MSP432 Launchpad at US$4.32...

[Brutte]

DS MSP432P401x
TRM MSP432P4xx Family

[coppice]

I still have trouble accessing the reference manual and the board related documents. Based solely on the skimpy data sheet, I have to ask why so many people seem to be so excited about this chip. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be anything that sets apart this chip. If there is, ti has done a terrible job articulating them.

You consider an 800 page family guide, and a 157 page datasheet specific to the device skimpy documentation?

[AndreasF]

DS MSP432P401x
TRM MSP432P4xx Family

Thanks for these, Brutte!

Does anybody else have problems with the links that are given by TI on this page http://www.ti.com/product/MSP432P401M/technicaldocuments ?  In Chrome they end up as blank pages (i.e. nothing is shown). In "Edge" they resolve just fine to the links that Brutte provided.

[dannyf]

Does anybody else have problems ...

You aren't alone.

[AndreasF]

Good to know.  Doesn't seem to be a Chrome vs Edge problem either. I'm trying to get to the Launchpad user guide now and it doesn't work in either browser.

http://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slau597  (maybe for some reason it works from here)

Edit: nope! Worked in IE (once I clicked "open in Internet Explorer" in Edge).

[Monkeh]

TIs site does this regularly. It'll start working normally again soon.

[andersm]

DS MSP432P401x
TRM MSP432P4xx Family

You omitted the most important one, the not insubstantial errata sheet.

[AlxDroidDev]

[fun]
I was wondering if TI is endorsing the 432Hz tuning fad crap and named this chip after the new "A432".
[/fun]

[suicidaleggroll]

[fun]
I was wondering it TI is endorsing the 432Hz tuning fad crap and named this chip after the new "A432".
[/fun]

I had never heard of "A432" before reading this, so I googled it.  I wish I hadn't...

[Macbeth]

I figured it's some Audiophool stuff. Quick google, decided to ignore.

Got better things to do, because my MSP432 boards arrived today 

Only got the online cloud stuff working in chrome and can mess around with a flashing multicolour LED.

I think I will download the proper tools now as I hate all this cloud stuff.

Oh, and of course it is obvious they called it MSP432 because it only costs $4.32 - duh! nothing to do with audiophools   

[helius]

I figured it's some Audiophool stuff. Quick google, decided to ignore.

No smiley: Were you joking?
The A432 fad is because of creeping hitleritis.

Edit: an invention of the Lyndon LaRouche cult:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiller_Institute

[AlxDroidDev]

I had never heard of "A432" before reading this, so I googled it.  I wish I hadn't...

I wish I hadn't either, but some of my friends are musicians and they talk about this stuff. Most musicians think this A432 thing is total crap (which it is), because most people can't even hear the difference between A440 and A432. 99% of the people advocating A432 aren't musicians or audiophools, but idiots who believe it has something to do with "DNA tuning" or "God's frequency" or any other <insert favortite insulting word> like that.

enough of that!

My *real* 432s are expected to be delivered tomorrow. Apparently FEDEX had some customs screw up.

[dannyf]

Having spent some time on the ref manual, I find it good that the port register structure is the same for all ports, making one gpio structure applicable to all ports.

The good old 430 has different port register layout for p1/p2 vs. Other ports.

[AlxDroidDev]

My *real* 432s are expected to be delivered tomorrow. Apparently FEDEX had some customs screw up.

Risk that. Mine were delivered today, and I didn't have to pay any customs duty.

Anyhow, I've been trying to upload a program to it for the past 3 hours using TI`s Code Composer Studio, without any success. A few minutes ago I found this post that might beuseful for you if you are unable to debug from CCS:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/460430/1663082#1663082

[pakesson]

Nine months on, there are still only two MSP432 chips available and they're still XMS432 which means beta. I don't know if this means anything - just thinking out loud.

Indeed, the errata is quite extensive - http://www.ti.com/lit/er/slaz610c/slaz610c.pdf

As far as I can tell (I ordered three boards anyway, but they haven't arrived yet), the Launchpad comes with Rev B as listed in the errata.

Edit: andersm already mentioned the errata

[rsjsouza]

My *real* 432s are expected to be delivered tomorrow. Apparently FEDEX had some customs screw up.

Risk that. Mine were delivered today, and I didn't have to pay any customs duty.

Anyhow, I've been trying to upload a program to it for the past 3 hours using TI`s Code Composer Studio, without any success. A few minutes ago I found this post that might beuseful for you if you are unable to debug from CCS:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/460430/1663082#1663082

AlxDriodDev, Dung Dang from TI also did a very thorough post at:
https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/419867/1740311#1740311

[AlxDroidDev]

(...) A few minutes ago I found this post that might beuseful for you if you are unable to debug from CCS:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/460430/1663082#1663082

AlxDriodDev, Dung Dang from TI also did a very thorough post at:
https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/419867/1740311#1740311

He posted that a couple days too late. Since I got my boards on Jan 12th, I believe many of you, specially those in the US, got it way before I did, and were just as frustrated as I was trying to program them. I lost track of how many times I had to perform a full reset on the board (using CCS in Debug Mode).

Unfortunately for me, I was also victim of another bug in the MSP432 Launchpad boards: incompatibility with Renesas USB 3.0 controllers on Windows 7 machines. Fortunately this bug is documented in a few documents and I have a few USB 2.0 ports on my PC.

I am afraid to admit it, but during those dreadful 3 hours when CCS wouldn't work, I had to resort to Energia IDE to make sure my board wasn't toasted! I know that many ARM diehard fans here just cringe at hearing anything that has to do with the Energia IDE!

[mtdoc]

I am afraid to admit it, but during those dreadful 3 hours when CCS wouldn't work, I had to resort to Energia IDE to make sure my board wasn't toasted! I know that many ARM diehard fans here just cringe at hearing anything that has to do with the Energia IDE!

Ah screw those elitist coders!     Energia is great for quick and dirty programming of TI dev boards.

[rsjsouza]

I am afraid to admit it, but during those dreadful 3 hours when CCS wouldn't work, I had to resort to Energia IDE to make sure my board wasn't toasted! I know that many ARM diehard fans here just cringe at hearing anything that has to do with the Energia IDE!

Ah screw those elitist coders!     Energia is great for quick and dirty programming of TI dev boards.

+1. Don't feel bad using Energia.

[Macbeth]

I don't have a clue what Energia is. Just installed CCS and all its updates, but included GCC as there is no 16KB/32KB limit from what I gather. Windows 10. Seems to work.

[timb]

Energia is the Arduino IDE and Wiring libraries ported to MSP430, 432, Tiva C and C2000 hardware. You can run most Arduino sketches with small or no modifications (assuming they don't access AVR specific functions).

If you're a Mac user, check out EmbedXcode, written by a good friend of mine. It allows you to use Xcode as your IDE for Arduino, MSP43x, Tiva C, Teensy, Spark Core and other boards. Note: You still need to have Arduino, Energia, etc. installed; it uses GCC and the platform files from those apps for compilation.

[Stupid Beard]

I ordered a couple of these on the 13th and they arrived today. Pretty impressed with how quick that was.

Now I just need to find something to use them for besides bulking up my pile of unfinished projects.

[AlxDroidDev]

I am afraid to admit it, but during those dreadful 3 hours when CCS wouldn't work, I had to resort to Energia IDE to make sure my board wasn't toasted! I know that many ARM diehard fans here just cringe at hearing anything that has to do with the Energia IDE!

Ah screw those elitist coders!     Energia is great for quick and dirty programming of TI dev boards.

+1. Don't feel bad using Energia.

This is sounding like a therapeutic support groups! Thank you guys! Coming from Arduino, I like Energia, although that red color of the IDE is not pleasant at all.

I got so mad at CCS and its bugs that I uninstalled it. I kept Energia, XDS110 drivers and xdsdfu (the DAP firmware updater, and is deep inside the CCS folders) installed because they simply work right out of the box. Energia complained a few times about an out-of-date firmware on the DAP, which was solved using xdsdfu.

[tszaboo]

Energia is the Arduino IDE and Wiring libraries ported to MSP430, 432, Tiva C and C2000 hardware. You can run most Arduino sketches with small or no modifications (assuming they don't access AVR specific functions).

If you're a Mac user, check out EmbedXcode, written by a good friend of mine. It allows you to use Xcode as your IDE for Arduino, MSP43x, Tiva C, Teensy, Spark Core and other boards. Note: You still need to have Arduino, Energia, etc. installed; it uses GCC and the platform files from those apps for compilation.

Well, I've heard this before with the Pinguino. Also, native USB. I said great, lets try it.
And then of course I did not have a single project which worked as expected, due to old libraries, hacks of hacks and plain untested code. Is TI better?

[timb]

Energia is the Arduino IDE and Wiring libraries ported to MSP430, 432, Tiva C and C2000 hardware. You can run most Arduino sketches with small or no modifications (assuming they don't access AVR specific functions).

If you're a Mac user, check out EmbedXcode, written by a good friend of mine. It allows you to use Xcode as your IDE for Arduino, MSP43x, Tiva C, Teensy, Spark Core and other boards. Note: You still need to have Arduino, Energia, etc. installed; it uses GCC and the platform files from those apps for compilation.

Well, I've heard this before with the Pinguino. Also, native USB. I said great, lets try it.
And then of course I did not have a single project which worked as expected, due to old libraries, hacks of hacks and plain untested code. Is TI better?

Energia isn't developed by TI, well officially anyway. The guy who started it works for TI and did Energia as a personal project; TI doesn't own any rights to it or anything. Development takes place on Github and there's an active community over at 43oh.com if you need help.

As for projects working, it depends on the project or library in question. If it makes direct calls to the underlying hardware, it won't work without modification. If it just uses Wiring, it'll work. (For example, if the sketch directly manipulates ports and is expecting a ATmega328P, it obviously won't work; if it uses digitalWrite, it will work just fine.)

All the standard functions (digital/analog read/write, I2C, SPI, PWM, etc.) work exactly like they do in Arduino.