November 2008

Rev 1

1/12

AN2792

Application note

STM8A easy programmer

1

Introduction

This application note describes the easy programmer which is a low cost solution allowing

the content of the STM8A Flash program memory to be updated when the chip is already

soldered on the application board. The easy programmer works by calling the functions of

the bootloader, an IAP application embedded in the system memory of the device (the ROM

memory). Through the bootloader firmware, the device memory can be erased and

programmed using one of the standard communication interfaces present on the particular

device. The easy programmer interfaces the bootloader using a serial port (USART

protocol) with the application board for the upload.

Section 2 of this document gives a brief introduction to the STM8A bootloader. Section 3,

Section 4, and Section 5 describe the easy programmer procedure and its software and

hardware requirements.

For further information on the STM8A family features, pinout, electrical characteristics,

mechanical data and ordering information, please refer to the STM8A128 Kbyte and STM8A

32 Kbyte datasheets. For more details on the bootloader, please refer to the bootloader user

manual (UM0500). All documents are available on st.com.

This document, its associated firmware, and other such application notes are written to

accompany the STM8S firmware library which is available on st.com.

www.st.com