TI MSP430 promo...

[Nick]

Texas Instruments have a great promo on the new MSP430FR5994 Launchpad - for USD 15.99 you get the Launchpad (which includes supercap battery backup and uSD card, ISP/programmer etc.), PLUS a node-locked (single user) full license for CCS, normally USD 445 - CCS is free to download anyway, but the free TI compiler is size-limited - you can use the g++ compiler for free, but its code generation is not as good as the normally paid-for TI one.

The offer includes a fully licensed and unlocked TI compiler with free updates too. Just noticed, I got free delivery to the UK as well...

Promo code is CCS-PROMOMSP-EXP430FR5994, see 

https://store.ti.com/MSP430FR5994-LaunchPad-Development-Kit-with-Code-Composer-Studio-Promotion-P51095.aspx 

Description of Launchpad here : http://www.ti.com.cn/cn/lit/ug/slau678a/slau678a.pdf

There is a general promo code for free shipping on all TI Store items until 31st December 2016 - just use FALLFREESHIP

I ordered two kits - the Launchpads are just great,

Nick

[Jon]

Thanks Nick - have cut a slice of that one!

Jon.

 

[John Rehwinkel]

> Texas Instruments have a great promo on the new MSP430FR5994 Launchpad - for USD 15.99 you get the Launchpad (which includes supercap battery backup and uSD card, ISP/programmer etc.), PLUS a node-locked (single user) full license for CCS, normally USD 495 - CCS is free to download anyway, but the free TI compiler is size-limited - you can use the g++ compiler for free, but its code generation is not as good as he normally paid-for TI one.

The FR series have the advantages of extra low power draw and you can use the FRAM as RAM which is magically non-volatile. Until this chip came out, the FR series were mostly smaller units with limited I/O. This one has it all, it's a really cool chip.

FRAM is a really cool technology. You can read and write individual bytes with no penalty, it's very fast, it's low power. There's really no need for flash or EEPROM if you have FRAM. It's not quite as fast as SRAM, but that's not much of an issue. On these chips, if you run at the max 16MHz clock, FRAM runs with 1 wait state, which isn't much of a big deal. If there's something you need done at max speed, put those variables in SRAM. If you're clocking it at 8MHz or slower (reasonable if you're going for minimum power draw), the FRAM is as fast as RAM. Imagine, a microcontroller with 264kB of RAM, and 256kB of that is non-volatile.

- John

[David Forbes]

Nick,

Do you know if the on-chip peripheral support in CCS is complete? I
tried using a BeagleBone a few years back, but they had defined fewer
than half of the MPU's I/O functions in the C libraries. I had to do a
lot of low-level library rewriting to use timer 6, say, instead of timer
2, which was required by my application. I eventually gave up on it.

The Energia support for their ARM launchpads seems to be much more
complete.

On 11/28/2016 10:48 PM, Nick wrote:
> Texas Instruments have a great promo on the new MSP430FR5994 Launchpad -
> for USD 15.99 you get the Launchpad (which includes supercap battery
> backup and uSD card, ISP/programmer etc.), PLUS a node-locked (single

> user) full license for CCS, normally USD 495 - CCS is free to download

> anyway, but the free TI compiler is size-limited - you can use the g++

> compiler for free, but its code generation is not as good as he normally

> paid-for TI one.
>
> The offer includes a fully licensed and unlocked TI compiler with free

> updates too. Just noticed, I got free delivery to the UK too...

>
> Promo code is CCS-PROMOMSP-EXP430FR5994, see
> https://store.ti.com/MSP430FR5994-LaunchPad-Development-Kit-with-Code-Composer-Studio-Promotion-P51095.aspx
>

> I ordered two - the Launchpads are just great,
>
> Nick
>
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--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

[gregebert]

Has anyone used this launchpad with Linux ? I'm willing to give it another try considering the low price, and the larger memory.

I bought one of the original Launchpads about 3 years ago and was disappointed that the USB interface was flaky w/ Linux, so it's been gathering dust in my junkbox ever since.

[Nick]

As far as I know, it's all there. However, it's such a complicated and comprehensive device that I've obviously not tested everything.

TI are generally very good at this sort of thing - the MSPware libraries specifically supports this chip and all the registers etc. should be there - if not, it's easy to add a temporary definition as per the others in the CPU-specific header file - register definitions are not built into the compiler - they're defined externally.

Remember that TI use RedHat for their compilers and that this is not some amateur thing; it's a full-blown professional development environment...

...for under USD 16 :)

Nick

[NeonJohn]

I'm just getting started with the TMS432 Launchpad and Ubuntu Mint.
Their heart still really isn't into Linux but it's a LOT better than a
year ago when I work with a C2000 launchpad.

The install script treats Mint 16.04.1 as plain Ubuntu 16.04.

It has to be installed as root. I thought the installer was hanging
until I left it hung and went into the lab. About an hour and a half
later, the install started. I posted to the support board. A TI
employee got back to me within hours telling me they'd found a spot
where the script hangs for lack of a non-existent file. The fix will be
out in the December release.

The CCS is now highly cloud-centric, something I cannot stand since I'm
on Hughsnet. The various packages can be downloaded to the local system
but again CCS has to be run as root. Again there are long delays as
something hung up times out. I will have to say that TI is being
extremely responsive to my problems.

You might want to look at this page for more helpful info.

https://e2e.ti.com/support/development_tools/code_composer_studio/f/81/p/540011/1976051#1976051

The USB is solid as a rock. Mine is a pathological situation with 6
external drives plugged into the computer's built-in ports and a 13 port
USB expander for a bunch more stuff. CCS sorts right through all that
stuff and finds the board almost immediately.

I can do code development and flash the board no problem. my problems
have centered around installing pre-written packages. I need their
little RTOS and the SD driver packages.

I really appreciate TI's responsiveness, as I'm in somewhat of a jam.
Atmel abruptly and with no warning EOL'd the processor in our main
induction heater. And they jacked the price of the remaining stock from
less than $3 to over $14! So I gotta get a new board designed and my
code ported before we run out of stock.

John

--
John DeArmond
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
http://www.tnduction.com <-- THE source for induction heaters
http://www.neon-john.com <-- email from here
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net
PGP key: wwwkeys.pgp.net: BCB68D77

[Nick]

It is cloud centric - this approach does make sense as there is so much there and it's constantly being updated.

If I was on satellite internet like you I'd take my laptop/system to a local library or somewhere with free wi-fi and do the downloads there.

Although I use windows, I fly a lot so have switched to local copies of the key packages on my laptop - it's easy to do... Much of the package documentation is now webby and seems to be generated by doxygen, which is a good approach.

My experience of TI's support has also been very positive. They are very responsive and helpful - the e2e forums are good and full of TI support staff and engineers. The nice thing about the MSP stuff is that the user community is pretty much entirely professional, so the quality of forum content is consequently high - a bit of a snobby thing to say, but true none the less :)

Nick

[Mike Mitchell]

I've used PJRC's teensy 3.2 in several projects.  See http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/index.html

They're now selling the teensy 3.6 which includes a floating-point unit.

[John Rehwinkel]

> I've used PJRC's teensy 3.2 in several projects. See http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/index.html
> They're now selling the teensy 3.6 which includes a floating-point unit.

I've used the Teensy in several projects as well. The 3.6 is appealing as it's much more powerful (180MHz, 32 bit) than most microcontrollers and includes two DACs. I'm working on building a scope clock out of one. The Teensy family has Arduino plugins, they're not as smoothly integrated as some, but they work. They're hard to beat for cost and size.

- John

[Terry S]

I concur. I've been using their DSPs and related micros for a very long time now. My experience has been positive overall, but be forewarned, they tend to not meet their early ship schedules for new parts. At least beyond prototype quantities. And the early parts are frequently buggy.

On the positive side, the eval boards are usually free, if you have a good relationship with your local rep.

Terry

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 29 November 2016 20:20:48 UTC+4, nixiebunny wrote:

Do you know if the on-chip peripheral support in CCS is complete? 

I've now checked and support is complete...

When TI issue a new chip, they release a xxx.h file and a xxx.cmd file for the device - the .h file contains all the global references to registers and bit patterns for them (pin numbers etc.) and the .cmd file is a linker input file that associates all the global register references to absolute addresses specific to that device.

When a project is created and you select the chip that you want to target, CCS associates the appropriate header and cmd file for you automatically. Easy. 

If you change the target, that's pretty easy too, especially if you use their DRIVERLIB package in the MSPware free support suite...

Nick