MSP430 and free tools

The Olimex hardware is very good value, and doesn't have any problems.

mspgcc works very well.

Join the MSP430 Yahoo group. There is also an mspgcc users group on SourceForge.

Leon

Hi Leon,

Hey, I didn't know you were an MSP guy as well. I thought about an LPC2000 series part for this app, BTW, but decided they're just not mainstream enough yet (meaning, expensive and purchasing is much more difficult than for MSP).

I'll look on Yahoo, thanks.

--
 -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (http://www.zws.com/)
Learn how to develop high-end embedded systems on a tight budget!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750676094/zws-20

You won't be disappointed on either count- it's both frugal and versatile. It's been my standard choice for 3 years now. The only things I would like added are an option of external data/control bus and 5V compatible IO. And someone to make 0603 6 meg crystals.

There's a homebrew JTAG interface pointed to somewhere on the MSPGCC site. I don't to use it- the serial downloader has always suited my style better. It acts as a debug serial interface as well. At least in the earlier days, the JTAG debugger/GDB/Cygwin combo caused all sorts of problems.

Very good except for floating point, plus one or two idiosyncracies, like printf() ALWAYS needing at least two parameters. Very well supported by an excellent and responsive team, actively improving all the time. Use it with confidence.

Paul Burke

Lots of people who liked the MSP430 have been attracted to the LPC2000 parts.

Leon

Hey Lewin, How's tricks?

The Olimex F149 header boards are pretty good. I've designed boards with a dual pad-out to take either the processor or the Olimex breadboard. Down here in Australia, the boards had a shorter lead time!!!

I use the ridiculously priced full IAR compiler (a rip-off at AU$4000 odd). Imagecraft have one at about a tenth that price that seems to be pretty robust, I used the demo for a while. It's not as efficient time and memory footprint wise as the IAR compiler, but I've heard that both of them are streets (20%-30%) ahead of mspgcc. This may be old information though.

Cheers, Alf

snipped-for-privacy@remove.the.obvious.ieee.org

Talk to the people in the Yahoo MSP430 group. The people who create the compilers are regulars so you should be able to obtain some answers.

Apparently the Crossworks compiler from

works very well, you can port from IAR fairly easily, and is significantly cheaper.

He's even got a Linux version of Crossworks 1.2 (Beta 1 version).

Crossworks UKP 495. per user.

Alf,

Do you get the Olimex boards locally (Melb), or are they shipped from Bulgaria ?

regards David

a

odd).

memory

There are also the Rowley CrossWorks tools. They are very good value compared to IAR and work very well.

Leon

a

Bulgaria ?

I ordered them from Bulgaria and paid with my credit card. No hassles and about 10 days from memory. YMMV.

Cheers, Alf

That's what we're switching to at work. They are good value, but I can't justify UKP495 for my personal use. And at work I am too busy to work on personal projects :)

--
 -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (http://www.zws.com/)
Learn how to develop high-end embedded systems on a tight budget!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750676094/zws-20

Hi Alf,

I haven't turned any recently :)

Finally I have all the contract work, writing, proofreading and miscellaneous other responsibilities out of the way. For the first time in more than a year, I'm a free man and can do some aimless personal projects again. I'm sure someone will soon come along with a project that's just too tempting to refuse, but in the meantime I'm playing with the MSP!

That's pretty crazy. I think I'll order a waffle once I start prototyping, just in case. For now I have 3 samples on order from TI, and another 5 pieces from Digi-Key.

I don't doubt that. I'm not going to be pushing the envelope with this chip, though. I need to read two ADXL202s (currently I do that the digital way, but I guess I could do it analogishly if I had to), some temp sensors (currently those are analog but could go to I2C), pressure sensors (analog), a GPS and a couple of other miscellaneous things. The MSP won't break a sweat even using a suboptimal compiler.

Plus two reversible PWM motor outputs and two 4-pole stepper drives. However it looks like these will be replaced by a single output to switch off/on a hydraulic power unit, and a few solenoid valve outputs.

Never mind the spin Lewin. Is it not time for an update (either here or the E-2 pages of your website.

• How did it work out with the camcorder synchronisation * Have you now an overall block schematyic for the sub * Have you progressed the missile launch capability * Do we really have to wait for the book ;>

--

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I wasn't implying laziness on your part (being too busy maybe but never lazy) ;>

So we will wait the web-site updates then. [%X]

You could probably run a magnetic coupling through a stainless steel sheet. The sheet keeps the water out but allows magnetic force lines to penetrate and drag round the coupled shaft. I wil explain in more detail privately if you wish.

Sounds like sokme serious "away from the sub" time coming up.

Thanks for the update anyway. Sounds like things are moving on quite nicely.

--
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy .....
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972 .........NOW AVAILABLE:- HIDECS COURSE......
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095 .... see http://www.feabhas.com for details.
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I'd skip these first generation flash parts. A lot of early MSP430 parts have a problem with their POR function. Supposedly the POR will operate at 0.4V. The problem is that even low value ceramic caps used for decoupling will hold the supply voltage at around 0.8V once power is removed, causing the micro to latch. If you don't care about current consumption this can be got around simply with a bleed resistor, other wise you need some type of external reset circuit. Most of these draw more current than the micro in low power applications.

I suggest you look at the MSP430F16xx series. Pin compatible (Ti did well here) and includes reset/BOR circuitry as well as DMA channels and a pair of 12 bit DACs. RAM sizes up to 10k. If you're doing navigation I'd select a version with the hardware multiplier, it makes a big difference.

From what I see in the MSP430 yahoo group mspgcc has a fairly loyal band of followers, but it would seem to be the least efficient of the popular compilers by a very large margin. Crossworks is probably the most efficient, and has a USB downloader, but you've already mentioned that as too expensive off home brew. Quadravox and Imagecraft offer a good compromise, Imagecraft is the cheapest, but, purely from other peoples posts, again doesn't seem quite as good at optimisation as quadravox or crossworks, although I understand Richard is working on a new optimiser. Quadravox offer better support (in my personal experience) than is reasonable to expect, so, at this precise point in time would be my personal choice for a home brew compiler if optimisation wasn't a big issue.

But there's always assembler, a joy to behold on the MSP430. My own navigation systems are written entirely in assembler on a 149, it is incredible just how much work the thing will handle.

Al

Hi!

Hmm, interesting info - thanks. I'll grab the datasheets for these parts.

The nice folks at Rowley have given me some assistance on that front, and my Olimex shipment arrived yesterday (from sparkfun.com in CO; great turnaround time). I've started playing with it, familiarizing myself basically. The Crossworks IDE is rather "busy" - I'm still getting used to all the buttons and widgets. BTW I can't wait for their Linux version to come out...

The reason I want to use C is that the algorithms I've written are already in C, and should be fairly portable. The MSP430 is not being called upon to do any significant navigation, BTW; that's handled by the 32-bit controller. MSP is doing the grunt work.