Which STM32 for me?

[GKeel]

I am looking for a board, and think that I need someone to say that they have used it, rather than googling for it. In the immortal words of Jimi "are you experienced?"

I would like to program in Ada, so the STM32 looks ideal.

If at all possible, I would like to code in Ada and debug using a proper debugger, to enable me to set breakpoints, examine variables, view the stack, etc, rather than just print to the serial monitor.

However, there are a few other things that I would like, so I would be willing to code in C if Ada meant that I couldn't have most of them. For instance, the debugger is deal make/breaker.

Note that while I am used to software only debuggers, I read about the Segger J-Link and could use that if it is easy for a novice to to set up. I haven't tried Segger's IDE, but hope that it is something modern, like the PlatformIO IDE.

I am particularly interested in the STM32WB series as they have Bluetooth 5, which has some neat additions for proximity detection and I am currently contemplating a system to track people indoors in a an office/industrial setting. They also support Zigbee, which is great for a "mesh of sensors" project that is bubbling up my list of "ToDo" projects.

So, I would prefer to start with a STM32WB (which?), but am also looking for a WiF + BLE board.

I would strongly prefer an integrated display, but will accept one that just snaps on, like a hat or shield, rather than having to wire it up.

Does anyone have experience of ST boards which would fill my needs?

To help you to answer, and to help me to order my thoughts, here's a preferential list of features: 

• good Ada support, with debugger 
• Bluetooth support (preferably BT 5, but I can live with 4 (LE))
•  preferably no JTAG required, but can live with Segger J-Link
•  display 
•  wifi support
•  documentation/forums/examples/tutorials 
•  battery life 
•  good assortment of hats/shields (Grove connector would be nice)

I hope that you can offer me some advice as the ST boards look like a logical next step from ESP32.

[Remi QUINTIN]

I am not aware of any ADA compiler for STM32 (ARM cortex M). Moreover, ADA code is big as you have to bring a lot of classes.

WB device is only less than 1MB of available Flash memory depending on the wireless stack used.

But I must admit that " I am not experienced with the ADA world on STM32".

[GKeel]

A good point that. I guess that I will have to stick with R. Pi :(

[Tesla DeLorean]

I feel like you're asking the wrong question to the wrong audience. Really not much traction with ADA here, might be better at a site focusing on porting ADA to MCU platforms, and the support/preferences those developers have in terms of hardware/goals.

https://blog.adacore.com/tag/stm32

[CMatt.1]

Another thing that you should acquire if you are going to do any ZigBee work is a packet sniffer. One that monitors the channel and decodes the packets that each node sends. A few years ago, these used to be pretty pricey. It looks like there are a lot of cheaper options now.

[GKeel]

Do you have a recommendation?