First steps with STM32

A while ago, a contractor who was working with us mentioned this eval kit called the STM32 Primer as a way to get started with ARM CPUs, I duly ordered a couple of them (they're only around £25, and it's always handy to have a spare!). When they turned up, I plugged one in and played the little Pac-Man game that came installed - not bad. Then I looked at the sample C code that came with the dev kit, baulked and promptly put them away and forgot about them. Bear in mind that I have, for some reason, always preferred programming micros (both PIC and AVR) in assembler, this seemed way too complicated. Now, what with the nights drawing in and the weather getting wetter, I decided to get them off the shelf, and discipline myself to get them doing something. After a bit of scrabbling round for reference docs, I was pleasantly surprised that they aren't actually that bad and have even started writing some code to control an LED array (more on this when it's nearer completion). So If, like me you're a bit of a stickler for assembler for your micros, I'd recommend giving these, or any one of the many microcontroller C compilers a try, I think you'll be impressed.

For starters, of course there's the RIDE 7 IDE, which drives the GNU C compiler for STM32, a minimal, but useable version of this comes with the STM32 Primer.

If you like working with AVRs, there's the open source WinAVR - a windows port of the GNU C compiler for AVR.

For PICs, there are also GCC ports, but I've never used them so can't quote any off the top of my head. However, one commercial one, the trial of which I've used briefly, called Mikro C. It does a good job, and makes all the USB features in the PIC18F2550 (for example) much easier to implement.

If you fancy programming PICs and AVRs in BASIC, Vladimir Soso has written pretty damn good compilers and simulators for both these architectures (virtual peripherals, like LCDs, LEDs, switches and scopes are included). I use these myself, and would wholeheartdly recommend them. You can find his site here.

Okay, that's it for the techy stuff here. Have fun!

First Attempt at HDR

Having seen some HDR* photos on the interwebs, I thought I'd give it a go myself, here's the result of ten photos with around one stop between each one, taken from the field at the back of the house. Photos combined with the demo version of Photomatix (which does all the combining and tone correction automatically).

I should really have adjusted the shutter speed rather than the aperture (as that would have messed with the depth of field), and had to be manually fix some images as the camera's sensor burnt out some of the brightest bits resulting in a big green streak across the image - but you live and learn.

* HDR - High Dynamic Range imaging, unless you're living under a rock, you should have heard of this, if not; It's a method of getting more detail out of an image by taking multiple exposures of the same subject, with either different shutter speeds or aperture settings. Selectively combining these effectively brings out detail in shadows and highlights so you see everything in vivid detail. Looks artificial and computer generated, but I like it :)

MP3 Players Hit Sub-£2 Mark

In randomly browsing a stack-'em-high-and-sell-'em-cheap shop (namely QD), I came across an mp3 player for only £1.99!! So far this is the cheapest I've seen mp3 players go for (previous record was ASDA selling them for a fiver).

Not a bad little player - It comes with all the usual stuff such as cheapo headphones, USB cable, lanyard and battery. But the surprise is that it has an SD card slot with a 128MB card already loaded. This is a real improvement on the usual ultra-budget mp3 players that normally can't be expanded. The card alone was probably worth the two quid. Sound quality is passable with the supplied headphones, but significantly better through a decent pair.

The only problem I had was with the supplied battery; It had a tiny bump on top if the plus terminal, which caused the battery to pop out of its holder when tapped. Flattened the bump out on a convenient hard surface and all was okay.

The player is made by Sitecom, and you can see it here.

The pricing of these seems to vary wildly (with Maplins selling them for £6 for example - then again, Maplin's aren't ever the cheapest place out there), so your mileage may vary.

I wonder how long it'll be before we start seeing them for a quid?

In the words of David Frost: "Hello...good evening...and welcome."

Well, here we go - This is really a sort of electronic scrapbook in which to put stuff that I find interesting, and maybe other people will like too. I don't intend to type rambling diatribes about the state of society or economies today, we all know what's going on there (or at least we believe what the media tells us) - nope, I'm not even going to go there.
Edit: Ooh, one thing I *am* going to try to do, is blog on about my progress in renovating a boat - won't that be fun :)