WeAct STM32F411CEU6 black pill

[pi0]

Hey fellas, I purchased a couple of these on aliexpress, I have been looking all over on how to install micropython on these, a little guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[CATSUPERBERG]

Hey fellas, I purchased a couple of these on aliexpress, I have been looking all over on how to install micropython on these, a little guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Hey, it's pretty easy, although you have a 256 kb version of a chip, so you either have to compile your own firmware or use pretty old WeACT one. But when you have a firmware hex it's just a matter of flashing a chip. To flash you could use STM32CubeProgrammer.

Open CubeProgrammer, there in the right panel choose USB connection (or you could flash with ST-Link). Then you should connect your board in DFU mode, for that you just hold a BOOT0 button for half a second after boot, then release it (you could do this either by holding boot and plugin in, or rebooting while holding boot). You might need to install a DFU driver which can be found in a folder with CubeProgrammer installation. If everything works (it could be janky and not connect for a couple of times) you should se USB1 in port selection menu. Then you just press Connect in the top right corner. When connected, in main window you just click on Open file tab and select your firmware, when hex opens you just press Download button and wait for firmware to finish flashing.

Here's those old WeACT firmwares for STM32F401CCU6, but as far as i remember i didn't manage to get it working without a flash, so you'd really wanna populate that U4 footprint with 4 mb flash.

[pi0]

thank you very much! I am not sure which 4mb flash I should purchase. Can you perhaps post an aliexpress link?

[CATSUPERBERG]

thank you very much! I am not sure which 4mb flash I should purchase. Can you perhaps post an aliexpress link?

Here's some listings, but frankly, i'm confused about something. I bought and used W25Q**FV*** chips (i've seen someone using them), they work. But they specified for lover voltages, like 1.8 or something, when 3 V variants are W25Q**BV*** (i bought those too, but yet to try them).
As far as capacity, it's specified as a number of Mbits after Q, so to get Mbytes you just divide by 4.
Also, if you have some esp8266 lying around, you could desolder memory from those modules, they gonna be generic, with unsearchable markings, but they work. They should be 4 mb for esp12 modules and 0.5 or 1 mb for esp01.

https://aliexpress.ru/item/32246851041. ... 1588436164
https://aliexpress.ru/item/400124120716 ... 5426773263
https://aliexpress.ru/item/400112611840 ... 8021195762

[nesergen]

Have a nice day!
There is an STM32F411 board and a W25Q128 module. I have already read that the firmware can be configured to use an external memory module. But there was a problem with that, so I'm interested in another possibility. Is it possible to mount the SPI module to the filesystem and work with the memory space with the "uos" module?

[deftris]

Hi all,
it seems the W25Q128 (16MB Flash) is pin-compatible with the IPS6404L‐SQ (8MB Pseudo-Static RAM). The latter is used on many ESP32 boards and well supported by Micropython.

But it does not seem to be available in the STM32 port of Micropython.
At least, except an attempt to use PSRAM on an STM32F7

My idea was to use this PSRAM on the STM32F411 Black pill, and solder it on the flash footprint.

But I don´t have much clue how modify Micropython to use this PSRAM with STM32F411. It also seems the STM32F411 does not support QPI mode, but only SPI, while STM32F412 and 413 , according to Application Note AN4760 from ST Micro

Micropython is RAM and Flash hungry, the STM32F4 is a very interesting low-power target, and would benefit of a RAM boost!

Any suggestion how to get started, considerations, hints are welcome... I don´t know how to get started with this!

[JoeGoodbread]

Hi,
I have no experience building firmware files...I have been fortunate to find ready made MicroPython firmware for all the boards I've used. So I have a newbie question - if I use the nucleo board firmware for the STM32F411, will it be at all useable with the black pill boards? Or is this just a fool's errand. If I need to, I will take the deep dive into compiling firmware, but have a lot of other stuff on my plate.

Thanks for any help/advice.

[scruss]

... if I use the nucleo board firmware for the STM32F411, will it be at all useable with the black pill boards?

They use different variants of the STM32F411: the Nucleo has a STM32F411RET6U, while the F411 Black Pill has a STM32F411CEU6. They both have the same amount of flash and RAM. Maybe try it?

The Black Pill has a pad for external QSPI flash, the Nucleo doesn't. This can be a useful thing to add to increase external storage. It also affects your build setup for the Black Pill: I have some with no external flash, and some with different sizes of flash. All of them need different images to take advantage of the storage. And I'd really recommend having some external flash, as the usable space on a 411 is very tiny.

While it can be quite quick compiling a custom image, getting your toolchain together can be a pain. I'd be happy to post a generic 411 image for the Black Pill of the current MicroPython release for you to use, though.

[rkompass]

I compiled 4 versions of Micropython 1.17 for the Blackpill board. They are accessible under https://github.com/mcauser/WEACT_F411CEU6/issues/10 (forgive me #mcauser for using your github:-).
In mcausers github there are instructions how to build. I added a slight variation for compiling with spi flash. You find it in the issues there.

[JoeGoodbread]

Thanks very much for the kind responses and help. I am eagerly awaiting delivery of the boards, and can't wait to try them out1