[Lab] Launch pad

Mon Sep 20 12:27:36 EDT 2010

DIGY Key has some available now though

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


On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Jean-Marc LeBlanc
<jeanmarc.leblanc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah I bought mine on the second day and received it last week.  If
> you order one of these I would order it right from the TI store and
> not a retailer.
>
> check out their wiki.
> http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_%28MSP-EXP430G2%29
>
> if you have only used the arduino, keep in mind that the launch pad is
> a little bit more complicated to program than the arduino.  But
> nothing you can't learn.
> If you are interested in my code though let me know.  Ill try to leave
> more detail comments than in the example code.  You can get an Idea of
> how it works
>
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:18 AM, Tom Burns <tom.i.burns at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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 $5?
>>> My arduino was around 30 bucks assembled.
>>> Wow! Your baby's already getting married?
>>> --
>>> Darcy Whyte
>>> Darcy at Siteware.com
>>> 613-563-3634
>>> Ottawa, Canada | N 45° 25'03.1" W 75° 42'21.4"
>>>
>>> Inspirational Flying Machines:
>>> http://www.rubber-power.com
>>> MAAC 23153
>>>
>>> Social Media, Interaction, SEO
>>> www.generalSocial.com
>>>
>>> Software services since 1988
>>> Web, Database, LAMP
>>> www.Siteware.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 10:20 AM, Jean-Marc LeBlanc
>>> <jeanmarc.leblanc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hey guy,
>>>> I been using the launch pad for about a week now.  I have not done
>>>> that much with it yet, but I have enough to have a few comments in
>>>> regards.  The first thing I will point out, is that it is not as easy
>>>> to use as the arduino.  The arduino has its own library that
>>>> simplifies allot of things.  For example if you want to write to the
>>>> serial port with the arduino it is only a matter of serial.open(baud);
>>>>  serial.print()  or similar.  On the launch pad, you would need to
>>>> figure out how to divide your clock, set an interrupt every X number
>>>> of cycles and set the bit manually.  Same thing with the analog pins.
>>>> That being said if you have used the arduino with simply the AVR c
>>>> code, then this is not any thing different or if you used any other
>>>> similar processor.
>>>>
>>>> That being said, if you are ok with the take on programming this is a
>>>> great development platform.  The thing that has impressed me the most
>>>> is the debugger.  Normally you would need either an expensive
>>>> development board or some JTag.  I never ventured into JTag since it
>>>> looked expensive and complicated and it looked scary ( I don't know if
>>>> it really is though).  This though, is 4.61$ 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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