STMicroelectronics, NXP and Infineon are all European companies. I'm not as familiar with Infineon but all 3 produce development boards and I know that the first 2 have IDEs that include configurator tools that provide you a UI to configure device features that spit out a bunch of HAL code which makes it more accessible for hobbyists.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Infineon eSW engineer here!

Infineon is more geared towards the automotive sector and less towards hobby. Our tools are mostly designed to evaluate chips which you’ll later use in a design.

However, the PSoC line-up (formerly cypress IP) is a great hobby starter, with easy to understand code configurator, analog blocks (think operational amplifiers, timers, comparators etc) built into silicon and much more. I recommend you give it a shot if you’re ever looking for something of that sort.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Do you happen to know if there are any online retailers for these? It seems that they are mostly sold B2B.

Really nice recommendations, thanks! And we even got a infineon engineer's answer!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Anyone can buy stuff from most suppliers like RS, Digikey and Mouser, Farnell have CPC that anyone can buy stuff from too, at least in the UK this is the case.

The other manufacturers I mentioned also target their development boards at business applications to trial devices before designing them into a product, but a competent hobbyist would have no problem using them, it's just at a much more involved level than Arduino etc. The HAL libraries and code generation that come with the manufacturer IDEs/SDKs now make the gap pretty small to just get started though.

If I was going to recommend one manufacturer then I'd say an STM32 Nucleo or Discovery board within your budget would be a good place to get started with this typel of microcontroller board.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Ill have to take a look if I can find a local supplier, not sure what the post fees are going to be from UK right now.

Thanks for the recommendation and the extra info, appreciate it!