I’ve been developing https://github.com/stm32-rs/stm32h5xx-hal. It’s been a slow process adding functionality because I’ve focused on what we need from it, so it’s missing a lot of functionality. Making progress bit by bit though.
As a professional in the space, this echoes my experiences. I’m far more productive in Rust than C, despite having many more years programming embedded software in C. Cargo and the crate ecosystem are a dream compared to the lack of any easy-to-use build tooling and the difficulty of integrating third party libraries in C.
Furthermore, the code I’ve produced in Rust is generally as fast (or faster) than the code I’ve written in C for the same task, and it’s easier and faster to write.
And I also maintain an open source HAL for an STM32 family! Previously those have just been in house HALs in C because there were no such community efforts.
Nothing is really going to protect you from a direct lightning strike. Lightning strikes are on the order of millions of volts and thousands of amps. It will arc between circuits that are close enough and it will raise the ground voltage by thousands of volts too. You basically need a lighting rod buried deep into the earth to prevent it hitting your house directly and then you’re still probably going to deal with fried electronics (but your house will survive). Surge protectors are for faulty power supplies and much milder transient events on the grid and maybe a lightning strike a mile or so away.