TBCS has teamed up with The Makers Workbench and Texas Instruments to bring you a small contest to celebrate the new MicroCentral forum here at TBCS. Texas Instruments has kindly donated 4 LaunchPad Micro Controller Dev kits to give away here at TBCS to 4 lucky members.
Entering to win is simple, all you have to do is post what you would use your LaunchPad kit for. In 5 weeks I will pick 4 winners and will have Texas Instruments ship the kits direct to you.
There are only 4 to give away so be ad detailed as possible in your entry. It does not have to be PC Modding related but since TBCS is a modding site, PC related entries is always a bonus.
So post your entries here in this thread. They can be a simple worded description, a video description or even a detailed 3d presentation. I will not give extra points on the type of entry you post and will judge them all the same.
LaunchPad Kit Contents
* LaunchPad Development board (MSP-EXP430G2)
* Mini USB cable
* 2x MSP430 flash devices
o MSP430G2211IN14 flash device
o MSP430G2231IN14 flash device (preloaded with sample program)
* 10-pin PCB Connectors (2 male & 2 female)
* 32kHz crystal (MS3V-T1R 32.768kHz CL: 12.5pF +/-20ppm, www.microcrystal.com)
* Quick Start Guide
* 2x LaunchPad stickers
Free & Downloadable Compilers/Debuggers (IDEs)
There are many other compilers and integrated development environments (IDEs) for MSP430 including Rowley Crossworks and MSPGCC. However, example projects have been created using IAR Embedded Workbench KickStart and Code Composer Studio (CCS). Both IAR and CCS have free, code-limited versions, which are available for download. These IDEs will run full-featured on the available MSP430 Value Line devices, as these devices will not encounter the 4kB size limit of IAR, or the 16kB size limit of CCS.
* Code Composer Studio (CCS) | Download Now (Requires TI Login)
* IAR Embedded Workbench KickStart | Download Now
The links above direct to free, code-limited versions. IAR Embedded Workbench KickStart is a free 4kB code-limited version and CCS v4 offers a free 16kB code-limited version. As MSP430 Value Line devices are below this limit, the free versions of each IDE will run full-featured on MSP430 Value Line devices.
Linux Support
There is currently no official support for the Linux operating system. IAR Embedded Workbench does work under WINE in Ubuntu 10.04 but the LaunchPad itself doesn't map to a /dev/ttyUSB* port but rather to /dev/ACM0. Linking com1 under WINE to ACM0 doesn't allow for a debug connection through the IDE.
* Ramblings and Broken Code has an msp430-gcc tutorial that is geared toward Arch Linux users.
* eclecticc has a guide for Ubuntu users (you'll need to follow the instructions from MyLightSwitch on compiling mspgcc and mspdebug from source first).
Mac OS X Support
There is currently no official support for the Mac OS X operating system. See MSP430_LaunchPad_Mac_OS_X for some rough, unsupported instructions on compiling mspgcc and mspdebug for Mac OS X.
Features