TI Dev Board

[Matthew Little]

Friend of mine sent me a link to these - looks like a TI version of Arduino and for less than five bucks they look worth checking out. I ordered a couple and I'll let you guys know how they turn out.

http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2


- Matthew

[Chad LaFarge]

I'm interested in your results.

[Carl Campbell]

As am I, I keep wanting to add a Uno to my hobby king order but at $15 they seem to always be on backorder.   http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__706__689__DIY_Electronics-Arduino.html

[Nathan Odle]

A better alternative, if you're willing to wait just a bit:

https://estore.ti.com/Stellaris-LaunchPad.aspx

That's a Cortex-M4 which is 32-bit and runs lotsandlots faster than the MSP430.  The Stellaris also has built-in USB support, more ADC channels and resolution, 16x the flash, 64x the RAM and lots more I/O.

Also, ARM is pretty much taking over the world so if you want good experience I'd look for something with an ARM core in it :)

There is a place in this world for MSP430s, ATTinys, and other little 8/16-bit micros but when it comes to something I want to play with, I'll take the above board - especially considering that it's only 69 cents more expensive. :)

FTR, I preordered awhile back and I think my 2 are supposed to be here any day now!

[Nathan Odle]

As long as we're talking about dev boards btw, here's another that is pretty sweet.  It's from ST, and is based around a Cortex-M4 micro of theirs.  The awesome thing about this board is that it's got a 3-axis accelerometer, gyro, AND magenetometer on it - which basically makes it an IMU for just under $11.  So if you have a quadcopter project or whatever, this is an ultra-affordable way to get started:  http://www.st.com/internet/evalboard/product/254044.jsp

Not quite available for order from ST yet, but supposed to be soon.

[Matthew Little]

That ST board definitely has some cool potential - can't wait till it's available.

Here's my latest find from SparkFun - the Electric Imp. Now this thing is cool - SD card form factor Cortex M3 and 802.11b/g/n wireless transceiver. Not to mention less than half the price of the Arduino WiFi shield. I can see some cool project coming out of this thing.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11395