I know Arduino and RaspberryPi, but are there other hobbyist European micro-controllers/computers?
I remember being recommended to look into ESP32 microcontrollers but it's not European and was wondering if there are other European ones.
So the problem you'll face is that the vast majority of the world's microelectronics comes from East Asia, so even European manufactured boards will often involve non-european parts.
I initially didn't think you'd have much luck at all but I had forgotten that ST Microelectronics existed, and they make ARM chips that get used in some SBCs. I'm not sure what they're like performance wise, but it looks like it might fit what you're looking for.
A quick Google tells me there's a company in Bulgaria called Olimex that apparently makes Pi-like SBC devices using ST Microelectronics chips, but this is the first I've heard of them so I can't go as far as recommending it.
Yeah the hardware is rarely actually anything but Asian, but holy shit didn't know about ST Microelectronics and Olimex looks like a good place to try their chips. Thank you so much!
ST microelectronics is manufacturing the STM32 that is apparently quite similar to the esp32, and manufactured in Europe !
Raspberry Pi RP2350 & RP2040 are microcontrollers
Made in Taiwan
Haven't taken a look at new raspberry pi's in a long time, looks like these were announced in 2021 and 2024. Didn't know they started producing microcontrollers too! Thanks for the tip!
STMicroelectronics, NXP and Infineon are all European companies. I'm not as familiar with Infineon but all 3 produce development boards and I know that the first 2 have IDEs that include configurator tools that provide you a UI to configure device features that spit out a bunch of HAL code which makes it more accessible for hobbyists.
Infineon eSW engineer here!
Infineon is more geared towards the automotive sector and less towards hobby. Our tools are mostly designed to evaluate chips which you’ll later use in a design.
However, the PSoC line-up (formerly cypress IP) is a great hobby starter, with easy to understand code configurator, analog blocks (think operational amplifiers, timers, comparators etc) built into silicon and much more. I recommend you give it a shot if you’re ever looking for something of that sort.
Do you happen to know if there are any online retailers for these? It seems that they are mostly sold B2B.
Really nice recommendations, thanks! And we even got a infineon engineer's answer!
Anyone can buy stuff from most suppliers like RS, Digikey and Mouser, Farnell have CPC that anyone can buy stuff from too, at least in the UK this is the case.
The other manufacturers I mentioned also target their development boards at business applications to trial devices before designing them into a product, but a competent hobbyist would have no problem using them, it's just at a much more involved level than Arduino etc. The HAL libraries and code generation that come with the manufacturer IDEs/SDKs now make the gap pretty small to just get started though.
If I was going to recommend one manufacturer then I'd say an STM32 Nucleo or Discovery board within your budget would be a good place to get started with this typel of microcontroller board.
BBC Micro before the UK Brexited.