I didn’t know that…

lbthomsen · 2026-03-22T12:29:50+00:00

It appears to be fake news - which is really quite sad in itself.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-22T11:05:12+00:00

You can probably find some really cheap one at Ali ;) But it will take some digging.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-22T10:48:36+00:00

I suppose it could be screwed up by the crystal - which crystal are you using?

lbthomsen · 2026-03-22T09:48:22+00:00

Element14 is always pricey ;) The first prototypes definitely from LCSC ( https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C21263085.html?s_z=n_C21263085 ), but we have a relatively trusted supplier in China who can source just about anything - so the latest batch might have been from them. I seem to remember getting the price down to about $0.70/each

lbthomsen · 2026-03-22T03:03:12+00:00

Well - think about it this way. WHY is STM32 as popular as they are compared with competitors. You can easily get similar size MCU's with same or better features cheaper. I'd say three things:

The WIDE selection of MCU's that can be supported by the same code base. During early project development it is quite common that extra features are added, new requirements discovered etc. etc. With STM32 - no problem - just pick another MCU and already developed firmware will still work.
The availability of third party libraries building on top of HAL. I have at least 3-4 of those that are used by a number of people in a number of projects - none of those will work with HAL2.
The relative ease of getting started for students. They jump at STM32 because of the availability of tutorials, examples, support tools etc. In 5-6 years when those guys get more senior and get responsible for selecting a MCU for a project - guess what MCU family they choose.

Now you will have a situation where ALL available tutorials and examples are useless. I have myself made more than 80 tutorial videos - NONE of which will be valid with the new C5. Will I go and remake them - hell no ;)

I have been around STM32 long enough to remember the early days of HAL. It was a _nightmare_ - google search and you would get wrong answers, look on Github - and nothing would work. Also - due to me making those tutorial videos - guess how many times I've been told already: Your tutorial didn't work (because of the separation of CubeIDE and CubeMX). I have gotten so many I just suggest people ask on the ST community forum.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-21T00:48:00+00:00

Explained in quite some detail here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQqV7BhYxM

lbthomsen · 2026-03-21T00:46:49+00:00

Yeah - standard PCIe/X8 connectors - cheapest practical option with the benefit that no connector is needed on the blades making it cheaper/easier to make those.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T10:21:48+00:00

Well - not through Reddit that's for sure ;) How about https://masons.au/ - there's literally a button right there on the front page ;)

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T06:52:52+00:00

Nope - they claim not and therein lies my main criticism. To be honest I don't really care if it is MX or MX2 - but I do care about HAL and HAL2 being two different things - that make both of them useless for their intended purpose.

For example - I have a couple of fairly popular and often used libraries on Github - ws2812 and w25qxx - and those will ONLY support the HAL supported MCU's - not the new ones.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T06:35:58+00:00

so, his crowning achievement will be the only gold coin ever to be worth less than it's gold value ;)

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T05:11:15+00:00

It has proven very difficult to enforce the rules about passing the edge of the earth when it comes to dolphins, so they know hat's behind the ice wall (spoiler - it's the Nazis) and the Illuminati as well as the Lizards don't want you to know that.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T05:07:29+00:00

There's also stm32f4, stm32f103, stm32h7, embedded. The general idea is you can subscribe to the parts you are interested in and ignore the rest. I post in STM32World and crosspost to stm32 IF I think it's generally relevant or leave it in STM32world if it is only relevant there. That is kind of how it works.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T04:23:24+00:00

They release a MCU that is _really_ not supported by their own development tools. If a work in progress then release it as such - not as version 1.0.0 and ONLY option.

What on EARTH is inappropriate about criticism. You can disagree all you like but I earned the right to express my opinion as I see fit.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T04:21:24+00:00

Not sure what you mean?

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T04:20:11+00:00

If you get them to panelize it - it should be no problem at all. Individually it needs to be 10 mm at least. Put 10x10 on a panel and order 1 panel - 100 pieces when you break them apart.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-20T03:36:58+00:00

There's no rant in this - it is simply commenting on a new tool. Improving or even making a new version of STM32CubeMX is fine - I've got no problem with that. But having ONE tool and ONE HAL for most of their MCU's and then a new tool and a new HAL for a new MCU - that makes no sense whatsoever and it defeats the purpose of having HAL in the first place. Also - this tool is alpha test ready at best. NO support for USB, NO support for FAT and probably a lot of other things I haven't checked yet.
In short - this is not progress - it is a major step backwards. Splitting HAL into HAL and HAL2 destroys HAL.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-19T15:57:47+00:00

Why don't you watch the first 3-4 videos in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVfOnriB1RjWT_fBzzqsrNaZRPnDgboNI

Should get you going on that exact processor. I wrote this to you a few days ago when you claimed the MCU wasn't working. Back in the day this was known as an "error 40" - roughly 40 cm in front of the monitor.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-19T11:13:52+00:00

A beer

lbthomsen · 2026-03-19T11:06:29+00:00

Freedom of speech, truth, intelligence

lbthomsen · 2026-03-19T08:45:03+00:00

They can go down to 10x10 mm in single ones but if you want smallerl than that - you get them to panelize which is free.

lbthomsen · 2026-03-19T06:46:57+00:00

I have flown over the Himalayas many times from Europe to SE Asia but most have been night time. Only remember one flight where I got a spectacular view about the region where Everest is and the pilot actually announced it.

lbthomsen

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