialized shields. They have an integrated ST-Link/v2-1. The sduino boards have Arduino Uno V3 or Arduino Mega connectivity support. Both the Nucleo and the sduino feature an integrated USB-to-serial converter.
Third-party mid-range boards
These boards are made by third-party manufacturers, and tend to have a reasonable range of included peripherals.
High-end boards
These boards are made by ST and come with lots of peripherals.
Power conversion controller boards
These boards are made by ST and feature STM8-based power conversion controllers.
Other boards
Various boards that feature STM8 controllers.
| STM8S001 ref. design⁴ | ESP-14³ | Core Board STM8L151CX³ | STEVAL-IAS003V1⁵ | STM8L15LPBOARD⁵ | STEVAL-ISB027V1⁵ |
|---|
 |  |  |  | | |
| Controller |
|---|
| STM8S001J3 | STM8S003F3 | STM8L151C8 | STM8L101K3 | STM8L152C6 | STWBC |
| Tutorials |
|---|
| LED Timer | No LED | No LED | TODO | TODO | TODO |
| Serial | TODO | TODO | TODO | TODO | TODO |
| TODO | TODO | TODO | TODO | TODO | TODO |
Footnotes
| ¹ | Donated by an SDCC user. |
| ² | Bought using Goethe-Universität Frankfurt funding, used in Compiler research. |
| ³ | Bought using my own money. |
| ⁴ | Donated by ST. |
| ⁵ | Bought using Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg funding, used in Compiler research. |
If you would like to see an additional board featured here and are willing to provide the board, please contact me.
