phenyl

My Lisp interpreter for microcontrollers, uLisp, now supports the MSP430 FR6989 LaunchPad board, with the ability to write text to the LCD display from Lisp programs:

For more information see uLisp for the MSP430 FR6989 LaunchPad.

I vaguely remember something a while back on the E2E forums with regard to the Kentec driver/library not being right on the 432.  If I recall correctly, there was an updated version referred to which sped up the display significantly and made the original poster happy.  A well worded search should find that thread.
EDIT:  Did a few searches and couldn't find it.  Perhaps it was not the 432 but a Tiva issue.  That's the trouble with vague memories....  You may want to try posting on E2E if you can't find it by searching.  If it is indeed the issue I seem to remember, then perhaps one of the TI guys might recall and be able to help out. 

Just perform something like
myScreen.setPenSolid(true); myScreen.dRectangle(x, y, a, b, myColours.black); with x, y as coordinates, and a, b as size.

@phenyl
The LCD_screen - Reference Manual is available on the libraries sub-folders of the Energia folder, or online at https://github.com/energia/Energia/blob/master/hardware/msp430/libraries/EduBPMKII_Screen/LCD_screen - Reference Manual.pdf

Hi All,
 
After a week of assessing the MSP430FR and new MSP430i series, I am now happy to commence a new commercial project development  based on the MSP430FR4133 and MSP430i2xxx.
 
It's a handheld instrument that needs to make some precision analogue measurements. (No - it's not a tricorder )
 
The MSP430FR4133 will basically run an LCD (either segmented or Sharp 400x200) and the user interface of a few soft buttons.
 
There may be the need to move to a larger FRAM size when using the Sharp 400x256 - as that will use 12K of fram as the display buffer.  I am also considering  '5969 and '6969 for this role.
 
The MSP430i2xxx - which I only discovered over the weekend will do the analogue measurements with its SD24 ADC, filter and scale and then pass the data to the '4133 for display.
 
This is a particularly economical implementation, and likely to half the BOM cost of the existing instrument which is based on a MSP430F437 and an external 16-bit ADC.
 
I can't talk much about the exact application at the moment - but I believe that the combination of an analogue processor and a display processor will be a powerful one.
 
The low power operation of the MSP is ideal for this cost sensitive battery powered instrument.
 
Development starts in full tomorrow - when I receive my '4133 LaunchPad.
 
 
On a separate topic, I am also developing a tiny Forth-like language, which runs out of about 2Kbytes and 512B of RAM.  This will be the subject of a separate post.  It's not commercially sensitive - so I'm free to discuss it with other interested parties here.
 
 
regards
 
 
Ken
 
 
London
 

Went through and soldered up a batch of new PCBs


 
Paneling PCBs made this process much fast.
I'm still using my manual PnP which isn't very fast or accurate, especially after a few coffees.

Hi @@artium
 
Thank you very much for making this library available.
I compiled it on a F5529 launchpad without issue (needed to adapt the pins slightly)
I am trying to get it working on the msp432 now, however I am running into problems.
 
First it mentions that min(,) is not defined, this is easily circumvented with two definesat the top of the sketch: https://github.com/energia/Energia/issues/815
Then I changed volatile RwReg with volatile int32_t in the h file where the SPI pin pointers are defined.
 
Unfortunately, now the compiler tells me that digitalpintoport and associated functions are not defined. Do you or anyone have any hints? I'll upload the exact error message tonight, this is from memory...

Well, I tried ordering two of the boards and a couple small tx modules.
Luckily they sent me a mail asking if I accepted their shipping charge of 76.81 USD. (for a total of 31 USD of components)
 
Which feels outrageous and so I politely declined...
I chose "cheapest international shipping method", so for living out of the US it's simply out of any range of justification for a hobby purchase.

Hi All,
 
It's about a month since my last update, and following on from the breadboard prototype,  the project has been gathering momentum.
 
After an initial review of the various MSP430 devices it was decided to opt for a generic smart analogue sensor design, capable of driving an OLED display.
 
I selected to use the MSP430i2041 ( which was chosen for it's 4 x SD24 ADCs) in order to make precision sensor measurements.  It uses a low noise differential input instrumentation amplifier.
 
Typically it can be used for bridge sensors, current shunts, milliohm measurements, strain-gauges, PT100 and thermocouple temperature measurements etc, etc.
 
The product is on a small board - just 42 x 53mm (1.65" x 2.1"), and has a forwards facing OLED display and 4 button user interface.
 
As stated last month I am using the MSP430i2041 and 128K byte 23LC1024  SPI serial SRAM.  I am using my SIMPLEX Forthlike language which now executes code out of external serial memory, or an be used to respond to serial commands (requests for ADC reading data etc) over a serial link. 
 
A super capacitor and LiPo battery are used to allow for non-volatile memory. 
 
As this has been designed as an evaluation, all of the 'i2041 mcu pins are available on 2 x 16 pin header strips - allowing it to be plugged into a breadboard, stripboard, or connected to a Launchpad with jumper wires, using just Rx, Tx, 3V3 and 0V.  The Launchpad '4133 or  '6989 are preferred as they provide a 6 digit LCD "meter" like display.
 
USB to serial communications is handled using a CH340G USB-serial IC.    There is an on board LiPo charger and boost regulator  - allowing the board to run from a LiPo  or  - as little as a 1V dc supply. 
 
A Bluetooth Low Energy module allows data to be sent to smart phone or tablet.
 
Just to let you know that the pcbs for the above project arrived today and I already have a couple of them built up.
 
I will be posting some pictures up to this thread over the next couple of days.  
 
 
 
 
If the module is successful, I hope to be able to open source at least some of the design, for those who are interested.
 
It would be great to have MSP430i20xx support on Energia - allowing this module to be simply programmed.
 
 
 
 
Ken
 
 
London

Well, I tried ordering two of the boards and a couple small tx modules.
Luckily they sent me a mail asking if I accepted their shipping charge of 76.81 USD. (for a total of 31 USD of components)
 
Which feels outrageous and so I politely declined...
I chose "cheapest international shipping method", so for living out of the US it's simply out of any range of justification for a hobby purchase.

@@phenyl, I did not get your pm. My pm mailbox was full. It should work now.

@@phenyl,
 
I just checked out pcbway and I am stunned at the low price. 
 
Is it too good to be true?
Is there work good or bad?

@@phenyl,
 
Those boards look excellent!
 
With my short deadline and your photos, I think I am going to give them a try.  
 
Thank you!
 
BTW, isn't that the IO card for the agilent scope?

@@phenyl
 
Ha!  It's the split in the board edge connector and the resistor divider that give it away to me.
 
Cool!  I have a x3024a here. Is it worth the effort?

I was going to give PCBway a shot too, but smart-prototyping turned out to be cheaper. and they'll do the metal stencils too (saves shipping)
 
Alot of services are cheaper than others for particular projects. In my experience PCBs from: Seeedstudio, Itead, elecrow, smartprototyping, dirtyPCBs are all exactly the same quality. Not surprising since they probably all end up at the same fabs in china anyway....
 
 
Your PCBs are looking great @@zeke. I think I could have a few uses for the Thermocouple board, primarily for my reflow oven...

Hi @@zeke
 
in my (limited) opinion, their work is good. Here's a board (the gerbers came from an eevblog member,[1] not mine) I had made privately:
 







 
I had some made, the one I soldered the components on works perfectly.
 
Of the ones from work I don't have any pictures obviously, they were only for a small project with a few components. The finish there was ENIG, which also turned out really well.
 
 
[1] http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/point-me-to-latest-info-on-dyi-dsoxlan/msg823148/#msg823148

Yeah it is  
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Hi @@zeke
 
in my (limited) opinion, their work is good. Here's a board (the gerbers came from an eevblog member,[1] not mine) I had made privately:
 







 
I had some made, the one I soldered the components on works perfectly.
 
Of the ones from work I don't have any pictures obviously, they were only for a small project with a few components. The finish there was ENIG, which also turned out really well.
 
 
[1] http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/point-me-to-latest-info-on-dyi-dsoxlan/msg823148/#msg823148

Hi Zeke,
 
I was using http://www.pcbway.com/ at work and for a private project or two. At work we paid for fast shipping on some small simple boards that we needed quickly, the boards got here in less than a work week and looked good (and performed well). Otherwise you can check on http://www.pcbshopper.com/, they run comparisons on your size and time-requirements to help you find the optimal boardhouse.
 
(I am unaffiliated with either company, only a customer and I used pcbshoppers website).

Hi Zeke,
 
I was using http://www.pcbway.com/ at work and for a private project or two. At work we paid for fast shipping on some small simple boards that we needed quickly, the boards got here in less than a work week and looked good (and performed well). Otherwise you can check on http://www.pcbshopper.com/, they run comparisons on your size and time-requirements to help you find the optimal boardhouse.
 
(I am unaffiliated with either company, only a customer and I used pcbshoppers website).

Hi @@artium,
 
thank you very much (and also adafruit )
I ran the benchmarks on my msp432 launchpad and also on my msp430f5529 launchpad (25 MHz), here with #define USE_FAST_PINIO commented for both.
 
msp432
Display Power Mode: 0x9C
MADCTL Mode: 0x48
Pixel Format: 0x5
Image Format: 0x0
Self Diagnostic: 0x0
Benchmark                Time (microseconds)
Screen fill              31922493
Text                     1787874
Lines                    17494289
Horiz/Vert Lines         2618766
Rectangles (outline)     1675845
Rectangles (filled)      66276560
Circles (filled)         9775988
Circles (outline)        7653239
Triangles (outline)      5548662
Triangles (filled)       21812339
Rounded rects (outline)  3461099
Rounded rects (filled)   72269681
Done!


msp430f5529
ILI9341 Test!
Display Power Mode: 0x60
MADCTL Mode: 0x0
Pixel Format: 0xFF
Image Format: 0x0
Self Diagnostic: 0x0
Benchmark                Time (microseconds)
Screen fill              2263167
Text                     340734
Lines                    3615312
Horiz/Vert Lines         195546
Rectangles (outline)     133089
Rectangles (filled)      4699971
Circles (filled)         1194204
Circles (outline)        1580064
Triangles (outline)      1146462
Triangles (filled)       1952517
Rounded rects (outline)  558189
Rounded rects (filled)   5281704
Done!
 
 
The 432 seems to be significantly slower in everything than the 5529, which I don't understand yet. (I did use uint32_t, I forgot which one I used when writing the forum post away from my home computer)...

@@phenyl A small Chinese model. Typically refered to as CNC3020.
 

 
I've bought a new spindle and control electronics. I occasionally have issues with the lead screws binding up, I think upgrading them is the next step on that side project.
If you want a unit that was just going to work out of the box I wouldn't recommend getting this model.

Ohh cool, My smoothie board has been making the rounds through some of my machines. It's typically on either my custom openbuilds vslot based delta 3d printer (still very much a work in progress) Or my homemade reprap (the first thing I built with my purchased 3d printer)
 
My CNC mill predates the smoothie board, it's running from a tinyG controller. Which seems to work quite well, I'm not sure if the onboard drivers struggle sometimes. I've occasionally either missed steps or the steppers have stalled, basically ruining the entire job. (I suspect this might be more of a mechanical issue than electronics)
 
My laser is still using the included driver board and the slightly dodgy corel+plugin software. I'm planning to upgrade the whole gantry at the same time as the control board to give a larger work area. But as you can imagine, that's quite a big job.
 
 
This is quite true, I have enjoyed fixing the electronics.
 
Thanks, It's been a fun project.
 
Still a bit of work required on the software front, I want to have the device directly log into a format supported by google maps .kml. That transition has brought with it some bugs.
I'm still not monitoring the battery voltage, but the protection circuit cuts the battery out at ~3.3v so there isn't much harm in ignoring the battery voltage.

Ran the enclosures through my Mill, made a little jig to aid in positioning.


 
There are a few issues left to sort out.
PCB is not retained downward in the enclosure, when removing USB the PCB lifts upwards. LEDs leak light between their corresponding holes in the enclosure Button needs a mechanism to reach up through the case. I plan to solve these issues by creating 2 custom parts.
Part A:
This part will wedge between the PCB and top of the enclosure. Have holes over the LEDs to create light pipes out of the enclosure. A channel around the button to house a switch cap, part B. Part B:
Switch cap, poke through the cutout in the enclosure  
I decided to use my CNC to make molds to form the parts out of polyurethane. Straight from the CNC. You can see the switch part took a few attempts to get the tolerance right.

 
Fitted


 
Button fits perfectly flush with the case to avoid accidental presses.



 
 

I'm working on building a speed controller for a belt grinder and I'm using a G2553 for the controller.  Since the speed of the motor will need to vary between 1000-8000 RPM, the 32.768Khz clock was too slow and the DCO was drifting too much and causing the RPM to vary by several hundred counts even when the motor was running at a constant stable speed. This in turn caused the PID loop to act really weird and I could not hold a stable speed.  What I needed was a stable reference oscillator to use for sensing the RPM of the drive motor. 
 
Being stubborn, I wanted to do this with only a single G2553 cpu and since the 2553 isn't spec'd to use a high freq crystal I went looking for an alternate way to provide a reference for the timers.  I was quite happy to discover that P1.0 can be configured as an input for an external timer reference. Thus the "Launchpad Timer Reference Oscillator" was born. 
 
In my application I'm using a 16MHz oscillator, but any speed could be used to fit the given application.
 
 

It is a small 0.3" x 1" pcb with an Abracon oscillator, a 0.1uF cap., and connectors.
 
It only took a minor code change to have the Timer use the external reference and so far it seems to have resolved my timing issues.
 
While this is without a doubt the most simple PCB I think I have ever designed, it just may turn out to be one of the most useful.
I will definitely be including an external reference oscillator in any of my future projects that need very accurate time references.
 
Here it is in action.

 
 
thanks for looking
 
Brian