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rockets4kids

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Everything posted by rockets4kids

  1. rockets4kids
    Also, this is not an optimization problem. The optimizer is doing exactly what it is supposed to do here.
  2. rockets4kids
    This happened about a month ago. There is already another thread on this topic somewhere here.
  3. rockets4kids
    Oddly, you can get an entire Android tablet with the same display size for only a little bit more.
  4. rockets4kids
    Although Arduino doesn't exist for the 8 and 16 bit PICs, there are a number of newbie-friendly alternatives. The most common are JAL and PICBASIC.
  5. rockets4kids
    As an aside, the 2203 only has 2 KB of flash so you won't be able to do much more than flash an LED if you are using Energia -- and this is assuming you can even fit the base system in 2 KB of flash!
  6. rockets4kids
    TI has a number of app notes and sample code for doing FSK with the MSP430. That would be a good place to start.
  7. rockets4kids
    Also, if it is an analog signal the question is meaningless without specifying a bandwidth.
  8. rockets4kids
    Do you think you'll be able to maintain that price? If so, you'll definitely be getting my business when I need more!
  9. rockets4kids
    That was one of my intended purposes for them as well. I would have been all over the PSOC4 if I could take that UDB configuration and do the rest of my software development under OS/X.
  10. rockets4kids
    I played with them a little bit this past spring when they introduced the $4 PSOC4 developer board. They are a nice bit of kit but the Windows-only development system is a deal-breaker for me. Even if you are a Windows user, you are essentially forced to use their editor as external editor support sucks. I wouldn't mind doing my hardware configuration under windows if I could do software development elsewhere. The hardware configuration tools generate C code so there is no reason for this not to be possible. I actually had a hour-long conference call with some of the lead developers on
  11. rockets4kids
    Most (if not all) of the FRAM parts are extreme overkill for this application. As an aside, I have yet to see a single demonstration of the FRAM parts showing appreciably less power consumption than non-FRAM parts for a simple application like this.
  12. rockets4kids
    @greeeg: If there is one thing I know from 20+ years in the consulting business, it is that what clients ask for is only rarely what they actually need. In this case, I have a strong suspicion that because we're dealing with radio transmission of data, the power consumption of the microcontroller is going to be a non-issue by comparison. But even assuming this is not the case, you are *still* going to want to build a test jig to measure your *actual* power consumption. This is absolutely an area where you want to verify your datasheets before beginning any actual development.
  13. rockets4kids
    If you are not aware that going into sleep modes *while* you are communicating with your RF device is the key to low power operation then you know nothing about how to optimize microcontrollers for low power. Furthermore, I suspect the differences in power consumption between an MSP430 and M0+ to be trivial compared to the power consumption of your RF device. In fact, I suspect entire power consumption of the MCU may be trivial compared to RF power requirements. (unless you are doing something stupid like not going into sleep modes while letting the MCU's UART talk with your RF device.)
  14. rockets4kids
    Based upon what you are asking, it seems as if you don't understand sleep modes or energy harvesting or both. Unless you have a self-contained energy harvesting system that will only power up an external device once it has harvested a sufficient amount of energy you are going to need to manage this. But in any case, the low power numbers provided by manufacturers are largely useless and I have found very little in the way of publications comparing performance across vendors. Most development shops do this internally -- and or course their results become part of their intellectual propert
  15. rockets4kids
    You don't need hot air to solder SMD, an iron will do just fine. What you do need, though, is a professionally made board. Although you can do 0.65mm pitch parts with homebrew PCBs it is still a bit tricky, at least for me, anyways. The 2553 is my go-to part when I want to whip up a quick and simple one-off project on protoboard or a homebrew PCB. If I'm going to spend $3, I'll be spending it on a much more powerful ARM part and a commercially-made break-out board.
  16. rockets4kids
    The price history on octopart jives with my personal purchasing experiences: http://octopart.com/detail/history?sid=2000829543279 From spring 2012 - Spring 2014 I had no troubles picking them up for $1.50/ea in relatively small quantities. Octopart only seems to have data up to July 7, but you can clearly see the spike starting in late June. For comparison, here is the price graph for the 20 pin TSSOP part: http://octopart.com/detail/history?sid=2002557852331 I am finding several vendors selling the 20 and 28 pin TSSOP parts arround $1.50 @ qty 25, and none of them are
  17. rockets4kids
    I was checking prices last night and noticed that the G2553 in PDIP has DOUBLED in price over the past four months. This past spring it was pretty easy to find them for $1.25 @ qty. 25 and now everyone seems to be selling them for about $2.80. SMD parts have not seen any change. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this temporary or permanent? Avnet is running a special at the moment where you can pick up any qty @ $1.50 ea. Consider this a heads up to anyone who likes the small DIP parts, or to anyone who might want to make a profit reselling them. Sadly, if this is perman
  18. rockets4kids
    The msp430 *is* the main processor on the monotron duo. ;-)
  19. rockets4kids
    Homebrew monitoring is *huge*, people have been doing it for over a decade now.
  20. rockets4kids
    Which distribution list was that? This came up on irc a few days back... More information in this thread: http://www.electro-music.com/forum/topic-52377.html&postorder=asc
  21. rockets4kids

    Wishlist Items

    rockets4kids replied to zeke's topic in General

    I guess some clarification is in order with regards to documentation and sample code. The documentation and sample code for the msp430 is indeed quite good. I was really referring to the rest of TI's micro=controller offerings here. As to the new GCC port, it is not entirely clear who is doing what. RH is doing the compiler, one team in TI is doing integration in CCS, and another team is doing header files. It is not clear if anyone has been tasked with documentation.
  22. rockets4kids

    Wishlist Items

    rockets4kids replied to zeke's topic in General

    My wishlist would be: 1. A better-organized website, and one where URLs don't change on a regular basis 2. Forums using software that doesn't suck. 3. Better documentation and more sample code. 4. Any documentation or sample code for the new msp430 gcc compiler. 5. Libraries that aren't bound by license restrictions. 6. More hobbyist-friendly packages (28/38 pin DIP for the G2 and 0.65 mm pitch SMD parts or affordable break-out boards in the estore)
  23. rockets4kids
    The G2 LaunchPad is technically capable of programming any MSP430 part with SBW. Support is determined by your software. CCS only supports parts which can be physically plugged into the LaunchPad. mspdebug supports the full line of MSP430 parts.
  24. rockets4kids
    Only 20 pins and an old-skool segmented display? Yawn. Wake me when there is something with e-paper and 40-pin headers.
  25. rockets4kids
    Now go look at the PDP-11 architecture. There is your common ancestor. The MSP430 follows it quite closely, the 9900 just used it for inspiration.
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