olimexino -
sure everything zshen want to do could be done also with $0.80 PIC16F1503 (UART, 4 PWM channels, 12bit ADC on chip)
but that is only partly relevant.
but the topic says "want to learn and try the maple" :-)
In my experience, when someone asks a question, and adds they have little or no experience, it is as well to assume the question might be asking for a bit more help than a yes/no answer.
I feel the question is about both hardware and software.
We don't know what the project constraints are, or the development platform, so suggesting hardware without identifying development tools is offering an incomplete solution.
zshen wrote
I am looking for a micro-controller for my project, and I don't have much programming background. But I am willing to learn.
I interpret that as a person asking for advice about a microcontroller with a relatively straightforward way to program it, with a high chance of success for someone with little or no experience.
The enormous value of the Arduino is that it is easy to get started programming, and be successful using it. Also, it is more than adequate for a lot of projects. Plus, it is quite low cost. I have no commercial interest in someone using a specific microcontroller development board. So, until I get further information, I recommend something easy to use, that gives the greatest likelihood of success, and is low-cost.
IMHO, if the funds are available, it might be quicker to do a project by learning to program using an Arduino for a few days (or more), and then try to use the target board, than begin with a harder to use target board.
So one of my concerns is the difficulty of being successful with little experience. There are many threads on this forum from people using Maple with Windows; those users have problems uploading. There are several threads on this forum from people struggling to get the the OLIMEXINO-STM32 to work. IIRC several have spent days struggling to get started.
So, I don't feel it is necessarily helpful to recommend a Maple, without knowing what the project is, what platform will be used for development, and any other constraints which apply. Hence, I feel it is most helpful to suggest approaches which, in general, are very likely to be successful, and give the poster the support to explore their problem and try to get a good, robust, approach.
(Full disclosure: I do am not a member of LeafLabs or Olimex staff)