AntanasB 0 Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Hey there all! I am sadly sad. I am not a newbie in this, i can use the Energia without any problems. But since it is very memory unfriendly, and lacked of some functions i would like to use, i thought switching to the MSP430 true software (CCS) would make a big change. And I am willing to do it, but i just cannot find any information regarding language reference of this. From what i already know, it is C/C++ like, but there are things like pinout declaration and other stuff. Where to find it? It seems like an dead end... Dudes, Haalp! Regards, Antanas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
semicolo 39 Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 You're supposed to use registers to access pins, something like: P1DIR = 255-BIT7; // sets Port1.7 as input, other pins as outputs P1OUT = BIT1 + BIT2; // sets Port1.1 and Port1.2 high, other output pins low There are lots of CCS examples on Ti's web site, download some and have a look. You can also use the Grace tool to setup the I/O and peripherals. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobG 1,892 Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Sounds like we need a short how to video Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 630 Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Sounds like we need a short how to video You mean like the official Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop? http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Getting_Started_with_the_MSP430_LaunchPad_Workshop RobG 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rockets4kids 204 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Another option is to use gcc (the compiler energia uses) without the energia libraries. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vicvelcro 16 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 You mean like the official Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop? http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Getting_Started_with_the_MSP430_LaunchPad_Workshop I went through that workshop many months ago. After completion, I was worse off than when I began it. I was confused, frustrated, and annoyed.The use of CCS may not have been the best choice for the workshop. I gave up on CCS after 3 months of making ZERO progress with it, and went back to Energia 100%. Something more topical and simplified would be a big help. Small specific tutorials for those of us truly "Getting Started" would likely be welcomed by at least a few of us. I believe a "Getting Started" workshop should begin with beginners in mind. Otherwise, it isn't really "Getting Started" - it's more of a retrospective repeat lesson, to be visited after the subject has been learned. The workshop located at the link you provided presumes the viewer already knows quite a bit about the hardware and the syntax of the coding. I could see that workshop being more appropriate for persons who already have a grasp of basic concepts pertaining *specifically* to {CCS and the LaunchPad}. Perhaps not very useful to some of us with less pre-established background in this particular combination of hardware and programming tool. Some of us understand coding - from prior experience with something other than CCS and/or with different target hardware, while some may not know anything at all about CCS or the hardware. I still can't get anything based on CCS to run - except 'monkey pasting' their examples and blindly following the given instructions. For me, there was absolutely no comprehension of how the results related to the code. If there were other "Getting Started" tutorials or videos that were more 'education' oriented and less 'infomercial' influenced, I would certainly be interested in having a look. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 630 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Agreed, the workshops are more about getting started with MSP430 than getting started with coding and using a full-featured integrated development environment (IDE). Having the C++ development background (mostly Microsoft Visual Studio) but knowing nothing about MSP430/Stellaris and very little about embedded development, I found these workshops very helpful. Someone that's new to both should probably first try to take the training wheels of with Energia. E.g. - realize that there's no such language as Arduino or Energia, so get that C/C++ book/tutorial and venture beyond setup() and loop(). - get up close to the hardware by accessing ports (easy) and peripherals (harder, particularly without debugger) without relying on Energia/Arduino libraries - write your own libraries for MSP430 peripherals or some external chips/hardware - when you're able to port some of the more AVR-optimized Arduino libraries to Energia, or manage to fix some of the still remaining bugs in core Energia libraries, you might be ready for the next step After that try to migrate to GCC or CCS. Personally, I prefer the latter as I can't live without auto-complete and a fully integrated debugger and am not too fond of messing with make-files. But then I'm a lazy old Windows guy vicvelcro 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 630 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 PS: From the notes on the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop page, it looks like TI is working on some Energia tutorials PPS: Once you know your Energia and C/C++ inside out, there's also a general Getting Started with CCS guide that goes into some detail on how to create a new project and use the debugger: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CCSv5_Getting_Started_Guide PPPS: If you're on a Mac, embedXcode by @@Rei Vilo might be the right IDE for you http://embedxcode.weebly.com/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
veryalive 49 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Hello to the thread, I too would like to get a handle on CCS. I think some additional, but different, on-line courseware would be helpful. I've given an example, below of courseware that helped me in a related area - keep reading ... I've tried to get up to speed on CCS5.x without much success. I've used other micros, mainly FS. And other tools. I tried the TI course (Stellaris / 430), followed examples on line, etc, but keep running into snags where I often cannot diagnose where I went wrong. So, same result as folks on this thread - back to Energia & async IO breakpoints for debug. But I keep trying as I'd like to have a unified, powerful and cheap (or free) IDE for more than one processor type - in this case TI 430 and ARM (Stellaris, Tiva). I understand these archtectures quite well. I'm also checking the links given on this thread. Here is how I got going quickly with Stellaris using a free version of IAR's ARM toolkit. http://www.state-machine.com/quickstart/index.php I am not related to IAR, or the consulting company doing the videos. in fact I got this link on this forum a few weeks ago. Furthermore, I simply cannot afford to buy a full IAR package for private use. What I like about this course: - it assumes you know something about programming and architectures, so doesn't waste time on basics. - it applies C to the ARM. It's a good refresher as I do not program C on a daily basis, I'm more a system & hardware type. - (best part for me) it is pretty clear on how to use the toolchain. I can rerun the mouse sequences; expand on each step. So, this is just my opinion fwiw. Maybe this thread is of interest to someone at TI, or with more time/knowledge, or with deeper pockets. Cheers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rockets4kids 204 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Those who are having difficulties learning the CCS user interface should look for tutorials on Eclipse, the Open Source IDE from which CCS is derived. Personally, I am not a fan of IDEs with a WIMP interface (Emacs is *my* IDE) so I do not know how close CCS remains to Eclipse, but I have been told that CCS 5 is *much* closer to the stock Eclipse than CCS 4. gmtii 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 You could always give netbeans a spin, you have to configure the compiler tools but once done you get code completion and a build environment: -rick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GarySeven 8 Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 TI has provided many tutorials for getting started with CCS. Finding one you understand can take a long time. I think this one may be more helpful than some of the others: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Blink_your_first_LED. It covers installing CCS, creating a project, writing code, and programming the LP. I think it is simpler than the CCSv5 Getting Started Guide or the Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop, so you may want to start there and go through the others after. CCS provides the pin outs, register declarations, etc. in the header files that get included when you create the project (when you tell it which processor you are going to use). You can use GRACE or MSP430Ware to initialize your program. If you chicken 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GeekDoc 226 Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 You could always give netbeans a spin, you have to configure the compiler tools but once done you get code completion and a build environment: -rick @@Rickta59 - This looks great! Any howtos on setting it up? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 @@Rickta59 - This looks great! Any howtos on setting it up? The smaller screenshot shows the build tool configuration screen. I added a new compiler config and made that the default. -rick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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