Ethernet Booster Pack msp430g2553 and Energia

[santinelli 2]

Good Morning,

 

sorry, for this basic question:

 

I am a teacher and I would like start using with the students, msp430g2553 Launchpad + EthernetBoosterPack V3.

 

What is the best solution in terms of development environment under windows (what C compiler)?

 

Does Energia supports EthernetBoosterPack with msp430g2553 ?

 

Thank in advance.

 

Paolo

 

 

[spirilis 1,265]

I am not sure that the G2553 has the resources for it, but looking for any Arduino libraries which support the Wiznet W5500 may help.  You will have more resources available to do complex projects with the Ethernet BoosterPack if you use the MSP430F5529 LaunchPad instead.

 

@@RobG has some C code for doing basic C-only applications with the Wiznet chipset using TI's CCS.  I have worked with that code on the G2553 before.

[santinelli 2]

Thanks for your fast  replay,

 

I am going to have a look at the MSP430F5529 LaunchPad. 

I have compiled the C code from @RobG using the IAR 5.51.4 code limited version, The web server works fine when I use telnet to mimic an http GET request, in this case the server provides the right response (the xml file);  when I use chrome to access at the web server, sometimes I get a strange response (all the xml tag seems to be removed)  and this error "net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET" appears in the crome console. 

I will try to install and use CCS.

 

Thank.

 

Paolo

[bobnova 59]

Given the cost of the boosterpack ($20 and out of stock) plus a F5529 ($13), you might consider buying the TM4C129 Tiva-C Connected Launchpad instead, it's $20 and has native Ethernet, plus a very large/fast microcontroller and a ton of pins.

I realize we're on 43oh and it's a Tiva thing, but still.

[santinelli 2]

Actually it's an interesting solution, It becomes even more arduous to choose  between a small microcontroller with an easy to learn architecture and a powerful one.

TM4C129 Tiva-C Connected Launchpad is a very powerful and very cheap board, of course the microcontroller it's a bit complex to be proposed at young students as example of cpu architecture and I fear that the cpu architecture is too complex to be programmed in assembly. Usually I propose the students to spend some time playing with assembly language in order they can better understand how a cpu works.Maybe it's time to jump ahead and to spend the mental  energy to deal with  problems of higher abstraction level instead to work at low abstraction level.

 

It's hard to choose

 

Thanks

[spirilis 1,265]

I think from another perspective, learning the Wiznet W5500 API is a good exercise in communicating with other peripherals, particularly other processors as the Wiznet is basically an external network processor of sorts. I'd honestly still go with an MSP430 LaunchPad of some sort + the Ethernet BoosterPack. If you're talking about Assembly (or even basic C) you might get away with some simple TCP/IP applications on an MSP430G2553. The thing about the TM4C1294 is its MAC is native; that is awesome for performance, but raises the bar for teaching and learning complexity, unless you give in to using high level APIs like Energia (Robert aka @@energia, not to be confused with RobG, did an excellent job creating a working Ethernet library for Energia to support the TM4C1294 LaunchPad; I built an IRC bot codebase for it with very little attention required to the details of TCP/IP, ethernet and the like) but it all depends on what you really want the students to learn in this class.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1

[spirilis 1,265]

PS- The Wolverine LaunchPad is also a sweet MSP430 with some unique features, but I am not certain its 3.3V voltage source has enough current to feed the Ethernet BoosterPack. The F5529 LaunchPad has plenty of 3.3V current available and the MSP430G2 LaunchPad has a bit more than enough for the Ethernet BoosterPack as well.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1

[bobnova 59]

Yeah if you want them to work with it at a low level, the TM4C129 may not be the best choice. Its datasheet is around 2000 pages, and covers only that one MCU.

From that standpoint spending more money on something simpler looks more attractive.

 

If it matters to the addon of your choice, the MSP430G2553 and MSP430FR5969 both run at 3.6v rather than 3.3v. Mine do, anyway.

It may well not care, most 3.3v devices can deal with up to 4v or so before they flare and die.