5 years, 8 months ago.

Are Nucleo boards usable by makers?

I recently bought a NUCLEO-F767ZI from Digi-Key to try out mbed on.

However, I was looking at the NUCLEO-F767ZI page and saw a couple of contradictory documents linked from that page. First there's a document called STM32 for makers - Releasing your creativity, which would suggest that ST is targeting the board at makers. But further down the page is the document Evaluation products license agreement which contains this language:

Quote:

STMicroelectronics (“ST”) grants You the right to use the enclosed Evaluation Board offering limited features only to evaluate and test ST products solely for Your evaluation and testing purposes in a research and development setting.

This would seem to indicate that the board cannot be used by makers, since I ultimately want to build something I can use, not just "evaluate and test."

How do I reconcile these two contradictory documents?

Is there a way to filter the list of mbed platforms so that I can see which boards can actually be used, not just evaluated?

Question relating to:

STM32 Nucleo-144 development board with STM32F767ZIT6 MCU, supports Arduino, ST Zio and morpho connectivity

2 Answers

5 years, 8 months ago.

It's standard boiler plate text that they include to avoid having to perform the regulatory testing required for end products. Either the arduino boards have something similar hidden in the documentation or they have performed the required testing, to not do either would be a massive legal liability.

As long as you aren't selling something as an end product you're OK.

Accepted Answer
5 years, 8 months ago.

No, they are as you say for evaluation/development and test purposes, If you wanted to market a finished product, you will need to design and make your own board and also get it CE approved for instance for Europe market. Not particularly a problem if its for your own personal/hobby use, that does constitute a 'testing phase', but if you burn down your house or anyone else's in the process then ST would certainly not accept any liability.

I'm not marketing a product; I'm just making something for my own use. But once I've made it, I do intend to use it indefinitely. It's not clear to me how that would be a "testing phase."

Here is what I'm saying: I can buy an Arduino board and use it for whatever purpose I want. Arduino does not have a license with a field-of-use restriction. What mbed boards can I use with the same freedom as an Arduino? It's not clear from the list of mbed boards on the mbed site which boards have this onerous restriction and which don't.

posted by Patrick Pelletier 25 Feb 2019

So really what you are saying is you will be in a continual state of post development including testing MCU stability and MTBF factors over extended periods or until the design becomes obsolete. That is what everyone does. What better way to test than in a working environment. Pretty much what these boards are for.

From experience I can assure you that you wont be putting it in a box, screwing the lid down and throwing away your screwdriver.

posted by Paul Staron 25 Feb 2019