stcgal - STC MCU flash tool

stcgal is a command line flash programming tool for STC MCU Ltd. [1] 8051 compatible microcontrollers. The name was inspired by avrdude [2].

STC microcontrollers have a UART-based boot strap loader (BSL). It utilizes a packet-based protocol to flash the code memory and IAP memory. The BSL is also used to configure various (fuse-like) device options. Unfortunately, this protocol is not publicly documented and STC only provide a (crude) Windows GUI application for programming.

stcgal is a full-featured replacement for STC's Windows software; it is very portable and suitable for automation.

[1] http://stcmcu.com/ [2] http://www.nongnu.org/avrdude/

Supported MCU models

stcgal should fully support STC 10/11/12 series MCUs. STC 15 series support is unfinished, but should support all STC15F10x/STC15F20x series MCU models. STC 89/90 series support is work in progress.

So far, stcgal was tested with the following MCU models:

• STC12C5A60S2 (BSL version: 6.2L)
• STC11F08XE (BSL version: 6.5M)
• STC15F104E (BSL version: 6.7Q)

More compatibility testing is going to happen soon.

Features

• Display part info
• Program flash memory
• Program IAP/EEPROM
• Set device options
• Read unique device ID
• Trim RC oscillator frequency (on STC 15 series)

Installation

stcgal requires Python 3.2 (or later) and pySerial.

Usage

See stcgal.py -h for usage information.

BSL Protocol

The text files in the doc/ subdirectory provide an overview over the reverse engineered protocols used by the BSLs. For more details, please read the source code.

License

stcgal is published under the MIT license.