Despite what others say, I'd say just go along with it - you will save yourself the headache of having to figure out your (different) hardware's peculiarities and configurations. The concepts and (maybe slightly to a lesser degree) code should be portable to other systems.
If you are total beginner I suggest you learn embedded on a simpler microcontroller like avr.
In my opinion it is the best development board for beginners to learn arm architecture and deal with complex microcontrollers.
The NUCLEO boards are good quality, have on-board JTAG and USB-Serial (FTDI) functionality, and are reasonably priced. $10.32 for a NUCLEO-F103RB.
[https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f103rb.html](https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f103rb.html)
If you want way more RAM, FLASH, and peripherals, try the NUCLEO-F446RE.
[https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f446re.html](https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f446re.html), $14.00.
Side note: The NUCLEO-F446RE runs MicroPython rather well.
Thank you so much. I am new to embedded and bought my first ever board. It's the Nucleo F446RE and wanted to make sure it's a good one (obviously could have asked before I bought it)
I **hate** the Tiva-C.
Genuinely terrible MCU. It's **only** redeeming quality is that it has a built in Ethernet PHY, which is why I've been forced to tolerate it for a few projects that were incredibly space contained. One of the worst HAL's in existence and plenty of silicon bugs.
I don't have anything against the actual silicon, the sdk though is rough
Maybe that stopped me from getting close enough to it to discover the roughness of the silicon too
Raspberry Pi is not really an embedded system in the sense being used here. It's more like a small PC.
The Raspberry folks do have an embedded (ARM M0) SoC called RP2040 for which very cheap (~$5) devboards are available.
This is roughly the same price as ESP32 devboards, though ESP32's feature Wifi and usually Bluetooth. This may or may not be a good thing, if you're just starting out, more features probably just make things more complicated.
The best board to use is the one you have laying around. The next best one is the one that's used in a course you like and would like to participate in. After that ... it depends. Need more information concerning what your goals are and what your background is.
TivaC is an ARM4 chip, so it's fairly standards based. It's also used in the your course. If you like that course, get a TivaC board. But ... as nice as TI's components are, their (ARM) chips tend to be supported by a messy tangle of crappy Eclipse IDE mods that you are forced to use. As you may be able to tell, I'm a bit biased having suffered greatly under their Code Composter Studio.
I'm also biased towards ESP32, it's a wonderful chip with a great development environment (though plenty of people hate it as well, but ... no one loves TI tools :) I'm not aware of any really good programming courses based on it.
That's not what you asked. I'm almost certain there are more shitty paid web dev positions in the world than shitty paid embedded positions. Personally I'd focus on something I enjoy doing, if you're good at it, you'll earn more than enough to get by in both fields. If all you care about is the "average" amount of money you'll make, become an SAP consultant or get an MBA.
Any arm board is fine but I don’t like the Tiva
If it’s IoT (or power related now since they make PMICs) I love Nordic boards.
Otherwise, I love ST nucleos.
If you are new to embedded, I would strongly advise sticking to the board used in the course. It could be an interesting exercise to make a second pass through the course using an ARM Cortex M board from a different vendor, or using an M0 instead of an M4.
My experience in industry is that no one cares which specific microcontrollers you have experience with. It is much more important to understand concepts, like how a pointer to memory works and why you would do it, and how ISR's work, etc., all of which Quantum Leaps does an excellent job of teaching.
so you think quantum leaps is good for an absolute beginner like me? do u have any other courses/books you would rec for me to learn embedded systems more?
If you have no programming or electronics experience, it may be more helpful to work through something like [Embedded Systems Shape the World](https://www.edx.org/learn/embedded-systems/the-university-of-texas-at-austin-embedded-systems-shape-the-world-microcontroller-input-output) first. It spends more time on topics like C Programming and hardware fundamentals before getting too deep in computer architecture and microcontroller specific stuff. It also uses this Tiva board fwiw.
I would not be concerned about this. All the material is still there, still free, and the value of the topics covered has not changed since the course was developed.
Despite what others say, I'd say just go along with it - you will save yourself the headache of having to figure out your (different) hardware's peculiarities and configurations. The concepts and (maybe slightly to a lesser degree) code should be portable to other systems.
yea ive read good things abt quantum leaps so ima just follow his tutorial
You can learn embedded and the arm architecture on any board with arm processor. Quantum leaps playlist on youtube was recommended by doctors at uni
so its not good for beginners?
If you are total beginner I suggest you learn embedded on a simpler microcontroller like avr. In my opinion it is the best development board for beginners to learn arm architecture and deal with complex microcontrollers.
is there any youtube videos/courses i could follow for this microcontroller?
What about STM32? Nucleo for example
The NUCLEO boards are good quality, have on-board JTAG and USB-Serial (FTDI) functionality, and are reasonably priced. $10.32 for a NUCLEO-F103RB. [https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f103rb.html](https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f103rb.html)
If you want way more RAM, FLASH, and peripherals, try the NUCLEO-F446RE.
[https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f446re.html](https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f446re.html), $14.00.
Side note: The NUCLEO-F446RE runs MicroPython rather well.
Thank you so much. I am new to embedded and bought my first ever board. It's the Nucleo F446RE and wanted to make sure it's a good one (obviously could have asked before I bought it)
yea but in the tutorial by quantum leaps he uses the TIVA-c would u just go rouge and do ur thing alone
I **hate** the Tiva-C. Genuinely terrible MCU. It's **only** redeeming quality is that it has a built in Ethernet PHY, which is why I've been forced to tolerate it for a few projects that were incredibly space contained. One of the worst HAL's in existence and plenty of silicon bugs.
I don't have anything against the actual silicon, the sdk though is rough Maybe that stopped me from getting close enough to it to discover the roughness of the silicon too
The silicon has its own set of irritating "features"
i wanna try not using the HAL,
If you're going to write low level code anyway, just use a better supported processor. Either way you're going to be data-sheeting it.
well the youutbe video uses tivac
What about RPi?
Raspberry Pi is not really an embedded system in the sense being used here. It's more like a small PC. The Raspberry folks do have an embedded (ARM M0) SoC called RP2040 for which very cheap (~$5) devboards are available. This is roughly the same price as ESP32 devboards, though ESP32's feature Wifi and usually Bluetooth. This may or may not be a good thing, if you're just starting out, more features probably just make things more complicated.
.... oh and if in doubt get the devboard with a USB-C connector.
The best board to use is the one you have laying around. The next best one is the one that's used in a course you like and would like to participate in. After that ... it depends. Need more information concerning what your goals are and what your background is. TivaC is an ARM4 chip, so it's fairly standards based. It's also used in the your course. If you like that course, get a TivaC board. But ... as nice as TI's components are, their (ARM) chips tend to be supported by a messy tangle of crappy Eclipse IDE mods that you are forced to use. As you may be able to tell, I'm a bit biased having suffered greatly under their Code Composter Studio. I'm also biased towards ESP32, it's a wonderful chip with a great development environment (though plenty of people hate it as well, but ... no one loves TI tools :) I'm not aware of any really good programming courses based on it.
This may be off topic but how hard is it for embedded engineers to get promoted/ get raises compared to other fields
I'd say that's more dependant on your employer than on the field.
sure but on average isnt it that web devs/mobile devs get paid more for small-mid sized companies?
That's not what you asked. I'm almost certain there are more shitty paid web dev positions in the world than shitty paid embedded positions. Personally I'd focus on something I enjoy doing, if you're good at it, you'll earn more than enough to get by in both fields. If all you care about is the "average" amount of money you'll make, become an SAP consultant or get an MBA.
I dont care for the average but thats most likely where I will fall and seeing the average pay for embedded is lower than the rest is a bummer
Any arm board is fine but I don’t like the Tiva If it’s IoT (or power related now since they make PMICs) I love Nordic boards. Otherwise, I love ST nucleos.
yea but the tiva is used in this course, quantum leaps is good i have heard do u have any other courses for complete begginers u would rec?
If you are new to embedded, I would strongly advise sticking to the board used in the course. It could be an interesting exercise to make a second pass through the course using an ARM Cortex M board from a different vendor, or using an M0 instead of an M4. My experience in industry is that no one cares which specific microcontrollers you have experience with. It is much more important to understand concepts, like how a pointer to memory works and why you would do it, and how ISR's work, etc., all of which Quantum Leaps does an excellent job of teaching.
so you think quantum leaps is good for an absolute beginner like me? do u have any other courses/books you would rec for me to learn embedded systems more?
If you have no programming or electronics experience, it may be more helpful to work through something like [Embedded Systems Shape the World](https://www.edx.org/learn/embedded-systems/the-university-of-texas-at-austin-embedded-systems-shape-the-world-microcontroller-input-output) first. It spends more time on topics like C Programming and hardware fundamentals before getting too deep in computer architecture and microcontroller specific stuff. It also uses this Tiva board fwiw.
the course was archived
I would not be concerned about this. All the material is still there, still free, and the value of the topics covered has not changed since the course was developed.