bluehash 1,581 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 This is incredibly good news if true. A full CCS licence for 10 bucks. I just tried placing an order on the TI Store, and it failed. So I got onto TI chat, explained the situation and got the following reply: --- excerpt --- Please contact your regional support group via phone so an agent can assist with placing this order for you You will need to contact your regional support group. You can locate your region at the attached link. -------------- And some phone numbers were added.... I'll call the number tomorrow morning and see if I can actually purchase sucha a CCS licence. Cheers Any luck. Maybe I can help? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
veryalive 49 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 @@bluehashThanks for the offer, but I sorted it out and placed my order. In fact, as someone already mentioned, I just edited away the full-priced CCS and it went through.While I was at the store, I ordered an MSP430 with 4 24bit sigma- delta ADC channels (MSP430i2041pw 28 pin tssop).A big thanks to the forum folks!Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 I sent an email to TI here is the response I got back: "This promo isn't too good to be true! It just looks like there were some code pushes that messed with orderable bundles of this nature. The TI store team has fixed this issue and it should be orderable now. :)" -enjoy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 so, seeing as most, if not all of TI's dev boards are free to be used with CCS, without restrictions( as far as I know ). What's the big deal here ? The msp430 launchpad, and I do believe even the Beaglebone, etc. Also, wth does node locked mean ? heh. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 630 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 The MSP430 compiler was limited to 16KB of compiled code. Not a big deal in many projects, but definitely a barrier for more complex projects. Especially given the newer LaunchPads having MCUs with more memory than that. Node locked means that the license key is tied to a machine. I think it's based on MAC address. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 so, seeing as most, if not all of TI's dev boards are free to be used with CCS, without restrictions( as far as I know ). NOT true! "Free Limited License: This license is enabled by default when you install CCS. CCS can be used for free with many of our community boards, LaunchPads, DSKs and EVMs (Evaluation Module) kits. For MSP devices this license is code size limited. The limit is 16KB for MSP430 and 32KB for MSP432. When using MSP432 you can use any class of debug probe (XDS1xx, XDS2xx, XDS5xx) but the code size limit will be in place. For all other devices the license is restricted to only work with the onboard emulation on the board, XDS100 debug probes, XDS110 debug probes as well as the XDS560v2 mezzanine card available in C6000 multi-core EVM bundles. You may use this version to create production code." See the details here: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Licensing_-_CCS#Free_Licenses Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 What's the big deal here ? The big deal? Ask any hobbyist that purchased a node locked CCS license at full price. I think most of them paid at least $500 and then a yearly fee for maintenance. The TI compilers for the msp430 and msp432 are better supported by the CCS project wizards. Also, TI support tends to pay more attention to problems and testing with TI compiler vs the included GCC versions. The CCS compilers tend to produce better optimized code compared to the GCC compilers. However, now that TI is maintaining the msp430-elf-gcc, the example code is often written to work with both the TI compilers and the GCC versions. This didn't used to be the case. I was lucky 4 years ago to take advantage of a previous promo to obtain a CCS license. They had offered a C2000 Piccolo stick bundled with CCS for $30. This is the first time they have offered something like this since then. You might ask @@NurseBob how he feels! I think he is one of the few who has ponied up real money for a license. -rick zeke 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I placed my order last night and received an email this morning with the information to install. As @@chicken says, the license is tied to a MAC address. It is relatively quick and easy if you already have CCS installed. After jumping through the usual hoops TI requires for accepting license you get a .lic file that must be installed on the computer. Open up CCS and point to it as described in the directions Go to the Help menu and select "Code Composer Studio Licensing Information." Select the Manage tab and specify your license file location. The license type will change to "Full License" - had it going in just a few minutes.... Edit: Thanks @@Rickta59 - I for one wasn't willing to pay for a license and although GCC has been OK I really wanted full access to the TI compiler. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 For what's it worth I rarely use CCS mainly because it is 32 bit under linux. However, it is nice to have CCS for those cases where the only example code is written for TI compilers. It is also a nice way to get the latest version of the TI supported msp430-elf-gcc compilers. I like to use the latest msp430-elf-g++ and arm-none-eabi-g++ compilers. I've learned the command line args to tweak to make it generate decent code and if I want to run the compilers on a Raspberry PI or a beaglebone black I can. I like that I can compile the compiler source code on whatever linux computer I happen to be running today. Pair that with eclipse, mspdebug, and openocd and I'm good for the future no matter what comes of the TI toolchain. I doubt I'll see a TI msp430 compiler running on a RPI or BBB anytime soon, although I think those types of ARM linux boxes are going to be more and more common in the future. : ) -rick yyrkoon 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 The MSP430 compiler was limited to 16KB of compiled code. Not a big deal in many projects, but definitely a barrier for more complex projects. Especially given the newer LaunchPads having MCUs with more memory than that. Node locked means that the license key is tied to a machine. I think it's based on MAC address. My understanding is that there are two different "free" licenses. One is as you describe, and the other is unlimited, but must be used with specific TI dev kits - only. I do not recall which dev kits, but at the time I looked it seemed to cover all the dev kits, and boards that I cared about. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 For what's it worth I rarely use CCS but it is nice to have for those cases where the only example code is written for TI compilers. It is also a nice way to get the latest version of the TI supported msp430-elf-gcc compilers. I like to use the latest msp430-elf-g++ and arm-none-eabi-g++ compilers. I've learned the command line args to tweak to make it generate decent code and if I want to run the compilers on a Raspberry PI or a beaglebone black I can. I like that I can compile the compiler source code on whatever linux computer I happen to be running today. Pair that with mspdebug and openocd and I'm good for the future no matter what comes of the TI toolchain. I doubt I'll see a TI msp430 compiler running on a RPI or BBB anytime soon, although I think those types of ARM linux boxes are going to be more and more common in the future. : ) -rick Sounds reasonable. Then yes, I like to use the open source toolchains too, for consistency. Also, in regard to code that can be compiled for multiple hardware platforms. The armhf toolchains will work for both the beaglebone, and RaspberryPI. I know this as I compiled Nodejs 4.6.2 on an rPI 3, moved the resulting deb to one of our beaglebones, and it installs, and runs fine. As soon as they move the rPI to an ARM64 kernel though . . . you'll have to install cross tools as normal( for compiling ARM code on a different platform - in many cases x86 / x86-64). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hlipka 11 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I just ordered. The store added two additional line items (for the LP and the CCS) to the shopping cart, but the total amount was still 16.98. It seems as if the promo item is just a bundle. And I just received the online activation for CCS It even already appears in my TI account so I don't need to enter id... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Node locked means that the license key is tied to a machine. I think it's based on MAC address. Oh, and Linux users might find this interesting Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zeke 693 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I've never had money to buy such a license as a someone who only plays around with MCUs as a hobby. How does this node license work if for example my laptop breaks? Can I transfer the license to a new laptop/pc? The Node Lock uses the MAC address of a LAN adapter in your computer. So, I just bought a USB WiFi adapter and assigned its MAC address to the CCS license. Now I can move CCS around with my WiFi adapter. Fmilburn and agaelema 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fmilburn 445 Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Another reason it is nice to have this - GCC isn't always available right away for some of the newer chips - for example, the MSP430FR5994 doesn't have the GCC compiler available yet (or at least I can't get it to compile). Accordingly, the TI compiler is the only option and there is a 16 KB limit without the full license. yyrkoon 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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