RichardVowles

As someone who lives and breathes the JVM (which includes Java, Groovy, Scala, Clojure, JRuby, Jython, etc etc etc), the degree of ignorance in this thread is jaw dropping.

BTW, I finally got my two sided pixels done.
 

 

 
 

Johnnyboats is welcome to take my two :-) I've been called off my holiday early anyway so I'm not as far along as I wanted to be.

Hi,
I've finally found my "cahones" and decided to become a doer, and hopefully more active on the forum.
I've been working on his for more than a year on my free time and have learned a lot. However, nothing real have come out of this project until recently. With the recent release of energia library for nRF24L01P by spirillis, I decided to restart working on it. Anyway. I'll post what I've done so far and move along with the suggestions.
 
I'm a noob, so I've gone the noob way:
  Breadboarded first using what I had in my noob bin (msp430g2553 , nRF24l01P, ds18b20, thermistor, 7805, lm358, 9v battery, couple of resistors and capacitors)   Used the launchpad schematics to get the components values.   Board Layout with fritzing. Eagle was too complicated for me.   Ordered the board thru Oshpark after exporting the gerbers. [ yay!!! I'm speaking like the pros :grin:)   Programming with Energia, so far everything is going ok. I attached the fritzing file as well as the oshpark rendering of the board. Please, take a look, let me know where I've gone wrong.
YAWSB.zip

Hey all,
 
For a school project, I wanted to make a web interface board. Sadly MSP430s just don't cut it for advanced applications. I wanted to make a powerful portable web server I could plug into certain projects. Majority of code base credit goes to Brad S, my partner in crime. Credit also a course also goes to RobG for his brilliant universal lcd lib.
 
Web server board has the following features:
 
ARM cortex m-3 LPC1769 MCU
LPC1769 USB mini device interface
SPI based micro SD card interface
W5200 web server
 


 
I also made a docking board which as an NRF wireless chip on it and one of Robs 2.2" LCD touch displays on it.

 
Also made a wireless interface board which goes in application you wish to control. This guy uses an msp430G2553.

 
Been a long work in progress.

I have to order >$140 worth of stuff to get free shipping, i'm going to order some FTDI related stuff from Spirilis and oPossum's thread on USB plus some other bits, but if there are any kiwis who want stuff, let me know in a PM and I can order it and ship it to you locally. I'm in Auckland, but I'm happy to send it on.
 
Richard

Electrophoretic displays (Eink) have some nice attributes, but for most projects I think the "reflex LCD" displays are better.  Here is one recent project I saw from the guys at Energy Micro that uses such a display (link).  
 
The benefits of Electrophoretic displays are mostly for the segmented variety, which can be driven without an active matrix backpanel.  If you need the active matrix backpanel, then you are committing to a glass panel anyway, so the thinness and flexibility attributes go away.  You can see a segmented display on this kickstarter project which is also flexible (link).  As an aside: I would NOT back this project, as they will not be able to source their battery in the volumes they need.  STMicro is ramping-up a similar product, but that will have long-lead through 2013 (No secret information here, you can find it all online if you know where to look).
 
Anyway, my point is that I recommend the "reflex" or "memory" LCDs rather than the Eink units.  An added bonus is that they have a much lower peak current than Eink does -- if you are using a small battery, Eink can pull too much current across a short interval, causing voltage drop and therefore the BOR/POR on your MCU to flip.  That's annoying, especially if you don't know to expect it.

Richard: I used the MCP1700 because it is low cost, readily available, and provides a good amount of current. It is my favorite small LDO. The LM1117/LD1117 are popular LDO for up to 800 mA.
 
RoadRunner: That board is Open Hardware, so you can hack away at it. A narrow version would be really cool. Maybe also something that would fit in a USB stick plastic case.
 
The extra vias are to reduce resistance in the traces that carry power - it is intentional.
 
When a 2.0 mm board is used, Kapton tape can be used to cover the MiniB connector pad. It is also possible to drill a few vias to disconnect the traces.
 
Family photo of my FTDI boards:
 

Its interesting to look at the different regulators your boards are using. The Microchip one gives 250mA but at the expense of a higher quiescent current (1.6uA) than the 0.5 - 1 uA the T I one takes for more money and less current (150 uA). I have seen Rob use a different regulator that outputs 800mA, but it drives some less so...
 
Was this in your mind when choosing or did you go with what you guys were already familiar with?

http://www.compendiumarcana.com/forumpics/ftdi_43oh_r1.zip
 
The USB connector is drawn to the official spec. A plastic shim is required with common 1.6 mm boards for proper fit and insulation of the mini-b pads.
 
The shim stock I use is 0.015" for glue or 0.0125" for adhesive tape. McMaster Carr 9513K22 & 9513K21.

No need to remove jumpers, it should work as is. When putting a chip in a stand alone application, make sure to connect a 2.2nF capacitor from reset to ground and a 47k resistor from reset to Vcc.

Yeah, I'll populate 30 of those and send'm to bluehash.
 
Tapatalk Mobile Device
 
 

The sim900 is a fairly well known quantity in the Arduino space. Im interested mostly in a standalone board and the sim908 as well as the sim900. I have zero experience with pcb design as yet, but i would be happy to take on the software.
 
I use a fishing torpedo, and submitting gps data with the fishing report is kinda useful. But if the torpedo doesn't come back, it telling you where it is as long as it has a cell signal would be really useful. Add in a solar charger... That's eventually what i wanted the 908 for. I think they are used in cars to track them as well, ring fencing, stolen etc.

Richard, sorry but shipping to anywhere out side of the US  is not something we're willing to deal with. Plus shipping costs would likely make it very unattractive for you.
 
The design is there in schematics though, feel free to layout it out in whatever app you prefer to choose. Consider it open source hardware. Then use my firmware library freely as well. When I make the firmware available. 
 
Richard, actually wulf just told me he is willing to give it a try, but that you would have to pay the extra shipping. 

This is my first time designing a PCB for MSP430. I really like the NRF24L01+ booster pack but I would like something smaller to use for remote temperature sensors. With that in mind I've designed a 24.5 x 50 mm PCB (2 on a 5x5 cm prototype) featuring MSP430G2553 and an adapter for a 8-pin NRF24L01+ module using essentially the same pinout, with the intention of using the Spirilis library. There's a jack socket to connect a 1-wire sensor (e.g. DS18B20), a 4-pin header to connect a temperature/humidity sensor (SHT22 or similar), a programming header that gives serial access, and 3 other general purpose I/O pins. You could connect a thermistor or LM35 to the jack socket by leaving off the 4.7K pullup resistor on the data pin. Power can be supplied by a CR2032 coin cell or via a mini USB and LDO voltage regulator.
 
The repository is https://github.com/t0mpr1c3/wisenode although I haven't put up any documentation yet, just the Eagle files. I'm really very new to circuit board design so please if you can see any improvements do leave a comment for me. Thanks!

First, Much thanks to Rickta59 for helping me understand various aspects of the MSP430 in hardware, and software. Then to Spirilis who wrote the SPI initialization, and usage code in an attempt to help me understand HW SPI better. It worked Also to the many others who have helped me on these forums. 
 
I need to mention this project is still in design phase. PCB layout is nearing final stages. Layout / schematics design is done in OrCAD, and as I've been informed most ( or all ? ) everyone here uses EagleCAD. Sorry, but nothing I can do about that, and have been unsuccessful, in finding any reasonably priced conversion tools. In the end the layout software used is not up to me. 
 
I do not know how many would be interested in a PCB, but the board will be usable as a stand alone board, or as a boosterpack. Everything as I understand it part wise should be thru-hole, for easy hand soldering.  But depending on how many people would like one, price per would be around $5 each, plus shipping from us to you. USPS should be around $2 - $3, US only. Anyway, not looking to make anything here, just looking to lower costs per person( including ourselves ). 
 
below is a PDF attachment of the schematic for those who wish to view it.
 
EDIT:
 
Also I am ( and have been ) writing the software "library" for this board as we speak. The idea is to use an LCD, a couple of buttons for menu selection, then optional fan, and buzzer. So far I have a table driven "state machine" implemented in code, with initialization for UART ( debugging using printf(), but can leave this in too ), Minimal SPI communications, and have the code reading values out of the MAX31855, and displaying them out over UART -> serial printing various information. Again, the UART -> serial functionality is meant for debugging, but could be left in as the code will likely never even reach 8kb in total.
 
Anyways questions are welcome, if there are any to be had.
 
EDIT:
 
reflow.zip uploaded for use with these reflow oven boards.
SCHEMATIC1 _ PAGE1.pdf
reflow.zip

An exciting boosterpack! Just tried to order one but it looks like it is out of stock right not and is not available to the region I live (Asia / Hong Kong).. So could we expect that in the near future this restriction be lifted please?

I second that, I have SIM900 module sitting in my cart for the past few months.
 
Looks like this one is just asking for a group buy.

I'm considering recording some video tutorials and writing some tutorials to be available in PDF, Mobi and Epub formats for Energia.
 
I've got some ideas for topics around the basic Arduino introduction things, does anyone have any suggestions?
 
I have a Zoom H4n for voice, Camtasia for Mac, Final Cut Pro for video.
 
Although I intend to make it clear you can do coding the "Arduino way", I also want to make it clear that this only works for "always on" projects, and cover the alternatives. 
 
I intend to work through the year on it as my year long project so ideas for topics, etc are helpful
 
Not intending to charge for it, and happy to give credit!

I'm considering recording some video tutorials and writing some tutorials to be available in PDF, Mobi and Epub formats for Energia.
 
I've got some ideas for topics around the basic Arduino introduction things, does anyone have any suggestions?
 
I have a Zoom H4n for voice, Camtasia for Mac, Final Cut Pro for video.
 
Although I intend to make it clear you can do coding the "Arduino way", I also want to make it clear that this only works for "always on" projects, and cover the alternatives. 
 
I intend to work through the year on it as my year long project so ideas for topics, etc are helpful
 
Not intending to charge for it, and happy to give credit!

KIS-3R33S DC-DC Converter Eagle library.
Comments? Suggestions?
 
KIS-3R33S.rar

I'm considering recording some video tutorials and writing some tutorials to be available in PDF, Mobi and Epub formats for Energia.
 
I've got some ideas for topics around the basic Arduino introduction things, does anyone have any suggestions?
 
I have a Zoom H4n for voice, Camtasia for Mac, Final Cut Pro for video.
 
Although I intend to make it clear you can do coding the "Arduino way", I also want to make it clear that this only works for "always on" projects, and cover the alternatives. 
 
I intend to work through the year on it as my year long project so ideas for topics, etc are helpful
 
Not intending to charge for it, and happy to give credit!

I'm considering recording some video tutorials and writing some tutorials to be available in PDF, Mobi and Epub formats for Energia.
 
I've got some ideas for topics around the basic Arduino introduction things, does anyone have any suggestions?
 
I have a Zoom H4n for voice, Camtasia for Mac, Final Cut Pro for video.
 
Although I intend to make it clear you can do coding the "Arduino way", I also want to make it clear that this only works for "always on" projects, and cover the alternatives. 
 
I intend to work through the year on it as my year long project so ideas for topics, etc are helpful
 
Not intending to charge for it, and happy to give credit!

Thanks Peter, this is just the kind of feedback I was looking for.
 
What was I thinking? Of course those memory mapped registers need to be marked as volatile,
the hardware is updating them and the value can change at any moment. I updated the gpio.h
and changed the sample so that it performed some serial toggling of the same pin:
 

... LED1.setHigh(); LED1.setLow(); LED1.setHigh(); ...
 
msp430-gcc seems to generate the proper code even with -Os turn on:

inline void setHigh() _INLINE_ { reinterpret_cast(PORT_BASE_ADDR)->_OUT |= PIN_MASK(); c03e: d2 d3 21 00 bis.b #1, &0x0021 ;r3 As==01 } inline void setLow() _INLINE_ { reinterpret_cast(PORT_BASE_ADDR)->_OUT &= ~(PIN_MASK()); c042: f2 f0 fe ff and.b #-2, &0x0021 ;#0xfffe c046: 21 00 inline pin_value getValue() _INLINE_ { return ( reinterpret_cast(PORT_BASE_ADDR)->_OUT & PIN_MASK() ) ? HIGH : LOW; } inline void setHigh() _INLINE_ { reinterpret_cast(PORT_BASE_ADDR)->_OUT |= PIN_MASK(); c048: d2 d3 21 00 bis.b #1, &0x0021 ;r3 As==01 } inline void setLow() _INLINE_ { reinterpret_cast(PORT_BASE_ADDR)->_OUT &= ~(PIN_MASK()); c04c: f2 f0 bf ff and.b #-65, &0x0021 ;#0xffbf c050: 21 00
 
-rick

With the group buy for CC2500 radios happening soon, I though everyone might want easy access to software and get up and running with wireless super fast.
 
The conversion was pretty simple to get SimpliciTI running on the MSP430G2553. It uses UCBO on P1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7. P2.6 and 2.7 were used for GDO0 and GDO2 but these can be changed if needed. The led on P1.0 is used for a connection indicator. Of course, the jumper on 1.6 must be removed.
 
Unzip the attached file to your SimpliciTI\bsp\boards folders.
eg:

C:\Texas Instruments\SimpliciTI-CCS-1.1.1\Components\bsp\boards\LP_G2553
 
It will work with MDFLY's CC2500 radio http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_52&products_id=880&zenid=hqoogv1qn7ler204vb7vjkior3, the group buy CC2500 radio http://www.43oh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1873, and TI's RF2500T http://www.ti.com/tool/ez430-rf2500t.
 
I'm working on a demo project to post here as well as a short tutorial on getting a basic SimpliciTI project started in CCS.
 
On a side note, this will not work in CCSv5.1 yet. The new compiler creates numerous Syntax errors. It compiles and works just fine with CCSv4.
EDIT: After changing the optimization level and ignoring the syntax errors, it compiles and runs just fine from CCS v5.1!
 
LP_G2553.zip