Seeking Reliable Programmer for STM32 and nRF52 MCUs on DigiKey

Hi everyone,

I’m currently evaluating programmer options on the DigiKey website and would appreciate some guidance.

Requirements:

  • Compatibility: Must support both STM32 and nRF52 MCUs.
  • Functionality: Should handle flashing, erasing, and performing both soft and hard resets.
  • Software Support: Needs to work seamlessly with OpenOCD or pyOCD.
  • Simplicity: I don’t require it to function as a debug probe with GDB or other debugging tools.
  • Performance: Preferably offers fast write speeds to optimize our HiL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) testing setup.

Current Setup Issues:

  • Hardware in Use:
    • nrf52840-dk: Reliable performance.
    • STLink V3SET: Unreliable; tends to hang if a task is interrupted during programming. We have around 20 STLink units integrated into our test system, and we’re frequently forced to manually unplug and replug them to restore functionality.

Objective:
I’m searching for a replacement programmer that can handle both STM32 and nRF52 MCUs to streamline our setup by maintaining a single product line. While DigiKey offers numerous options, identifying the most suitable and fastest-performing device is challenging.

Research & Discussions:
I’ve come across several discussions that highlight the pros and cons of different programmers:

Questions:

  1. Benchmarks: Are there any comparative benchmarks available for these programmers, specifically focusing on flashing firmware speeds using OpenOCD?
  2. DigiKey Support: Can someone from DigiKey provide benchmark data on write speeds or performance metrics for these programmers when used with OpenOCD on STM32 and nRF52 devices?

Your insights and recommendations would be highly valuable in helping us make an informed decision. Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Best regards,
Jamie

Welcome to the Technical Forum. I am checking on this request.

Hi @jamie.nelson at this point, go with your standard Segger J-Link probe. They are pretty reliable with software updates etc.

For future, CMSIS-DAP (v2) is interesting, they support Arm ULINKplus and Segger J-Link along with more open source probes: CMSIS-DAP: Overview

There are some open source projects to modify existing boards to talk CMSIS-DAP: GitHub - ataradov/free-dap: Free and open implementation of the CMSIS-DAP debugger firmware

Regards,

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