ST STM32 versus Luminary micro LM3S ?

[7rots51]

stm32 rtos

ST STM32 versus Luminary micro LM3S ARM cortex micro?which of them are better? why?

 

[bobsanjose]

stm32 vs luminary

If you need more peripherals, you will probably find them with Luminary, if you need more MHz, you will find it with ST. Both families have their advantages. I would always add ARM7 into the comparison if it is more higher end or for example the LPC2103 when for lower end. The Cortex M3 offers a few advantages but there is a much wider variety with ARM7 cores.

Bob

Some ARM7 and also some Cortex devices are listed with a few benefits on this site:
www.lpc2000.com/other/

 

[7rots51]

stm32

what about software library(firmware ,drivers) given by ST and Luminary? Which is better and more practical and effective code?

 

[SmartBomb1979]

stm32 vs stellaris

Luminary provides a very complete and thorough driver library (full source code) for their chips. Helped me get going very quickly.

Plus I personally believe that their evaluation boards/kits are superior to those available for the STM32 right now.

As for higher layer firmware (RTOS, TCP/IP stacks, etc...) it's a toss up, as vendors support both chips readily. The beauty of the M3 is that it's even got a built-in timer, so RTOS code can really be virtually identical even across vendors. (Normally there is a small porting to hook in the chip's timer to the RTOS tick functionality, so you must learn how the chip's timer peripheral works. With the M3, the timer is inside the core, so it's write-once, run-anywhere.)

Good luck.

P.S. As was mentioned by bobsanjose, the NXP LPC2xxx parts, esp. the LPC21xx, are very peripheral-rich and cost-competitive. We're using the LPC2101 in a design and the cost at our volumes is damn close to $1

 

[bobcat1]

stellaris vs stm32

Hi

The power consumption of the LM3s is higher then the STM 32 since it use the 250nm process and the STM32 use 90nm process


All the best

Bobi

 

[7rots51]

stm32 tcp ip

what about JTAG debugger and design tools?

 

[boseji]

luminary vs st

Hello,

I have been able to use the STM32 by uploading the code through serial port. Also it works for Ram debug with Olimex Jtag + IAR ARM.

 

[bobsanjose]

stm32 lm3s

@Bobcat

where did you get your information of ST using a 90 nm Flash process? Too much science fiction!
In deed ST is using a smaller process than Luminary but the difference is only 1 generation (250 - 90 would be 4 generations).

Bob

 

[probert]

stm32 stellaris

Hi all,

CC had a DesignStellaris2006 Contest two years ago. You can see the results, codes on their websites. They provided Stellaris LM3S811 Evaluation Kit, Kiel µVision3 IDE for fw development. By using the Stellaris Driver Library it was a very easy task.

For STM32, just take a look at here: http://www.stm32circle.com/hom/index.php


Which is better? They are just great!

Regards,
Robert

 

[ME]

stm32 luminary

The power consumption of the LM3s is higher then the STM 32 since it use the 250nm process and the STM32 use 90nm process

where did you get your information of ST using a 90 nm Flash process? Too much science fiction!
In deed ST is using a smaller process than Luminary but the difference is only 1 generation (250 - 90 would be 4 generations).

I don't know what process STM32 and the first generations of LM Stellaris use, but LM says the 4th generation Stellaris use 130nm:
https://www.luminarymicro.com/products/stellaris_family_of__microcontrollers.html

Luminary Micro Continues its Leadership with the 4th Generation of Stellaris Microcontrollers

Nine New ARM Cortex-M3-based Microcontrollers Unveiled in Low Power 130nm Technology
...
The new Stellaris family members further extend the industry’s largest ARM-based microcontroller product line by adding higher performance with speeds up to 100 MHz and lower operating power with 130nm low power technology.

 

[yorkbeary]

one more thing: STM32 has 12-bit ADCs but LM has only 10-bit.... Which is one reason i didn't choose LM.

Furthermore, i personally think that LM (now TI) is a better manual maker than ST.

 

[bobsanjose]

Well, things change over time. The original posting was two years ago and it is a different ball game talking about TI versus ST or talking Luminary versus ST.
With TI as a parent company, the Stellaris products (LM3S) have much more fire power with big customers. I wrote a couple years ago that the 90nm from ST was Science Fiction, now it is a fact that ST offers latest devices in 90nm Flash technology and it won't end here. Both companies, TI and ST take the Cortex-M based microcontrollers very seriously and let's add a few more like NXP, Toshiba and on a different scale Energy Micro.
Most of the relevant devices can be found here:
**broken link removed**

As for development Tools, different companies prefer different options. TI prefers complete reference designs, rather specific but on the other hand close to the final design and for maximum reuse on customer side IF the application is a fit.
**broken link removed**
ST has good libraries and probably the biggest variety in software created through their partner Raisonance with the Primer2 **broken link removed**
The site that lists all the open source software is STM32cirlce http://www.stm32circle.com
NXP uses an approach with LPCXpresso and mbed **broken link removed**

So, here are different approaches and in the end it is your judgment which one is best for you.

Documentation depends so much on what you are used to. Until a couple years back, I was responsible for documentation at a big semiconductor company and it is tough to make a majority happy, let alone everyone. Documentation needs to be precise, to the point, comprehensive, detailed, not too long, structured, .....
You create a 1000 page manual and have all the details, users won't read it and won't find the details. You try to describe it on 250 pages and it lags the details but you might have a majority of satisfied customers..... It's a catch 22.

Just a bit of information from the other side of the fence where we write the documentation you (don't?) like.

Cheers, Bob
**broken link removed**

 

[Kaleborg]

I found better support from Luminary Micro guys and it was much easer for me to work with the examples and software provided by them.

When i ordered STM primer it was delivered faulty, their Ride 7 gave me some trouble(the R-Link driver in particular) and I found their examples bit confusing.

But in terms of microcontrollers I think they are similar.

 

[rominou1987]

Hello all,

Just to update a little bit this thread, I've start using ST and luminary product about 6 month ago.
First I've got a STM3210C (STM32F107) development board from ST and 1 month later a DK-LM3S9B96 (LM3S9B96) which is also a development board but from TI/Stellaris/Luminary.

One of the really great thing on the TI board is the ICDI port (microUSB), no need to use the JTAG any more, is faster in both flashing and on board debugging.
And the configuration is way easier than the ULINK tools I've used with the ST JTAG port. It was hard at first to get the ST board working...
The ICDI microUSB port is also used to power the board unlike the ST board which uses an external power supply.

The LM3S board (from TI) also came with a bootloader directly installed on it allowing you to reflash the board over ethernet.

The libraries are better on TI/Stellaris/Luminary side but the ST website is really easier to use. On TI website I spend hours to find some specific example related to can communication.

After trying both boards for 5 month I prefer using the TI board.
I prefer TI documentation, library and example.
The demo board is better looking but maybe less "industrial" than the ST board.
On this TI board you don't have any UART DB9 port (just USB emulation), there is only one CAN port, one input switch and one user led.
On the ST board there is 1 UART DB9 port, 2 CAN DB9 port, 8 input button (included a joystick composed of 5 input) and 4 LED.

I've implement the QP framework (event driven state machine) and I've used CAN, UART, LCD touchscreen, ADC, digital I/O, the ethernet port and the USB port.
On both board it's working well but it was easier and more pleasant on the TI.

The TI board is about 50euros more expansive than the one from ST.

The port of the project (both on Keil uVision 4) was very easy... almost no modification needed.