tutorial suggestions
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Bill
Aug 2, 2010, 11:19:03 AM8/2/10
to TI Launchpad
Please add any tutorial suggestions / requests you have to this
thread.
Another thread [ https://groups.google.com/group/ti-launchpad/browse_thread/thread/ebd11949354ce2a5
] got off topic on a discussions of tutorial topics that people wanted
to see and/or might be useful to the community. To stop hijacking the
thread I am starting this new one.
it started with this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
Hey! Great list, thanks for adding my blog to it! (http://
msp430launchpad.blogspot.com)
I have already posted a few getting started guides for people who are
new to the MSP430. In the future I will also be posting more advanced
topics and some code from my own personal project (an EEG), in
addition to providing beginner material.
I actually didn't know about http://www.43oh.com/ until I saw your
post. Again, great list.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog
View profile
More options Jul 28, 2:42 am
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:42:19 -0700 (PDT)
:-)
The next one will be using an FTDI device for USB communication, after
that there's a few different tracks I can take. Soon I will also be
making generic libraries everyone can download from the topics
presented in the blogs. I've found things like that useful to me in
the past.
Does anyone have any suggestions on future topics?
-NJC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
which brought some responses:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:07:49 -0700 (PDT)
So far the one thing TI has not done a great job of is making the
documentation very consumable for the beginner. If launchpad is to
get traction in the hobby area against the other hobby platforms like
arduino or stamps, getting started needs to be a whole lot easier for
folks who don't have the background.
Topic suggestions:
Examples of things you can directly interface to the 430 pins (some of
us are more CS than EE)
Simple examples of of various ways the physically configure the
launchpad board (run off battery or other power sources, what some of
the other extra headers/jumpers are actually useful for)
Plain english run-throughs of any of the stuff TI has documented over
the head of the beginner (like how to effectively/correctly use the
low power modes in real situations)
If you are looking for a concrete project suggestion then, assuming
that there is some MMC/SD example that fit the launchpad, maybe a
battery powered temp logger that writes to SD with some focus on
prolonging the battery life?
I haven't had a lot of time to play with the launchpad since it
finally arrived, but your articles have been very helpful so far.
Thanks!
-bill
From: plazma <pasi.lass...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:27:43 -0700 (PDT)
TI documentation is as good as Microchip's or Atmel's documentation.
Stamps and arduinos are made by third parties for the hobbyist market.
Lauchpad is more comparable to Atmell Dragon or Microhip Pickit.
I bet you will find nood friendly projects as the MSP430 gets more
popular among hobbyists.
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:15:07 -0700 (PDT)
Just wanted to comment on the diylife Record audio with the MSP430
microcontroller blog post. To anyone out there following that project,
be careful about building the op-amp circuit, the author didn't
mention that there is a low pass filter inside which acts as an anti-
aliasing filter. For anyone who doesnt know what that anti-aliasing
means, since the ADC on the MSP430 is pretty slow, the filter will
cause the device to not distort any inputs and have problems with
sampling quality.
Also, I agree with the whole documentation thing. I know MSP430's
fairly well, yet I still struggle with their documentation sometimes.
It took me quite some time to figure out the Vref problem with the
F2013 (which the author of diylife also discusses in his post), I
think that problem is caused by poor documentation. But as plazma
said, there are other resources that make things easier not written by
TI. My blog doesnt really run you through a project (yet), but it
discusses how to use all the little parts, which allow you to make
your own project. I like to think I do a better job at wording things
than TI, lol, but we shall see.
As for the headers, I discuss them a bit in one of my early blogs
where I go over the LaunchPad schematic.
One problem that I am having, and I'm sure this is one thing that
causes a riff between advanced and beginner guides, is that the people
who have the know-how to write the guides for beginners, have no idea
what people want to learn about after the true basics. If anyone can
post what they are struggling with, and what they dont understand, I
know there are a lot of people who would start writing a beginner
article on that topic right away.
Best of luck guys! Sorry for the long post.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
From: Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:38:14 -0700 (PDT)
I don't think the documentations is bad in most cases, I just think it
is over the heads of a fair number of people and I see some potential
for folks to use the launchpad rather like a arduino coding something
for it and using it as a unit rather than designing a whole separate
circuit to host the msp430 and treating the launchpad as a programmer
and the documentation I have seen so far covers possibilities across
many different msp devices which just adds to the confusion.
for example: I am better at the code side if this than the circuit
design and even some of the stuff about the low power states seems a
little incomplete, some docs mention 4 power states some 5 and I have
not found anything that explicitly answers the question of if you need
to re-issue the low power command at the end of your interrupt handle
code. the examples lead me to believe that is not required, but
something that plainly said "that is not required" would be nice.
one of the big strengths of arduino is that it makes most of these
things fairly clear
questions I have run into so far if anybody knows the answer offhand:
-the low power state item I mentioned above
-what is the point of the second GND pin on J6
-how much do those tiny leds on the board draw?
I have seen a couple of nice demo videos of the msp430 device running
on nearly no power (including plants) and wondered what the minimum to
say, blink the leds on the board would be and couldn't find something
that gave me a very clear picture in the time I had available to look.
NJC, maybe that would be a decent idea for a noob project. program a
low power blink then run the board off something interesting instead
of the usb. a slightly less silly example might be to have the device
sleep as long as possible then blink out the temperature on
interrupt. long intervals on timer a I understand, but I am still
wrapping my head around the combination of that and the temp
examples...
-bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thread.
Another thread [ https://groups.google.com/group/ti-launchpad/browse_thread/thread/ebd11949354ce2a5
] got off topic on a discussions of tutorial topics that people wanted
to see and/or might be useful to the community. To stop hijacking the
thread I am starting this new one.
it started with this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
Hey! Great list, thanks for adding my blog to it! (http://
msp430launchpad.blogspot.com)
I have already posted a few getting started guides for people who are
new to the MSP430. In the future I will also be posting more advanced
topics and some code from my own personal project (an EEG), in
addition to providing beginner material.
I actually didn't know about http://www.43oh.com/ until I saw your
post. Again, great list.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog
View profile
More options Jul 28, 2:42 am
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:42:19 -0700 (PDT)
:-)
The next one will be using an FTDI device for USB communication, after
that there's a few different tracks I can take. Soon I will also be
making generic libraries everyone can download from the topics
presented in the blogs. I've found things like that useful to me in
the past.
Does anyone have any suggestions on future topics?
-NJC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
which brought some responses:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:07:49 -0700 (PDT)
So far the one thing TI has not done a great job of is making the
documentation very consumable for the beginner. If launchpad is to
get traction in the hobby area against the other hobby platforms like
arduino or stamps, getting started needs to be a whole lot easier for
folks who don't have the background.
Topic suggestions:
Examples of things you can directly interface to the 430 pins (some of
us are more CS than EE)
Simple examples of of various ways the physically configure the
launchpad board (run off battery or other power sources, what some of
the other extra headers/jumpers are actually useful for)
Plain english run-throughs of any of the stuff TI has documented over
the head of the beginner (like how to effectively/correctly use the
low power modes in real situations)
If you are looking for a concrete project suggestion then, assuming
that there is some MMC/SD example that fit the launchpad, maybe a
battery powered temp logger that writes to SD with some focus on
prolonging the battery life?
I haven't had a lot of time to play with the launchpad since it
finally arrived, but your articles have been very helpful so far.
Thanks!
-bill
From: plazma <pasi.lass...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:27:43 -0700 (PDT)
TI documentation is as good as Microchip's or Atmel's documentation.
Stamps and arduinos are made by third parties for the hobbyist market.
Lauchpad is more comparable to Atmell Dragon or Microhip Pickit.
I bet you will find nood friendly projects as the MSP430 gets more
popular among hobbyists.
From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:15:07 -0700 (PDT)
Just wanted to comment on the diylife Record audio with the MSP430
microcontroller blog post. To anyone out there following that project,
be careful about building the op-amp circuit, the author didn't
mention that there is a low pass filter inside which acts as an anti-
aliasing filter. For anyone who doesnt know what that anti-aliasing
means, since the ADC on the MSP430 is pretty slow, the filter will
cause the device to not distort any inputs and have problems with
sampling quality.
Also, I agree with the whole documentation thing. I know MSP430's
fairly well, yet I still struggle with their documentation sometimes.
It took me quite some time to figure out the Vref problem with the
F2013 (which the author of diylife also discusses in his post), I
think that problem is caused by poor documentation. But as plazma
said, there are other resources that make things easier not written by
TI. My blog doesnt really run you through a project (yet), but it
discusses how to use all the little parts, which allow you to make
your own project. I like to think I do a better job at wording things
than TI, lol, but we shall see.
As for the headers, I discuss them a bit in one of my early blogs
where I go over the LaunchPad schematic.
One problem that I am having, and I'm sure this is one thing that
causes a riff between advanced and beginner guides, is that the people
who have the know-how to write the guides for beginners, have no idea
what people want to learn about after the true basics. If anyone can
post what they are struggling with, and what they dont understand, I
know there are a lot of people who would start writing a beginner
article on that topic right away.
Best of luck guys! Sorry for the long post.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
From: Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:38:14 -0700 (PDT)
I don't think the documentations is bad in most cases, I just think it
is over the heads of a fair number of people and I see some potential
for folks to use the launchpad rather like a arduino coding something
for it and using it as a unit rather than designing a whole separate
circuit to host the msp430 and treating the launchpad as a programmer
and the documentation I have seen so far covers possibilities across
many different msp devices which just adds to the confusion.
for example: I am better at the code side if this than the circuit
design and even some of the stuff about the low power states seems a
little incomplete, some docs mention 4 power states some 5 and I have
not found anything that explicitly answers the question of if you need
to re-issue the low power command at the end of your interrupt handle
code. the examples lead me to believe that is not required, but
something that plainly said "that is not required" would be nice.
one of the big strengths of arduino is that it makes most of these
things fairly clear
questions I have run into so far if anybody knows the answer offhand:
-the low power state item I mentioned above
-what is the point of the second GND pin on J6
-how much do those tiny leds on the board draw?
I have seen a couple of nice demo videos of the msp430 device running
on nearly no power (including plants) and wondered what the minimum to
say, blink the leds on the board would be and couldn't find something
that gave me a very clear picture in the time I had available to look.
NJC, maybe that would be a decent idea for a noob project. program a
low power blink then run the board off something interesting instead
of the usb. a slightly less silly example might be to have the device
sleep as long as possible then blink out the temperature on
interrupt. long intervals on timer a I understand, but I am still
wrapping my head around the combination of that and the temp
examples...
-bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog
Aug 2, 2010, 4:13:28 PM8/2/10
to TI Launchpad
My next blog post will be about using the USI in SPI mode as a
highspeed UART with an FTDI board. This post will not be geared toward
beginners though. The post after that will most likely discuss the
basics of using the ADC. The ADC post on the other hand will be geared
toward beginners. After that, its fair game and I will try to write
about whatever topic has the most demand (if I am capable that is).
I'm thinking maybe a blog about battery power, or the basics of
hooking the LaunchPad up to other chips on a breadboard.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
On Aug 2, 5:19 pm, Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please add any tutorial suggestions / requests you have to this
> thread.
>
> Another thread [https://groups.google.com/group/ti-launchpad/browse_thread/thread/ebd...
> ________________________________http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
highspeed UART with an FTDI board. This post will not be geared toward
beginners though. The post after that will most likely discuss the
basics of using the ADC. The ADC post on the other hand will be geared
toward beginners. After that, its fair game and I will try to write
about whatever topic has the most demand (if I am capable that is).
I'm thinking maybe a blog about battery power, or the basics of
hooking the LaunchPad up to other chips on a breadboard.
-NJC
________________________________
http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
On Aug 2, 5:19 pm, Bill <landers.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please add any tutorial suggestions / requests you have to this
> thread.
>
> ] got off topic on a discussions of tutorial topics that people wanted
> to see and/or might be useful to the community. To stop hijacking the
> thread I am starting this new one.
>
> it started with this:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
> From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
> Hey! Great list, thanks for adding my blog to it! (http://
> msp430launchpad.blogspot.com)
>
> I have already posted a few getting started guides for people who are
> new to the MSP430. In the future I will also be posting more advanced
> topics and some code from my own personal project (an EEG), in
> addition to providing beginner material.
>
> I actually didn't know abouthttp://www.43oh.com/until I saw your
> to see and/or might be useful to the community. To stop hijacking the
> thread I am starting this new one.
>
> it started with this:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
> From: NJC MSP430 LaunchPad Blog <nicholasjc...@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
> Hey! Great list, thanks for adding my blog to it! (http://
> msp430launchpad.blogspot.com)
>
> I have already posted a few getting started guides for people who are
> new to the MSP430. In the future I will also be posting more advanced
> topics and some code from my own personal project (an EEG), in
> addition to providing beginner material.
>
> post. Again, great list.
>
> -NJC
> ________________________________http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com
>
> -NJC
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