Reading a pin
A button on PB0 with the pull-up on, lighting an active low lamp. Two inversions in one circuit, and how to stop them confusing you.
Open it in the simulatorAll paths
Embedded on the STM32F411
A Cortex-M4 at 84 MHz, where a pin is a port and a number and every peripheral starts with its clock switched off.
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What you will build
3 projects, built step by step
6 lessons in 3 chapters, about 6 hours on a simulated STM32F411 Black Pill. Free, in your browser, every step checked by the simulator.
PWM from a timer
PA0 is TIM5 channel 1, and once it is set up the hardware holds the brightness on its own. Prescaler, reload, and the compare value.
Open it in the simulatorProject: make the sweep yours
Six lamps and a blank page. Rewrite the sweep around the clock, count what it does, and measure how long your own loop takes.
Open it in the simulatorThe map
Chapter by chapter
Each lesson opens when the one before it is done, and each chapter ends in a project.
Chapter 1
The board
Active low wiring, a button, and what one line of Arduino is hiding.
- Open242 XP
The LED that is on when the pin is low
The Black Pill wires its LED between the rail and the pin, so the pin has to go low to light it. Active low, and why so much hardware is built that way.
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- ProjectLocked484 XP
Reading a pin
A button on PB0 with the pull-up on, lighting an active low lamp. Two inversions in one circuit, and how to stop them confusing you.
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Chapter 2
Ports and timers
Six pins on one port, and a timer that holds a brightness for you.
- Locked242 XP
Six pins on one port
A dot along PA1 to PA6, from an array of pin numbers. What a port is, and why six pins on the same one can be written in a single instruction.
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- ProjectLocked484 XP
PWM from a timer
PA0 is TIM5 channel 1, and once it is set up the hardware holds the brightness on its own. Prescaler, reload, and the compare value.
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Chapter 3
Talking, and making it yours
USART1 both ways, then a blank page and six lamps.
- Locked242 XP
The board talks and listens
USART1 on PA9 and PA10, the monitor, and an echo driven from a receive interrupt. What printing costs and why the receive side is different.
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- ProjectLocked484 XP
Project: make the sweep yours
Six lamps and a blank page. Rewrite the sweep around the clock, count what it does, and measure how long your own loop takes.
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Syllabus
Every lesson in the course
All 6 lessons, in order, each with what it covers. Any of them opens in the editor right away.
The board
- The LED that is on when the pin is lowThe Black Pill wires its LED between the rail and the pin, so the pin has to go low to light it. Active low, and why so much hardware is built that way.
- Reading a pinA button on PB0 with the pull-up on, lighting an active low lamp. Two inversions in one circuit, and how to stop them confusing you.
Ports and timers
- Six pins on one portA dot along PA1 to PA6, from an array of pin numbers. What a port is, and why six pins on the same one can be written in a single instruction.
- PWM from a timerPA0 is TIM5 channel 1, and once it is set up the hardware holds the brightness on its own. Prescaler, reload, and the compare value.
Talking, and making it yours
- The board talks and listensUSART1 on PA9 and PA10, the monitor, and an echo driven from a receive interrupt. What printing costs and why the receive side is different.
- Project: make the sweep yoursSix lamps and a blank page. Rewrite the sweep around the clock, count what it does, and measure how long your own loop takes.
Keep going
The next course on your track
Embedded on the STM32F411 is part of the embedded track, a ladder of courses from zero to expert.
Debug like an engineer
The multimeter, the oscilloscope, the logic probe and analyzer, Serial done right, and a method that finds any fault. Ends with a boss: three bugs in one circuit.
Open the next courseEmbedded track
Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico and STM32: pins, timing, buses, motors, WiFi, registers and debugging, every lesson checked on a simulated board.
See every course on the trackKits
Build it on your bench too
Every lesson runs in the simulator with nothing to buy. When you want the real thing, these kits have the parts.
Find your kit
Pick the starter kit you own and run every lesson in its manual with the same parts on the same pins.
See every kitQuestions
About Embedded on the STM32F411
Is Embedded on the STM32F411 free?
Yes. All 6 lessons of Embedded on the STM32F411 are free and run in your browser, with nothing to install and no parts to buy before you start.
Do I need a real STM32F411 Black Pill?
No. Every lesson runs on a simulated STM32F411 Black Pill with its parts on the canvas, and the simulator checks each step as you go. When you want to build it for real, the same wiring and code work on a real board.
How long does Embedded on the STM32F411 take?
About 6 hours: 6 lessons in 3 chapters, each one a few short steps. Your progress is kept, so you can stop after any lesson and pick up where you left off.
What will I build?
Each chapter ends in a project that puts it together: Reading a pin, PWM from a timer and Project: make the sweep yours.
Where do I start?
With "The LED that is on when the pin is low", and each lesson builds on the one before it. New to circuits? Electronics basics is the course that starts from zero.