Re: Struggling to find a STM3220G-EVAL kit - anyon... - STMicroelectronics Community

Posted on June 07, 2011 at 03:07

Hi,

I'd like to use the STM32F2 series MCU for a new project, but am struggling to find a STM3220G-EVAL. I plan to use this to prototype the product.

Does anyone know where I can source one, or have a spare that they are willing to sell?

Thanks

Dean

15 REPLIES 15

Posted on June 07, 2011 at 03:31

Struggling to find a STM3220G-EVAL kit - anyone know where I can get one?

ST directly?

All the STM32F2 board are on heavy allocation, shipping primarily to key accounts. You'll either need to speak to your local ST rep and get on that list, or wait until supplies easy up in the next few months. Loaner boards are hard to get too.

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Posted on June 07, 2011 at 18:08

Depending on your circumstances, two other options might be better than months of waiting:

Use an available kit with another STM32 processor. The software will be mostly identical and you will get a lot of debugging out of the way.

If you can populate boards in house, leap ahead and prototype your application. I just ordered an 11 inch by 3.5 inch panel of several unpopulated boards at a cost of $200 for 2 copies. Then after assembly and debug, I am ready for redesign for production.

Cheers, Hal

Posted on June 08, 2011 at 00:59

Thanks Hal,

are the actual chips readily available? The F2 series? The second option I had considered, but in regard to the first option I'm not sure whether there are any F1 series with the same onboard peripherals (including ethernet, CAN, USB, SDIO) - I'll have a look at that.

I'm new to these ARM Cortex devices having really only worked with Atmel AVR before, but they look pretty good on paper.

Dean

Posted on June 08, 2011 at 02:23

The thing to consider here, is that the STM32 and STM8 series parts share a lot of the same peripheral designs. For the STM32 parts the pin outs are fairly consistent too, not identical mind, but they worked hard at it.

The key issue to be aware of is the pin contraints, you won't be able to use all the peripherals at the same time. You'll have to figure out what your critical peripherals are, and what combinations of instantiations, and pin remappings will be required to achieve your goals. This requires some careful floorplanning, and forethought. Pay particular attention to the documentation, and errata.

The limits come from keeping the packaging costs down, and uniformity across models and the assorted pin count packages.

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Posted on June 08, 2011 at 03:50

F2 chips are available. I checked Digikey in the US and they show availability in the 64 and 100LQFP packages, but not for all versions. I didn't check other package types or other suppliers. Whether or not they are readily available depends on which version you need.

The best other advice I can give you is to make a large print copy of the middle paragraph in Clive's last post and put it where you can see it every day. It can save you a lot of frustration.

Cheers, Hal

Posted on June 08, 2011 at 07:53

F2 chips are available - we have a couple running on a board here.

We have not been able to find the eval board (same as you) so we did a quick board using the 100 pin chip and have it up and running, running code. We're programming it using a ST-Link. Note that the current ST Links do 3.3V for JTAG whereas the F2 chips can do 1.8V I/O so if you're planning on running the chip at a low voltage you'll need a voltage translator for JTAG. Apparently there's a new rev of the ST-Link ''on the way'' that'll handle lower voltage JTAG, but I haven't seen one yet.

I've no doubt the other programmers (J-Link etc) will support the F2 at some point, perhaps now, but given the F2 is such a new part, we felt the ST-Link was probably a pretty safe bet (even if we did need a voltage translator chip). So far we've found no problems with the part.

Posted on June 08, 2011 at 08:56

''I'm new to these ARM Cortex devices having really only worked with Atmel AVR before''

In that case, I would definitely suggest that you follow Hal's advice: get whatever STM32 Eval board you can for now, and begin gaining familiarity on that while you wait for the specific kit. You might even find that this gives you sufficient confidence to go straight to your own hardware without needing a kit...

All the manufacturers & distributors are keen to promote their Cortex-M3 lines at the moment, so there are lots of training opportunities available - seminars, etc.

''they look pretty good on paper''

As Clive says, a big Gotcha! with just looking at the paper specs is that they tell you the total numbers of peripherals available, but you can't just use them all simultaneously - due to the pinout restrictions.

You need to be very careful to plan a usable combination of peripherals...

Posted on June 10, 2011 at 22:37

Hi Dean,

Where are you located? Maybe I can help suggest a distributor near you. - Trish

Posted on June 13, 2011 at 16:02

In USA/Canada: As of June 13th, Arrow and NuHorizons report stock. Please don't hesitate in contact Sales Support to help you find a board. More STM3220 board stocking orders are being shipped now.