[Lab] Launch pad

[Tom Burns]

Launch pad is under $5 apiece shipped when purchasing from the TI e-store
and comes with a USB programmer that also serves as debugger and USB
backlink.  Only annoyance is a long lead time as they're constantly
backordered.. I bought 3 for $14 back in June and received them about 2-3
weeks ago.






On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:09 AM, Darcy Whyte <darcy at siteware.com> wrote:

> The Launch Pad thing is less than $5?
>
> My arduino was around 30 bucks assembled.
>
> Wow! Your baby's already getting married?
>
> --
> Darcy Whyte
> Darcy at Siteware.com
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> On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 10:20 AM, Jean-Marc LeBlanc <
> jeanmarc.leblanc at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey guy,
>> I been using the launch pad for about a week now.  I have not done
>> that much with it yet, but I have enough to have a few comments in
>> regards.  The first thing I will point out, is that it is not as easy
>> to use as the arduino.  The arduino has its own library that
>> simplifies allot of things.  For example if you want to write to the
>> serial port with the arduino it is only a matter of serial.open(baud);
>>  serial.print()  or similar.  On the launch pad, you would need to
>> figure out how to divide your clock, set an interrupt every X number
>> of cycles and set the bit manually.  Same thing with the analog pins.
>> That being said if you have used the arduino with simply the AVR c
>> code, then this is not any thing different or if you used any other
>> similar processor.
>>
>> That being said, if you are ok with the take on programming this is a
>> great development platform.  The thing that has impressed me the most
>> is the debugger.  Normally you would need either an expensive
>> development board or some JTag.  I never ventured into JTag since it
>> looked expensive and complicated and it looked scary ( I don't know if
>> it really is though).  This though, is 4.61$ and you can debug your
>> code.  you can set break points, you can see the value of you
>> variables and step threw your code.  All you need to do is hit the
>> debug button the the eclipse IDE and debug it as you would any other
>> eclipse code.
>>
>> The chip it self is not as powerful as the AVR (arduino). These 16 bit
>> processors, only has 2k Flash program space and 128 byte of ram.
>> Though for simple projects or drivers these are prefect.  They are
>> cheap and you can even sample some for free.  A good use for them
>> would be for sensor drivers or line drivers.  For example you could
>> have that chip read the temperature convert it to Celsius and then
>> that to your arduino (kinda like 2 threads).  I say this because they
>> have some neat features like 10 analog pins.  Another thing I like is
>> you can set an interrupt on raising or falling edges or change of any
>> digital pin.  To my understanding AVR only has 2 pins for that (please
>> correct me if i am wrong).
>>
>> As for the documentation, it took me a while to find what I needed.
>> There is allot of example code with really bad comments so they are
>> not that helpful.  what I found the most helpful was the uses guide
>> with the data sheet.  I think it would be better if there were more
>> comments or explanation.
>>
>> I have managed to send data to the serial port and read my snes
>> controller.  With the new baby and wedding coming up this week end ;)
>> I have not had time yet to put them all together so that it works.  I
>> hope to have my SNES controller work on my PC by the end of the week.
>> If any one is interested in the source.  I will try to comment it as
>> much as I can so first time users will understand what is going on.
>>
>> P.S.
>> if you are worried about the small program space, my code is only 64
>> bytes and 16 bytes ram.
>>
>> Jean-Marc Le Blanc
>> ---
>>
>> "Do you pine for the nice days of Minix-1.1, when men were men and
>> wrote their own device drivers?" Linus Torvalds
>>
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