adrianF

Hello Energia users,
 
Couple of questions I was hoping you could help me answer:
 
1: Who has used the CCSv6 (Code Composer Studio) Energia Sketch import?
2: If yes, have you stopped using the Energia IDE or still use it so now and then.
 
This will help me understand how many of you have converted to use CCS.
 
Thanks for the help!
 
Robert
 
 
 

Hey all!
 
This is Adrian from TI. We absolutely love this effort! To show our support, we'd like to enable you folks with some CC430 Chronos dev kits to help you out! Please send me a PM with your preferred shipping address & we'll send you a Chronos kit ASAP!
 
Thanks - we love the Energia project and I may or may not be wearing a Chronos watch right now
 
Cheers,
Adrian

Hey all!
 
This is Adrian from TI. We absolutely love this effort! To show our support, we'd like to enable you folks with some CC430 Chronos dev kits to help you out! Please send me a PM with your preferred shipping address & we'll send you a Chronos kit ASAP!
 
Thanks - we love the Energia project and I may or may not be wearing a Chronos watch right now
 
Cheers,
Adrian

Hey all!
 
This is Adrian from TI. We absolutely love this effort! To show our support, we'd like to enable you folks with some CC430 Chronos dev kits to help you out! Please send me a PM with your preferred shipping address & we'll send you a Chronos kit ASAP!
 
Thanks - we love the Energia project and I may or may not be wearing a Chronos watch right now
 
Cheers,
Adrian

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it might be close: http://www.ti.com/lit/zip/slac629
 
There are several BoosterPack templates there created in various design tools (Eagle, altium, etc)
 
The URL is available @ www.ti.com/byob

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it might be close: http://www.ti.com/lit/zip/slac629
 
There are several BoosterPack templates there created in various design tools (Eagle, altium, etc)
 
The URL is available @ www.ti.com/byob

In the "Sketch" menu/drop-down inside of Energia, there are a few simple ways to get to the generated hex file of your compiled sketch. 
- "Copy Hex file as path" will add the directory path to your hex file to your clipboard
- "Show compilation folder" will open up your windows explorer to show where all of the compiled files are, including the .hex file
 
Now that you have the .hex file, users can flash this to a LaunchPad with several tools:
- For MSP users, there is MSP430Flasher @ www.ti.com/msp430flasher // this tool is lightweight, has the ability to create batch files for simple one-click flashing, etc.
- For Tiva C users, there is LMFlasher @ http://www.ti.com/tool/lmflashprogrammer
- There is also the catch-all TI CCS UniFlash @ http://www.ti.com/tool/uniflash
- And also third party tools such as the one flasher from Elprotronic
 
Hope this helps!

In the "Sketch" menu/drop-down inside of Energia, there are a few simple ways to get to the generated hex file of your compiled sketch. 
- "Copy Hex file as path" will add the directory path to your hex file to your clipboard
- "Show compilation folder" will open up your windows explorer to show where all of the compiled files are, including the .hex file
 
Now that you have the .hex file, users can flash this to a LaunchPad with several tools:
- For MSP users, there is MSP430Flasher @ www.ti.com/msp430flasher // this tool is lightweight, has the ability to create batch files for simple one-click flashing, etc.
- For Tiva C users, there is LMFlasher @ http://www.ti.com/tool/lmflashprogrammer
- There is also the catch-all TI CCS UniFlash @ http://www.ti.com/tool/uniflash
- And also third party tools such as the one flasher from Elprotronic
 
Hope this helps!

In the "Sketch" menu/drop-down inside of Energia, there are a few simple ways to get to the generated hex file of your compiled sketch. 
- "Copy Hex file as path" will add the directory path to your hex file to your clipboard
- "Show compilation folder" will open up your windows explorer to show where all of the compiled files are, including the .hex file
 
Now that you have the .hex file, users can flash this to a LaunchPad with several tools:
- For MSP users, there is MSP430Flasher @ www.ti.com/msp430flasher // this tool is lightweight, has the ability to create batch files for simple one-click flashing, etc.
- For Tiva C users, there is LMFlasher @ http://www.ti.com/tool/lmflashprogrammer
- There is also the catch-all TI CCS UniFlash @ http://www.ti.com/tool/uniflash
- And also third party tools such as the one flasher from Elprotronic
 
Hope this helps!

I'm mostly a lurker on this forum, and watch in somewhat bemused awe at the things you folks manage to create. I'm right at the bottom of a massive learning curve with very little time to climb up it.
 
Still, I'm very happy with my first ever electronics or microcontroller project. 
 
It's a word clock inspired by an image of a commercial product I bumped into on the internet.
 
Parts list:
 
1) A cheap frame from our local hobby shop
 
2) An http://www.pvelectronics.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2'>

Alright so, I had to keep a zip on it til now but since it's released... I had early access to one of these (thanks to the TI folks!) and got to play with it a little ahead of time.  I'm going to dump my thoughts & observations:
 
1. New eZFET is based on the MSP430.DLL V3 open-source FET library, same as what they use with the FET430UIF.  See http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ-FET_lite
 
You will need the MSP430.DLL (compilable on Windows and Linux; CCSv6 early adopter beta has a binary with full support for it, CCSv5 might not) to use it with "mspdebug" ... I think it's supposed to work on the Mac too but I tried compiling the MSP430.DLL crap months ago and gave up.  For now I compile on my Mac using mspgcc 4.7.0 and scp over to my Windows netbook where I run "mspdebug tilib" with CCSv6 beta's MSP430.DLL to program & debug it.
 
2. The literature all mentions Energia, so I expect a full release of Energia is forthcoming soon.  Might be why they've been waiting so long to release an update.  I expect they will have got MSP430.DLL compilation on the Mac working for this release so I can quit worrying about copying the firmware & using my Windows machine ..... for everything including FET430UIF uses
 
3. eZFET's backchannel UART has 2 new lines; CTS and RTS.  I think these are implemented in the serial link so your PC's terminal program can use them, but on the MSP430 hardware side they merely connect to 2 random lines on the F5529: CTS is a signal from PC-to-F5529 and goes to P1.7 so it's interrupt-capable, RTS is a signal from F5529-to-PC and is connected to P6.7.  The documentation for the FET expects you to use these lines for handshaking when you use UART speeds over 200Kbps I believe.
 
4. I do love the new documentation sheet; it's colorful and way more explanatory than the others I've seen.  Rei Vilo's energia pinout diagrams inspired this BTW.
 
5. Those stackable wire-wrap headers are a pain in the ass.  I couldn't get my Nokia 1202 boosterpack working with this (very flaky problems, including flickering in the backlight) until I bolstered the thickness of the pins with some flux+solder.  Stellaris & Tiva-C LP has the same problem though.
 
6. There is a nasty glitch that TI should fix ASAP (and they do know about it), preferably with a back-fix for existing boards.  The TUSB hub chip holds the reigns on a couple power switch ICs that let 5V pass through to the eZFET and to the F5529's nets.  If there is no real PC on the other end of the USB connection, the TUSB chip never switches the power on.  So you HAVE to have this board plugged into a PC to power it up using the built-in USB port.  Maybe I'm overblowing this one but it's a basic feature we've been able to take for granted on pretty much every dev board on the market... in a pinch you can always plug your project into a USB cellphone charger or battery power brick, but not with this board.
 
I suppose one could argue that with real low-power requirements, nobody's using that USB port anyway.  However I'm not sure, seeing as they used a high-efficiency DC-DC converter for the 3.3V rail and I'm betting that F5528 eZFET chip goes into LPM4 if it has nothing else to do. But still, USB and ULP don't usually go hand-in-hand.
 
7. Board comes with a cool little USB demo, pushbuttons act like keyboard output and you can browse the contents of a USB mass storage device that shows up.  Reinforcing the urgency behind #6, I think a typical use-case for this board will be sensor sampling "in the field" that you can transfer easily to a PC using a USB mass-storage + CSV output generator feature in the firmware.  Or maybe WiFi config or other RF config can be done using easy text files that get dumped onto the USB mass-storage drive.
 
8. @@pabigot 's MSPGCC 4.7.0 release, his last one, supports the >64KB address space on this chip using -mmemory-model=large or -mmemory-model=huge.  I've tested this out
 
9. The RAM is actually 10K; 8KB + 2KB USB RAM that can be used for general purposes if the USB subsystem isn't switched on.  Linker scripts have to be adjusted to use that extra 2KB, but what's funny is in my copy of the msp430mcu files (headers + linker scripts) that Peter released, looking in the msp430f5529 directory there is a "nousb" dir with an alternative memory.x linker script file:
total 40 drwxr-sr-x@ 6 ebrundic staff 204 Sep 4 12:34 . drwxr-xr-x@ 440 ebrundic staff 14960 Jul 1 12:06 .. -rw-r--r--@ 1 ebrundic staff 1770 Sep 4 12:48 memory.x drwxr-sr-x@ 3 ebrundic staff 102 Jul 1 12:06 nousb -rw-r--r--@ 1 ebrundic staff 15817 Mar 21 21:07 periph.x wmmit032091:msp430f5529 ebrundic$ ls -l nousb/ total 8 -rw-r--r--@ 1 ebrundic staff 1770 Mar 21 21:07 memory.x Saving the original memory.x somewhere and copying nousb/memory.x into the main (msp430f5529/memory.x) file, it gives me access to that extra 2KB.
USB version:
MEMORY { sfr : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0010 /* END=0x0010, size 16 */ peripheral_8bit : ORIGIN = 0x0010, LENGTH = 0x00f0 /* END=0x0100, size 240 */ peripheral_16bit : ORIGIN = 0x0100, LENGTH = 0x0100 /* END=0x0200, size 256 */ bsl : ORIGIN = 0x1000, LENGTH = 0x0800 /* END=0x1800, size 2K as 4 512-byte segments */ infomem : ORIGIN = 0x1800, LENGTH = 0x0200 /* END=0x1a00, size 512 as 4 128-byte segments */ infod : ORIGIN = 0x1800, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1880, size 128 */ infoc : ORIGIN = 0x1880, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1900, size 128 */ infob : ORIGIN = 0x1900, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1980, size 128 */ infoa : ORIGIN = 0x1980, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1a00, size 128 */ usbram (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x1c00, LENGTH = 0x0800 /* END=0x2400, size 2K */ ram (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x2400, LENGTH = 0x2000 /* END=0x4400, size 8K */ rom (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x4400, LENGTH = 0xbb80 /* END=0xff80, size 48000 */ vectors : ORIGIN = 0xff80, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x10000, size 128 as 64 2-byte segments */ far_rom : ORIGIN = 0x00010000, LENGTH = 0x00014400 /* END=0x00024400, size 81K */ /* Remaining banks are absent */ ram2 (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 ram_mirror (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 signature : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 } REGION_ALIAS("REGION_TEXT", rom); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_DATA", ram); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_ROM", far_rom); /* Legacy name, no longer used */ REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_TEXT", far_rom); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_DATA", ram2); PROVIDE (__info_segment_size = 0x80); PROVIDE (__infod = 0x1800); PROVIDE (__infoc = 0x1880); PROVIDE (__infob = 0x1900); PROVIDE (__infoa = 0x1980); Nousb version:
MEMORY { sfr : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0010 /* END=0x0010, size 16 */ peripheral_8bit : ORIGIN = 0x0010, LENGTH = 0x00f0 /* END=0x0100, size 240 */ peripheral_16bit : ORIGIN = 0x0100, LENGTH = 0x0100 /* END=0x0200, size 256 */ bsl : ORIGIN = 0x1000, LENGTH = 0x0800 /* END=0x1800, size 2K as 4 512-byte segments */ infomem : ORIGIN = 0x1800, LENGTH = 0x0200 /* END=0x1a00, size 512 as 4 128-byte segments */ infod : ORIGIN = 0x1800, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1880, size 128 */ infoc : ORIGIN = 0x1880, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1900, size 128 */ infob : ORIGIN = 0x1900, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1980, size 128 */ infoa : ORIGIN = 0x1980, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x1a00, size 128 */ ram (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x1c00, LENGTH = 0x2800 /* END=0x4400, size 10K */ rom (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x4400, LENGTH = 0xbb80 /* END=0xff80, size 48000 */ vectors : ORIGIN = 0xff80, LENGTH = 0x0080 /* END=0x10000, size 128 as 64 2-byte segments */ far_rom : ORIGIN = 0x00010000, LENGTH = 0x00014400 /* END=0x00024400, size 81K */ /* Remaining banks are absent */ ram2 (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 ram_mirror (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 signature : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 usbram (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x0000, LENGTH = 0x0000 } REGION_ALIAS("REGION_TEXT", rom); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_DATA", ram); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_ROM", far_rom); /* Legacy name, no longer used */ REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_TEXT", far_rom); REGION_ALIAS("REGION_FAR_DATA", ram2); PROVIDE (__info_segment_size = 0x80); PROVIDE (__infod = 0x1800); PROVIDE (__infoc = 0x1880); PROVIDE (__infob = 0x1900); PROVIDE (__infoa = 0x1980); Not sure if there's an option to msp430-gcc that can force you to use the nousb/memory.x without manually overwriting the main memory.x file, I haven't figured it out yet.
 
10. The UART includes USCI_A0 on the boosterpack headers, and USCI_A1 connects to the backchannel UART.  So now you can have your cake & eat it too... a GPS boosterpack installed without interfering with your ability to play with backchannel UART comms.  Assuming you don't decide to whip out a USB serial link natively inside the chip, that is.
 
11. CCS still has a 16K flash code limit, but the idea seems to be that CCSv6 will contain the new RedHat GCC port added as an "unlimited code size" option.  It'll be interesting to see how this works out with the USB developer's package and MSP430Ware stuff that TI already has released for this chip.
 
12. Remember, F5xxx series have relatively long wakeup times in LPM3/LPM4 when the SVM is enabled I believe.  @@pabigot had a thread about this I think.
 
13. XT1 and XT2 are both soldered, XT2 has a 4MHz crystal (for accurate USB) and XT1 has your standard 32.768KHz XTAL.  Initializing an F5xxx series chip is substantially different from the value-line parts as to use the DCO you have to enable an FLL loop that "calibrates" the DCO.  I wrote a basic library to do this: https://github.com/spirilis/ucs_clockinit
 
Cool advantage of this, you can easily overclock the MSP430.  Past experiments with the MSP430F5172 taught me that it can run up to ~56MHz doing a very basic LED blink with __delay_cycles() before it started crashing :grin:

Hi!
 
Just wanted to let everyone know that BoosterPack templates (20 pin and 40 pin) are now available in Upverter.  If you haven't tried Upverter yet, its a super cool and pretty polished online hardware design tool that will let you import popular formats like EAGLE and design PCB completely in the browser.  It allows for real time collaboration in the cloud (think google docs for board layout and schematics). Probably something that would be pretty useful for the 43oh community. 
 
40 pin: https://upverter.com/a-whitehead/9f164fea8af72827/40-Pin-LaunchPad-BoosterPack-Template---AW/
20 pin: https://upverter.com/a-whitehead/3170001d9dd74890/20-Pin-LaunchPad-BoosterPack-Template---AW/
 
If you have any feedback on using Upverter, please post it here.  I'm curious to know what you all think about it compared to traditional design tools. 
 
 
 
 

Thank you for asking.
 
Personally, 43Oh store discounts won't make a difference to me. Compared to other hobbies, tinkering with LaunchPads is already pretty cheap
 
How about convincing TI (and other vendors) to give evaluation boards for new ICs to proven library developers, with the explicit goal to publish an Energia library for it?
 
I envision a program similar to the Dangerous Prototypes Free PCB drawer:
1) Qualify for the program by publishing an Energia library
2) Get a free chip/breakout/evaluation kit
3) Publish Energia library for it
4) Rinse and repeat
 
A similar cycle could work for Booster Packs.

I got hold of 4D Systems' new 1.5" 128x128 OLED display BoosterPack and let me tell you, this display is awesome.
Brilliant colors, wide viewing angle, sharp, a real eye candy.
 
Specs:
128 x 128 1.5

Hello - I'm a complete newbie to MSP (or any) MCU.  I have the IAR trial program and am trying to load and tinker with.
 
I've done the following (over and over):
 
Connected the MSP Launchpad and CC3000 to the USB port
Loaded drivers
Successfully connecting to and downloading the Basic Wireless Application Utility to the MCU
 
 
Using:
Windows 8 x64 (but have tried with XP sp3 as well) - same result
Tried with Hyperterminal, Putty, RealTerm - all same result. Can't get any response from MSP430 when I attempt to connect - I don't actually think it's connecting.
 
Is there any way to ensure I'm connecting through my appropiate com port (which I've checked)?  Is there any part I'm missing?  I've followed this document and everything is great until I get to the Hyperterminal part. http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC3000_Basic_Wi-Fi_example_application_for_Launchpad
:?
any help is greatly appreciated!
Willie

Update!
Outdoor tests reach a distance of 100 metres (~330 feet) with no obstacle between the two radios.

Rei-
Thanks for working with and encouraging Anaren to provide this. I have been testing and have it working on both MSP & Stellaris, including MSP to Stellaris.
 
What data rate/power level did you use to achieve 100 meters?
 
B

Can't wait to see all of these BoosterPacks @ the TI Booth! Thanks friends!!
 
We'll have a lot of first-time TI-ers at Maker Faire this year, so I'm looking forward to it! And as always, we're glad that we'll be able to spend the weekend with @@bluehash
 
adrianF

Can't wait to see all of these BoosterPacks @ the TI Booth! Thanks friends!!
 
We'll have a lot of first-time TI-ers at Maker Faire this year, so I'm looking forward to it! And as always, we're glad that we'll be able to spend the weekend with @@bluehash
 
adrianF

Hi folks! I'm at design west. I'll snap some shots and upload them tonight. In the mean time, check out TIs YouTube channel where we'll be uploading videos throughout the event.
 
In a nutshell, the BeagleBone black is creating a lot of excitement at the show! Also there are a lot of folks stopping by the TI booth talking about how Energia has helped them in their development! One of our BoosterPack design challenge winners used Energia to create his LED matrix BoosterPack, and the ease of use that Energia provides helped him get his project submission completed in the compressed 5 week window for the design contest.
 
Our friends CircuitCo had a booth, as well as Newnes, which is the publisher of the LaunchPad book.
 
Some cool demos we had at the TI booth include:
- sneak peak at a new TI BoosterPack, which is a capacitive touch + Haptics video game controller reminiscent of the old school Nintendo controllers. We had it hooked up to a PC playing classic video games
- BeagleBone black was there as well as a few demos including a mustache cam, which uses open CV's face detection library to superimpose a big mustache on top of people's faces thanks to a PS3 eye cam.
- LED coffee table driven by the msp430 g2 launchpad that was synced to music
- basketball that has integrated sensors and our BLE modules to send back diagnostic data to a tablet
- the Tiva C group also unveiled their sensor hub BoosterPack, which offers a bunch of sensors (magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, etc...), connector for wireless modules, and unique algorithms for detecting motion.
 
Thanks!
Adrian

How about this, split LP board in two, MSP430G-EV debugger board and MSP430G-TB target board. Sell EV + TB for $10 and additional TBs for $4.30.
 

Hi 43oh community,
 
This is Adrian from the TI MCU group - wanted to chime in and confirm that the price of LaunchPad will change to $9.99. While the $4.30 promotional price of the MSP430 LaunchPad ended on March 1, 2013, at $9.99 it remains TI

Always a sucker for displays of any form and shape I ordered one of the 1.35 inch SHARP LS013B4DN02 memory LCD when it made the rounds last year. At $20 apiece it's quite expensive for its size, but it's sooo pretty
 

 
I finally finished up the code and published everything on Github.
https://github.com/a...-memory-display
 
According to the datasheet, this display runs on less than 15uW. I was not able to measure current with my lowly multimeter, so I'm pretty positive that the MSP430 plus display use way below 1mA.
 
If the display looks familiar, that's because it was featured in the Wolverine teaser a few months back
http://www.43oh.com/...cd-boosterpack/
 
My code probably also works with the breakout board that fellow 43oh member reagle designed:
http://forum.43oh.co...akout-for-sale/
 
More information about the display at SHARP:
http://www.sharpmemo...memory-lcd.html
 
According to Mouser LS013B4DN02 is end-of-life. However LS013B4DN04 has very similar specs and should also work with this breakout and code. Both displays are in stock at Mouser:
LS013B4DN02
LS013B4DN04
 
I have two extra PCBs including matching FPC connector (10pos .5mm) sitting in my drawer. PM me if anyone wants one, I'll give or trade them away as long as it's within the US.
 
Regards
Adrian

Have you guys seen this? http://mspdebug.sourceforge.net/power.html
 
Olimex just released some hardware that enables power profiling with MSPDEBUG. I haven't given it a try yet, but figured I'd share the link for someone who's interested in jumping on this
 
Adrian