Live data from Hacker News

STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

hackster.io

21–30 of 54 posts

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#21
STM32MPxx are MPU (microprocessor) families, taking more standard DDR* class RAM and running Linux.

MCUs are all well under 10MB of onboard RAM (often single-digit kbytes, but bigger MCUs exist). And if they support external RAM, its MCU-protocols like SPI-RAM (which rarely goes much further than 1MB)

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#22
post #16
post #3

Editorialized title; its not part of the MCU family, its part of the MPU family

And the line between the two is blurred now with MCU running at hundreds of MHz. The STM32H7 is has more IPC than the original Raspberry Pi.

Do you take external DDR RAM on an application-class ARM core? You're an MPU.

There's a blurry line sometimes, but Application-class (Cortex A* cores, like A5, A35, etc. etc.) are solidly MPU. Not even close.

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#23
post #3

Editorialized title; its not part of the MCU family, its part of the MPU family

What’s the diff between an SoC and MPU? Lack of a wireless connectivity subsystem?

Well, SoC is different again. We're talking MCU, microcontrollers.

For ARM, its rather simple. Cortex-M cores are MCUs, while Cortex-A cores are Microprocessors.

Cortex A72?? That's a Microprocessor.

Cortex M7? This is a Microcontroller.

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#25
post #16
post #3

Editorialized title; its not part of the MCU family, its part of the MPU family

And the line between the two is blurred now with MCU running at hundreds of MHz. The STM32H7 is has more IPC than the original Raspberry Pi.

If it runs Linux, it's MPU. If it runs bare firmware, it's MCU.

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#26
post #3

Editorialized title; its not part of the MCU family, its part of the MPU family

What’s the diff between an SoC and MPU? Lack of a wireless connectivity subsystem?

MPU -> Microprocessor. MPUs typically have features that let it support a "full" OS; MMUs, speculative execution, advanced CPU pipelining features, etc. They also have a much higher RAM capacity. Often has more complicated power requirements when doing board design due to needing different voltage busses for different peripherals. Usually can't be run standalone, you have to bring some of your own peripheral hardware. For example, you usually need to bring your own RAM.

MCU -> Microcontroller. Low power, less RAM, limited MMU/memory protection features, typically run baremetal firmware or an RTOS. Usually so simple it only needs a single voltage rail. More or less self-contained. Has RAM and ROM on-die.

SoC -> System-on-a-chip. Actually a very vague term. But in broad strokes, an SoC is what it says: An entire system on a single chip. Could incorporate an MCU or an MPU, plus other peripherals, etc. You can almost think of it as a "single chip computer" as opposed to a "single board computer". It's almost more of a marketing term than an EE term. For example, the Apple Silicon stuff is a "SoC" because it has the MPU + GPU + RAM on a single die.

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#27

Still calling your new 64-bit chips STM32, just like your 32-bit chips, instead of STM64, feels like your branding/marketing team is asleep at the wheel or just non-existent. Even Nintendo figured that out ~30 years ago.

STM32 is a very strong brand in the MCU space...

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#28
post #27

Still calling your new 64-bit chips STM32, just like your 32-bit chips, instead of STM64, feels like your branding/marketing team is asleep at the wheel or just non-existent. Even Nintendo figured that out ~30 years ago.

STM32 is a very strong brand in the MCU space...

Indeed it is, but maybe they should call it STM3264 :D

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#29
post #27

Still calling your new 64-bit chips STM32, just like your 32-bit chips, instead of STM64, feels like your branding/marketing team is asleep at the wheel or just non-existent. Even Nintendo figured that out ~30 years ago.

STM32 is a very strong brand in the MCU space...

But everyone in that space would immediately understand that STM64 are 64 bit designs from the same company, no?

Still seems very strange to label 64-bit processors STM32...

Re: STM32 MCU family goes 64-bit with the STM32MP2x (Cortex-A35)

#30
post #14

Does anyone know why some of the balls in the (render pics) are missing around the edges? Unrelated: Would this be suitable for a CV system eg in robotics? Eg do the realtime stuff on the Cortex-M, and run a linux + OpenCV/OpenVINO etc on the Cortex-A?

The balls are missing to enable making connections to inner balls in a board with fewer layers. The outer balls take up space and so block the traces from inner balls. By strategically removing some of the outer balls, you create channels that can be used for routing taxes from the inner balls.

That makes sense! I wish I saw this on their MCU line... (Although you can thread a tiny trace between the balls depending on manufacturer, I don't like it!
Post reply on HN