{"id":4225,"date":"2020-09-30T20:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T18:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/?p=4225"},"modified":"2025-12-27T16:13:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:13:23","slug":"is-it-better-to-have-two-cores-than-one-stm32h7-project-configuration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/en\/is-it-better-to-have-two-cores-than-one-stm32h7-project-configuration\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it better to have two cores than one? STM32H7 \u2013 project configuration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you asked men about this in general, probably each of them would say yes. The problem is that while answering, they\u2019re probably not thinking about microcontrollers\u2026 So let\u2019s consider our<\/em> microcontrollers. Is it good to have two cores, or rather \u2013 two CPU cores?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This article was created based on my LIVE #1<\/a>, and it is also a supplement to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dual-core processors<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve known multi-core CPUs in computers for a long time now. I remember when Intel\u2019s Dual-Core processors were coming out. When you were buying a new computer back then, the salesperson in the store would sprinkle magic dust as if it were some unknown NASA technology. What, two processors in one?! Exactly 2 times faster than before?! It was hard to believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, hardly anyone even bats an eye when AMD releases a processor with 32 cores. It\u2019s basically the norm for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a bit different in the world of microcontrollers. Here, that WOW I had when I was much younger is only just beginning. Maybe it\u2019s not as huge a WOW anymore, but I\u2019m still impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technological progress in embedded<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When writing applications for computers, we\u2019ve already gotten used to the fact that they have \u201cunlimited\u201d resources. It\u2019s different on microcontrollers. Until now we had one core and we had to write programs so that they sensibly juggled resources and tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, the embedded industry has definitely moved beyond blinking an LED or acquiring sensor data and has gone in a more complex direction. Displays appeared at first. First simple, monochrome graphical ones. Then the first color ones, mostly in phones. I remember a Siemens S65 advertisement that shouted that its display had AS MUCH AS 13 cm\u00b2 of area! Today we\u2019d snort with laughter, but back then it was quite an achievement for small microcontrollers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, trained by smartphones, we want to build our tiny microcontroller devices with displays of huge resolution as well. It quickly turns out that our creations don\u2019t run as smoothly as we\u2019d like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All because drawing on such screens takes a crazy amount of time and resources. Even low-resolution displays, but driven over SPI, draw the whole screen for \u201can eternity\u201d. And after all, we still need to keep using sensors somewhere around that. It\u2019s even worse when we have to control motors in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STM32H7<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One interesting solution is to separate \u201cmultimedia\u201d tasks from \u201ccontrol\u201d tasks. And I think that\u2019s exactly what the dual-core STM32 H7 series was created for. The main core is a Cortex-M7, which has tons of multimedia features. The second is the well-known Cortex-M4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both cores are enclosed in a single package. Peripherals are single, but all cores have access to them. So you can decide who does what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some time ago on my first LIVE<\/a> I showed how to get started with a Nucleo board with the STM32H745.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can buy such a board from me in my store.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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What exactly does such a microcontroller have? I don\u2019t want to go on and on, because you can see it in the store<\/a>, but the most important info includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n