hlipka

Under "New in this release": "License manager-free release"

Switching MISO and MOSI for a SPI EEPROM, while building my PicKit3 clone. On the original schematic from the PK3 user guide they are called SDI and SDO, for both the MCU and the EEPROM. So I naturally connected SDI to the same net, and SDO to another one. But in reality SDI was the input on both sides, and SDO the output - so they should have breen swapped. It took me about 3 months to find this out

I had first go on the EVM (it arrived on tuesday): http://blog.hendriklipka.de/archives/2013/09/ldc1000_test.html
This sensor is really sensitive (and accurate), but it is intended for small distances. So anybody thinking about using it as a metal detector will be disappointed.

I had first go on the EVM (it arrived on tuesday): http://blog.hendriklipka.de/archives/2013/09/ldc1000_test.html
This sensor is really sensitive (and accurate), but it is intended for small distances. So anybody thinking about using it as a metal detector will be disappointed.

I had first go on the EVM (it arrived on tuesday): http://blog.hendriklipka.de/archives/2013/09/ldc1000_test.html
This sensor is really sensitive (and accurate), but it is intended for small distances. So anybody thinking about using it as a metal detector will be disappointed.

You're regulating 12 volts down to 3 volts. Thats 9 volts difference. Let's assume you draw 20mA (I don't know exactly how much power a Launchpad draws, or all the logic you need to power from 3 volts). This means you need to convert 180mW to heat (9V*0.02A). The LM2937 in TO220 case has, according to the datasheet, a thermal resistance of 53K/W (page 8), meaning its temperature will rise about 10 degrees (celsius) above ambient. If you draw 40mA, it will rise 20 degrees. 100mA would mean nearly 50 degrees above ambient, enougt to burn your fingers. (The TO-263 and SOT223 cases have an even higher thermal resistance, meaning the will get even hotter with the same load)

I own a charger with a "refresh" mode. Basically it charges and discharges the battery until the measured capacity doesn't change significantly. Recently I had a battery the charger wouldn't recognize - it had a voltage of about 0.8 volts. I charged it with 15 milliamps (which is what my home-made bench power supply delivers for LED tests) for about 10 minutes. After that, the charger accepted it, and it had it's full capacity back after only 2 cycles. You might want to try this - just charge it manually with a low current until the battery voltage is high enough, and then put it into the charger. It might just be that it somehow got discharged the most of all 4 batteries, and therefore died first.

I own a charger with a "refresh" mode. Basically it charges and discharges the battery until the measured capacity doesn't change significantly. Recently I had a battery the charger wouldn't recognize - it had a voltage of about 0.8 volts. I charged it with 15 milliamps (which is what my home-made bench power supply delivers for LED tests) for about 10 minutes. After that, the charger accepted it, and it had it's full capacity back after only 2 cycles. You might want to try this - just charge it manually with a low current until the battery voltage is high enough, and then put it into the charger. It might just be that it somehow got discharged the most of all 4 batteries, and therefore died first.

Hi Guys,
 
I just fought my way through the process of getting a Launchpad to operate as a standalone programmer on a virgin windows machine. I didn't want to install CCS5.1 to get this to work. I want the bare minimum install footprint because this is going on a production line computer.
 
Follow this process and it should work for you too.
 
1. Install the FET430UIF Low-Level USB VCP Drivers.
2. Plug in the Launcpad to the PC and let the PC assign the drivers to the Launchpad.
3. Open up a command console and enter the command "devmgmt.msc".
4. Verify the "MSP430 Application UART" is present under Ports (Com & LPT).
5. Download and Install the FET Pro430 Lite from Elpotronics.
6. Open up FETPro430 and click on Setup->Connection/DeviceReset.
7. Verify that the COM Port is USB (Automatic)
8. Open code file and select your TI .out or Intel .hex file.
9. Select the Microcontroller group and target ie: MSP430G2xx, MSP430G2553
10. Connect GND, TEST and RESET (at minimum) to your target board. Make sure there's power applied to your circuit in this case.
11. Click on AUTO PROG. and watch your target get programmed.
 
This should work on your windows PC that does has never had CCS installed on it. And you won't have to resort to installing it either.
 
Also, this should work with any version of Launchpad.

It's a difficult question. I really liked the quick startup of the cloud solution - it took about 30 seconds to get every thing up and running. And I still like it when just doing a quick experiment or test. But when you build a more complex software, maybe build of multiple modules, having more control is really fine. Fortunately they now support downloading all your stuff to your machine, so I can build with CodeSourcery. best of both worlds
(and they now also support version control in the cloud, which makes many things easier).

I think Maxim limits email addresses to .com and .org (and maybe .edu). Last time I used my company email.

A simple well documented hardware uart "Hello World" example.
Updated, thanks for member comments 3/13/13
 
Notes:
This code is for launchpad rev 1.5
This is hardware UART, your launchpad jumpers must be set for hardware UART
The TI TUSB3410 is a TERRIBLE usb-> UART chip and is very buggy on WIN7 64bit. If your still having issues, it could be a driver issue. Try on XP or use a different USB -> serial device.
 
 
//Nate Zimmer UART example // Press button to print hello to terminal #include  <msp430g2553.h> // System define for the micro that I am using #define RXD        BIT1 //Check your launchpad rev to make sure this is the case. Set jumpers to hardware uart. #define TXD        BIT2 // TXD with respect to what your sending to the computer. Sent data will appear on this line #define BUTTON    BIT3 void UART_TX(char * tx_data);            // Function Prototype for TX void main(void) {   WDTCTL = WDTPW + WDTHOLD;         // Stop Watch dog timer   BCSCTL1 = CALBC1_1MHZ;            // Set DCO to 1 MHz   DCOCTL = CALDCO_1MHZ;   P1DIR &=~BUTTON;                  // Ensure button is input (sets a 0 in P1DIR register at location BIT3)   P1OUT |=  BUTTON;                 // Enables pullup resistor on button   P1REN |=  BUTTON;   P1SEL = RXD + TXD ;                // Select TX and RX functionality for P1.1 & P1.2   P1SEL2 = RXD + TXD ;              //   UCA0CTL1 |= UCSSEL_2;             // Have USCI use System Master Clock: AKA core clk 1MHz   UCA0BR0 = 104;                    // 1MHz 9600, see user manual   UCA0BR1 = 0;                      //   UCA0MCTL = UCBRS0;                // Modulation UCBRSx = 1   UCA0CTL1 &= ~UCSWRST;             // Start USCI state machine   while(1)                          // While 1 is equal to 1 (forever)   {       if(!((P1IN & BUTTON)==BUTTON)) // Was button pressed?       {           UART_TX("Hello World! \r\n");  // If yes, Transmit message & drink beer           __delay_cycles(100000); //Debounce button so signal is not sent multiple times       }   } } void UART_TX(char * tx_data) // Define a function which accepts a character pointer to an array {     unsigned int i=0;     while(tx_data[i]) // Increment through array, look for null pointer (0) at end of string     {         while ((UCA0STAT & UCBUSY)); // Wait if line TX/RX module is busy with data         UCA0TXBUF = tx_data[i]; // Send out element i of tx_data array on UART bus         i++; // Increment variable for array address     } }

Just installed it - there is a drop-down box for the chip series. it contains the G series, then you can select anything up to the 2553. (did not test it though)

FET-Pro430 programming software for Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontrollers
 
 

(OK, I have no idea where to put this. BH, feel free to move it around.)
 
Continuing from viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1348&start=40#p11369
 
This is the final version; I don't think it can be made any better as well as generic at the same time.
 
All variants verified against the TI LaunchPad Eagle files.
 
Thanks to SugarAddict for the corrections.
 
Pro tip: make your References layer yellow (or any other unused bright color) while placing your components.
 
Addendum: DipTrace users look here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2972
TI_launchpad.zip

It's seem that I finally succeeded in building a plugin for Eclipse, which contains compiled versions of GCC, GDB, and mspdebug, and also integrates these somewhat into Eclipse. Currently, I would strongly advice people, who which to try my plugin, to use Eclipse Indigo.
 
There are three installable features: MSP430Eclipse, which is the Eclipse integration, and two binary toolchains (32 and 64 bit Linux). Yes, it's Linux only for now. Installing MSP430Eclipse and the appropriate toolchain will take a while, as the toolchains are quite big (yes, there are plenty of improvements to be made). I'll try to describe how to get started with this Eclipse plugin in this post.
 
Go to the "Help->Install new software" menu, and type in "http://eclipse.xpg.dk" as the repository. If you had installed my previous version, please uninstall it first by going to "Help->About", select "Installation Details" and choose the MSP430Eclipse feature and click "Uninstall".
 

 
Once installed, Eclipse will prompt you to restart. Please do. Once Eclipse pops up again, start by going to the Eclipse preferences ( Select menu "Window->Preference"). There should be a MSP430-tab at the left side. Selecting it will show the toolchain configuration. Here it is possible to use the MSP430 toolchain that comes with your distribution, or you can select a prebuild one (if installed). Perform your selection of choice, and hit the "Apply" button.
 

 
Next task is to create a MSP430 C project. Go to "File->New->Project...", a project type selection box will appear. Open the "C/C++"-group, select "C Project", and press Next.
Here, you open the "MSP430 Cross Target Application" group and select "Empty Project". Name your project (let's call it Blinky),

and hit the "Next"-button. Next part of the wizard is about configurations, just press "Next" (not Finish, yet). Finally, you will be brought to a dialog to select the MSP430 target. Select the appropriate MCU from the (huge) drop-down list, and then click "Finish".
 

 
Now we create a source file: Right click the project and select "New->Source File"; name it "main.c". Write some simple code, such as:

#include #include void delay(unsigned int j) { for(;j>0;j--); } void main(void) { WDTCTL = WDTHOLD | WDTPW; P1DIR |= BIT6; while(true) { P1OUT ^= BIT6; delay(20000); } }
 
Right click the project and select "Build Project". If everything goes well, your project should start compiling. If not, please let me know .
 
Before trying to upload the binary to your Launchpad, please ensure that you have the following udev rule installed on your system (and that your user is in the plugdev group):

ATTRS{idVendor}=="0451", ATTRS{idProduct}=="f432", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"
Place the code in /etc/udev/rules.d/90-launchpad.rules, or something similar. Some distributions have done this for you, others have not.
 
In order to upload the binary select the MSP430-menu and choose "Upload to target". Note, that this is the MSP430-menu in the main Eclipse menubar (there is also one in the context menu of the project, but it does not work). With a bit of luck, the code should be uploaded to the Launchpad and blink LED2.
 
Next up is debugging. This is the most experimental part of the plugin, so don't expect it to work :-). Click "Run->Debug Configurations..." from the Eclipse menubar. Right click the "GDB Hardware Debugging"-group on the left, and select "New".
Go to the "Debugger"-tab and ensure that "Use remote target" is checked and that "mspdebug" is chosen in the list. In the "GDB Command" field type: "${dk.xpg.msp430eclipse.variable.debugger}" instead of "gdb".

 
Now, press "Debug" and the magic should happen. Eclipse will most likely ask if it should open the Debug perspective, say "Yes". The MCU will be reset and the current program location will be somewhere strange. Select the "main.c" file and place a breakpoint somewhere in main().

Press F8 to run until the breakpoint is reached. Now it should be possible to single step through the program. When you are done with debugging, simply terminate the session by pressing the red stop button.
 
Well, I guess that's it for now. Please try it out, and tell me if it works for you. If there is sufficient interest in this, I'll keep developing it. Now, I need to get some sleep, it's 1 AM and I need to get up early tomorrow :oops:

I got my kit today (High Bay LED) and it is nothing more than few samples in the box (3 parts times 2.)
I was hoping for some sort of eval board so I could get started, but it looks like I will have to make one first.