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bluepill

How to connect STLINK-V3MINI to a Blue Pill?

I have a Blue Pill and I'd like to program it using TinyGo but the Blue Pill had no (obvious) means for hardware programming. So, I bought an STLINK-V3MINI hoping to use JTAG/SWD to program it. I'm uncertain how to connect the two and am seeking guidance before I naively connect the two and zap something.

Blue Pill

Here's the STLINK-V3MINI:

STLINK-V3MINI

Here's the STDC14 connector:

STDC14

Page 19 of the STLINK's user guide has a pinout for the STDC14 but I can't correlate this to the TinyGo's documentation that suggests needing SWIO, SWCLK,3v and GND.

Solution

  • The ribbon cable is attached to the STDC14 connector and the pinout is described in chapter 9.1.3.

    STDC14 connector pinout

    The relevant pins are:

    • Pin 4: T_SWDIO aka SWDIO aka SWIO
    • Pin 6: T_SWCLK aka SWCLK
    • Pins 5 and 7: GND (choose either one)

    The STLINK V3 cannot supply power to the Blue Pill (see note at the end of chapter 1). So the easiest solution is to supply power by connecting it to a USB port.

    I'm not entirely sure how the ribbon cable is connected. Most likely, the red wire corresponds to pin 1 and the other pins follow in order. On the connector itself (looking at it the same way as on the picture), pin 1 would be bottom right (right side because of red wire, bottom side because it is closer to the notch). Better check it out with the continuity tester of a multi-meterr.

    On the Blue Pill, the relevant pins are on the short side:

    Blue Pill Pinout