NJC

Hi everyone. I was looking through the Energia library (cores/msp430/twi.c) today trying to debug an issue I have been seeing, and noticed the following code: /* Work around for: * If the master does a read and then a write the START interrupt occurs * but the RX interrupt never fires. Clearing bit 4 and 5 of UCBxCTLW0 solves this. * bit 4 and 5 are however marked as reserved in the datasheet. */ UCBxCTLW0 &= ~0x18; Does anyone happen to know why this is? I have searched high and low for a reference on TI's forums and in their documentation to no avail. Thanks for the help!

@@bluehash Thanks! I wish I had more time to be active in the community. I am still using the MSP430 for almost all of my projects, especially the FRAM series. I've been a bit too busy with school to write about what I've been working on. Thanks for editing the post! Good call.

Hi Everyone! Recently, I released a Bluetooth Low Energy BoosterPack based on the BLE112 module from Bluegiga. The full-featured BoosterPack is a bit expensive, but there are a few different options that can make the BoosterPack very reasonable. I wanted to create this post so that you guys can ask me any questions you may have about it. Blank PCB: $10 - The BLE BoosterPack was designed with 0805 components and other easy to solder parts making it easy to hand assemble. For $10, you get a blank BoosterPack that can you assemble yourself. The layout and bill of materials (BOM) is ava

Too many times have I wished that there was a UART based bootloader for the MSP430. Sure there are USB bootloaders for the larger chips and wireless bootloaders for the CC430 chips, but what about the Value Line series? I was wondering if anyone has researched this or attempted writing the code, regardless of whether or not it worked. If not, I'm going to start doing some research and try to pull together a blog post on what it would take to create a bootloader, and then build one (hopefully with help from anyone who's interested). EDIT: Apparently most TI chips have a BSL (bootstrap l

One great application which an MSP430 would benefit from an RTOS is in a wireless mesh network. Many tasks will need to be done on a single chip randomly, sometimes causing conflicts. If I understand it correctly, an RTOS is really just a way to manage tasks in real time. Hope that helps put some perspective on it!

For a bit more expensive option, I just recently purchased one of these on a whim. http://cgi.ebay.com/2in1-SMD-Hot-Air-Re ... 3848wt_968 I'm not sure I really got the best bang for my buck, but I needed it quickly and decided to impulse buy it. Turns out,it works really well and I am very impressed with it. I can't speak to the durability and longevity of it since I have had it for only 2 months now. But I really love the extra tips and nozzles and love only having one solder tool on my work bench.

OCY, The IPTR package should fit just fine. Currently the second wave of prototypes are being manufactured, so I should get the boards and be able to test them in 2 or 3 weeks. There should be a few extra unpopulated boards left over from this upcoming batch. If you would like I could email you when the boards come in? NJC

You can easily program the 55xx chips with the LaunchPad (once you have the chip soldered in somewhere).

You actually don't need Vcc if the chips is powered externally. More accurately, you do not want to use the Vcc of the LaunchPad if you are powering the chip externally. Two power supplies fighting ends terribly. You need the ground though in order to provide a reference for the 2 programming signals. Example: For an MSP430 hooked up on a breadboard with RST tied to VCC via a resistor (47k), and powered by 2xAA batteries, you only need to connect the GND, the RST, and TEST pins in order to program the chip.

Yeah, I have the Saleae too. The new software is real nice too for it. That one you posted, 32 Channels? Thats awesome! I might have to take a look into getting it once I have to start getting into FPGA's more.

Doc, Take this with a grain of salt, since I never have used one of the pocket scopes. Personally I wouldn't buy one. $200 is a lot of money for something like that. You can definitely find a used scope on eBay for that much or even less, and the old analog scope will be much more useful. Theres nothing like having a real scope in front of you to use. I mentioned that you should check out the Rigol scope in your other post doc (on the workstation thread), you can also get it for $350 if you want to haggle some sellers on eBay. For a bit more cost, you get a scope you will use the rest of

Doc, I bought an oscilloscope about 2 months ago and its been the best money I've ever spent. It's SO useful its amazing. I'm sure lots of people have heard about the one I got, but I thought I'd mention it again. The Rigol DS1052E - $400. I haven't tested the spectrogram feature yet (who knows how well that works), but everything I've done on the scope worked perfect. The front panel is responsive and overall, I am very impressed. I like it much more than the stupid low end Tektronix scopes in the labs at school. I was gonna do a review on my blog of the scope, but figured thats not the b

Hey Everyone, Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in. I love the 55xx series, and have used 2 of them so far (the 5528, 5524, and soon to be 5510). The on board USB is a pain to get working to say the least, and I have only managed to get about 450 kbps for speed, which is a bit frustrating. I have been using the UART with an FTDI chip since I can easily exceed 1M baud with it. As far as doing other things with the chips (non-usb) its just as straight forward as the other MSP430 chips. There are code examples on TI's website which show how to use the peripherals (my favorite is the hardwar

My blog has a few good posts for beginners and shows how to use a few peripherals which might be a good reference in addition to all the great links already posted in this thread. http://www.msp430launchpad.com/2010/07/ ... oject.html - this post shows how to use buttons with the LaunchPad. There are a bunch of other newer posts which involve the ADC in the chip that comes with the LaunchPad. Hope thats some help.

mitsu-lover, welcome to the world of embedded systems. there isnt much you CANT do with a microcomputer if you have enough time to build and design it. I have a blog which might be able to help you get started with the MSP430 if you have a LaunchPad, and can definitely still help you get started with any MSP430 development board. If you don't have any hardware yet, I would recommend buying a LaunchPad (but find a place that has it in stock first). http://www.msp430launchpad.com/2010/07/ ... arted.html - I would recommend starting here since its the first post I have where you actually