Dev Kit Weekly: STM32MP257F Dev Kit from Newark, an Avnet company
April 22, 2026
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The STM32MP257F-DK Discovery kit is designed as a complete demonstration and development platform for the STMicroelectronics STM32MP257FAK3 based on the Arm Cortex A35 and M33.
The product leverages the capabilities of STM32MP2 series microprocessors to allow users to develop applications using STM32 MPU OpenSTLinux Distribution software for the main processor, an Arm dual-core Cortex-A35, and the STM32CubeMP2 software for the coprocessor, an Arm Cortex-M33.
As you will see in the video, it’s got a bunch of LEDs, two user buttons, a wake-up button, one tamper, and one reset push-button, a Gbit/s Ethernet RJ45 port, one USB3 USB Type-C, two stacked USB 2.0 Type-A, one LCD LVDS display connector, one HDMI connector, four boot pin switches, one camera connector, a WiFi antenna, Bluetooth Low Energy v4.1, 32‑Gbit LPDDR4 DRAM, and eMMC.
The package also includes a microSD card, and it’s expandable with a GPIO expansion connector available for Raspberry Pi shields. For software, it’s got an ST-LINK embedded debug tool and STM32CubeMP2 software with examples in an open-source Linux STM32 MPU OpenSTLinuxDistribution. They also provide Linux Yocto Project, Buildroot, and STM32CubeIDE as development environments.
It’s incredibly easy to get started playing with this, too. There are tons of guides on GitHub, but one of the simplest I saw was to just insert the provided SD card with its preloaded OpenSTLinux Yocto-based distribution image, make sure the BOOT pins are set to b0001, which is the default position, out of the box, then power it up with a USB-C power source. Once the board boots up, the blue Heartbeat LED will be blinking, indicating that Linux is running on the Arm dual Cortex-A35, and the orange User LED will blink to show that the Cube sample firmware is running on the Arm Cortex-M33.
Easy as that.
The STM32MP257F-DK Discovery kit could not be simpler, while still providing all the access and functionality that it does. It’s less than $100 US at only $98.65 from the Newark marketplace, and I think it’s the perfect time to get one of your very own.
If you want to win one for free, Avnet has generously made one available for you to grab! To enter the raffle to win, go to the link in the description and fill out the form. We’ll keep the form up for 30 days, and then you’ll be notified by email if you win!
Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with two decades of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers, he would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars. In previous lives, he’s been a short order cook, telemarketer, medical supply technician, mover of the bodies at a funeral home, pirate, poet, partial alliterist, parent, partner and pretender to various thrones. Most of his exploits are either exaggerated or blatantly false.
