The perfect cheap Arduino alternative? (Floppy Boards)

What are Floppy Boards?

Floppy Boards are a series of breakout boards for rapid prototyping which I developed as an alternative of Arduino. These boards can provide good performance and many useful modules (such as: USB, I2C, SPI, timers etc.). I want to make several models, in order to have different boards for different applications.

These boards are based on the stm32 microcontrollers, more precisely the basic Floppy Board is based on the low-cost STM32G030F6P6. It offers many even advanced modules such as 16-bit timers, 5 DMA channels to interface internal modules directly to memory, 32kB of FLASH and 8kB of SRAM.

The Floppy Board 3.1

In this post, I explain the main specifications of the third version of the Floppy Board. The first two versions are much cruder although still functional and useful in some projects.

I designed this board with 0805 smd components so those who want to assemble it can do so without too much trouble.Since the microcontroller does not have an integrated USB module but has an embedded UART bootloader, I added a chip (CH340) that allows communication and uploading of firmware directly via USB-C.It can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, but in this case I recommend using the higher-capacity version that mounts an STM23G031F8P6 that provides 64kB of FLASH and 8KB of SRAM.

Similarities with Arduino + Additional protection

The possibility of using the Arduino IDE (follow this guide) for programming these boards makes them accessible to the less experienced. Like the classic Arduino, I thought adding a programmable LED might be convenient. This board can be powered either via USB, or via the VIN pin which accepts up to 12V. Of course there is the 3.3V output regulated by the voltage regulator mounted on the board. All power inputs and outputs are protected by diodes that prevent damage to the board in case of polarity reversal, so you have an extra protection function in case you are testing new circuits.

Special feature

I decided to add an EEPROM to make it possible to store small amounts of data even without a power supply! The EEPROM can be chosen according to your needs, in fact you can also decide not to mount it.

I made it Open Source!!

In order to make these boards more accessible to everyone, we have made them available to buy the kit already assembled or a kit to assemble. These kits can be found on my Ko-Fi page, otherwise you can go to Git-Hub and download all the project files, they are under the CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Strongly Reciprocal.

I have also made a video for each version of this board on my YouTube channel (with English subtitles) where I present all the features of all the boards.