MSP430 Capacitive Touch BoosterPack only $4.30 (incl. shipping)

[markovuksanovic]

Well, even though I'm new here I decided that I could share this with everyone here...

It seems that TI has decided to put Arduino into a lot of trouble - for the first 430h you can get 430BOOST-SENSE1 - MSP430 Capacitive Touch BoosterPack for only $4.30. And that's including shipping....

http://focus.ti.com/mcu/docs/mcumspoverview.tsp?sectionId=95&tabId=140&familyId=342

https://estore.ti.com/430BOOST-SENSE1-MSP430-Capacitive-Touch-BoosterPack-P2361C42.aspx?DCMP=capacitivetouch&HQS=Other+BA+capacitivetouch-b-es

At the time of writing, it's only 13 days left....

Cheers,
Marko

[Bored@Work]

Duplicate, see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3189.0

Well, even though I'm new here I decided that I could share this with everyone here...

I find it strange when someone's first posting is advertising.

It seems that TI has decided to put Arduino into a lot of trouble

Bullshit. TI deeply and methodologically fucked up the Launchpad with their shenanigans when they initially released it. Thanks to this, the Launchpad crowd is absolutely insignificant compared to the Arduino crowd. And no fancy add-on board will fix that.

And that's including shipping....

TI said the same during the initial Launchpad release, but still some people ended up with horrible shipping costs. So I wouldn't trust TI (or a newbie advertising for TI) in this regard.

[RayJones]

"Thank You! Your order is complete."

Ordered 2 units, to match the 2 starter kits bought last year.

Why not, I had a play with capacitive touch many years ago and gave up in frustration.
For 8 bucks why not give the modern version a try 

[RayJones]

I had no problems with my Launchpad delivery other than a very long lead time, but for $4.30 to Australia I was not complaining considering the chips cost more alone.
If they slap on extra shipping fees, that's an unauthorised transaction, and the bank can handle that as a disputed transaction.

So what if it is not Arduino compatible?
Arduinos are for wanna be hackers, the Lauchpad was anything but, and that suits me fine having done the hard yards many times before.

[markovuksanovic]

Well, the purpose of this post was not to do any advertising... I apologize to those who consider this advertising. The purpose was to point out to, IMHO, a great deal from TI. I personally ordered this for myself. I've never heard of those problems with shipping charges... I've ordered from TI lots of times and I never had such a problem.

On the other hand, I've used both Launchpad and Arduino and I must say that I am much more satisfied with TI. (I don't work nor for TI, nor Atmel nor I am in any way related to one of those products).

[MrPlacid]

markovuksanovic , thanks for the post and links. Even if it's advertising, it's good advertizing and I don't mind. Most of the time, these electronic companies have great deal, but how are we suppose to know? I don't visit their site everyday.

[insurgent]

I'm also thankful for the reminder to order my shields. I had completely forgotten about the initial announcement. Definitely like the 50% off and free shipping!

I don't personally buy the Arduino connection with the MSP320. The MSP320 is for super low power applications. It doesn't run higher level languages (hell, I bet the Arduino could run Smalltalk! ) and it never will without consuming much more power and being more expensive. Just because they sold inexpensive dev boards, doesn't mean it's the same market as the Arduino. As for the launch issues, I didn't experience them as my initial purchase was flawless. I won't attempt to diminish the issues that people may have had (especially overseas). I would just hope that it was an innocent mistake on TI's part rather than malice aforethought.

Regardless, it's a cool chip and it a lot of fun to mess with. My first project after getting back into electronics after a good number of years is to hook the MSP430 to the TSL230 (light-to-frequency) chip and making a crude light meter of some kind. Surely I will be able to integrate the capacitive touch shield into the project somehow!

[RayJones]

Received my two kits this morning.

Much better turnaround than the lengthy Launchpad saga.

[metalphreak]

Got mine today too. I ordered my LaunchPad kit back when they first started the promotion, and I had mine within a week. I guess they simply got overwhelmed with demand after that.

[markovuksanovic]

I got mine yesterday afternoon. finally

[RayJones]

Had a quick play last night, after finding some strip headers in "the collection".

Quite impressed how it picks up your hand when you wave it an inch or so over the  the sensor panel.