# STM32 Guide #1: Your first STM32 dev board https://youtu.be/rfBeq-Fu0hc Everyone gets started on Arduino. The reason to use STM32 over Arduino, is because you don't want to use Atmel. The Blue Pill aka `STM32F103` - Cortex M3 Architecture - $2-4 - Arduino IDE Support Better than the Arduino in every microcontroller performance category. **ST-Link V2** is a good programmer. STM32 Discovery is a family of boards that are a bit more built out STM32 Nucleo is another family of boards that are a bit closer to arduino form factor Both his examples show boards that have ST-Link V2 programmers on the PCB. STM32 Eval Boards is another family, $200-600. Designed to showcase as many features as possible. Geared for people trying to get the most out of their MCU. STM32 MCUs fall into - High Performance - Mainstream - Ultra-Low Power Atmel came up with AVR. AVR microcontrollers require a specific compiler Arduino uses ATMega328. ARM Holdings decide on which instruction sets the MCU needs to have to be considered an "ARM Cortex M Series". ARM Cortex-M instruction groups are listed on Wikipedia. If you wanted to program your microcontroller in Assembly, you'd reference those. STM32CubeIDE has a part finder so you can pick your proper STM32 board/chip You can filter by peripherals and such Like if you want 2 CAN buses and 2 I2C buses, it'll tell you how many boards can do that for you.