[chbot] AI help with STM32

[Charles Manning]

OK, I can't help in your stated quest of an AI assistant, but here is how I
tend to go about STM32 development which might get what you want.

First I use the CubeMX tool to do all the primary set up (peripheral
initialisation, clock trees, dma channel assignment etc).
For some of the peripherals, the performance is not too critical and the
HAL podge is not too podgy.  The HAL can work there.
Then there are the few bits where the HAL is too bloaty and/or slow and/or
missing the features you want. That is where I write my own drivers and
bypass the HAL.

It is OK to mix and match like that. It means you only need to go datasheet
mining in a few critical places.

Obviously you don't want to do things like write to the peripheral at the
same time via HAL and your own code, but it is OK to use HAL to set things
up, then apply your own tweaks then use your own code to do all the
read/write stuff etc.

This has worked well for me in the past and gives me the best of both
worlds (well most of the time anyway).


On Thu, Jul 3, 2025 at 10:49 AM Mark Atherton <markaren1 at xtra.co.nz> wrote:

> Hi Charles,
>
> You are quite right, I could just dig straight into the documentation,
> but at last count, there are something over 2,600 pages associated with
> the STM32G491.
>
> I was rather hoping to implement then experiment with some new ideas,
> rather than go into battle over trying to get peripherals configured.
>
> I am also quite shameless in terms of asking for help in any form that
> might be available.
>
> Anyway, can anyone recommend an AI assistant that might be useful in my
> journey ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mark
>
> ----------
>
> Charles Manning said
>
> What's wrong with the grey stuff sitting on your shoulders?
>
> The HAL normally has multiple modes of operation, including DMA options,
> but if you're pushing the micro hard the HAL is often a bit bloated and
> slow.
>
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