Starting STM8 Microcontrollers
STM8 microcontrollers are 8-bit general purpose microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics (STM).
STM is famous mainly for its line of 32-bit ARM Cortex microcontrollers – the STM32s. STM8
microcontrollers are rarely discussed in that context. However, STM8 MCUs are robust and most
importantly they come packed with lots of hardware features. Except for the ARM core, 32-bit
architecture, performance and some minor differences, STM8s have many peripheral similarities to
STM32s. In my opinion, STM8s are equally or sometimes more matched than the popular PICs and
AVRs in all areas. Unlike PICs and AVRs however, I have seen STM8s mostly in various SMD packages.
Only a handful of STM8 chips are available in PDIP/through-hole packages. I think it is a big reason for
which most small industries and hobbyists don’t play with them as much as with other 8-bit families.
People like to setup their test projects in breadboards, trial PCBs or strip-boards first, prototype and
then develop for production. To cope with this issue, STM has provided several affordable STM8
Discovery (Disco) boards to get started with. Besides there are many cheap STM8 breakout-boards
from China.
I have experience playing with AVRs, PICs, 8051s, STM32s, MSP430s, TivaC and so on. To be honest, I
thought learning about STM8 micros is a pure waste of time and energy. The learning curve will be
steep. Things and tools would be different and thus difficult. However, gradually I found these MCUs
very useful and there’s literally no complexity at all. The main drive factor for learning STM8s is the
price factor. They are hell cheap. When it comes down to other things, I have not found any book on
STM8s written in English. There’s literally no 100% complete blog post on the internet that shows the
basics. Similarly, same story with tools. I have been using MikroC for AVRs, 8051s and ARMs and it is
my favourite but at the time of writing, there’s no MikroC compiler for STM8 family. I have also not
stumbled upon any Arduino-like IDE that supports STM8 micros. Arduino-based solutions are also not
my favourite as they don’t go deep and have several limitations. Maybe it is not my luck. After much
study and search, I found out that there are a few C compilers for STM8s. However, any new tool is
both different and difficult at first. It is not always easy to adapt to new environments. You may never
know what unanticipated challenges and harshness a new environment may throw at you even when
you reach certain levels of expertise. I also don’t want to use any pirated software and so a free
compiler was a major requirement. I found out ST Visual Develop and Cosmic COSC compiler are both
free tools. Cosmic used to be a paid tool but now it is absolutely free. The only easy thing till then was
buying the STM8S Value Line Discovery board for just a few dollars and downloading the stuffs.
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