Make the Switch to TI MCUs Success Stories - Recent Threads

MSP430F5325 : In MSP430F5325 can we use ROM for storing data like external EEPROM

hhh ggg — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:02:25 GMT

Hi ..

We are developing our product using MSP430F5325,we want to stored accumulated energy count in EEPROM, so our questions are

1) Is it possible to store accumulated energy count in ROM of MSP430F5325 ??

2) If yes,how and at which location or area of ROM of MSP430F5325 ??

3) Is external EEPROM required ??

Kindly help us.

Thanks

How I made the switch to TI MCU

TURJASU PYNE — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:18:07 GMT

Hi all,

I was always working on systems that were based on 8051, PIC and Motorola Mc68HC series. But since long time I was quite interested in TI roducts. I had started developing a simple navigation unit based on MSP430 Launchpad and achieved success largely with the extensive help from Texas Instruments. It was so successful that now we are planning to shift OUR ENTIRE PLATFORM TO TI MCU as far as possible. Im working on an indian railway project and it will be completely on TI MCP430!

Thanks TI

Great job done!

Just loooveee your MCUs

New method of exchange information

lubo koev — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:07:23 GMT

Hi,

I send You a short description of demonstrative scheme a new method of exchange information, called V & P. Would You recommend me Your colleague’s e-mail if that’s not correct one, where I will be able to send and a video? Thanking You in advance!

Regards

L.Koev lck@dir.bg

Shortly the advantages we receive are:

Connection to the line of exchange:

- An unlimited number of participants may be connected.

Time frequency:

- Each participant may work in an unlimited divergence of time frequencies.

- Within a system every mechanism can work by its own time frequency without having problems with the exchange.

- On a subsequent emission every participant may change the time frequency of the exchange.

The unattached bits of one single message may have a disparate period /i.e. time frequencies/.

Connection lines:

- It is possible that 1, 2, 3 and more connection lines be used.

Alongside the work process we may “reciprocate” the lines’ locations /for instance a data line is turned into a frequency, while the latter becomes data/

Utilized formats:

Virtually every data exchange format can be utilized, modified and applied in accordance with particular needs.

Address issuance:

- All participants may have an address fragment /address/.

Any participant may have several addresses – all of them are active /working simultaneously/.

- All participants work without addresses /as only data is exchanged via the conduit/.

Length of address and data fragment:

- It is not mandatory that the address length /if there is any/ nor the data fragment in a system should be 2ⁿ bits, but these rather be a random bit number 3, 4, 5 and so on to match particular needs.

- In a given system it is not mandatory that all address fragments /if there are any/ be of the same length.

- It is neither so that data fragments are of the same length.

Advantage:

- In a given system we may appoint one participant as advantageous by lending them full control of the system /to decide who is to access, transmit and so on/.

- Without such advantage, all mechanisms are completely equal in rights.

8. Priority:

- all priority mechanisms are assigned preliminarily upon acquiring control of the linking conduit.

- Only few participants have a priority status while the others are only listening /receiving/

Order of emitting data:

We can start from a second, field or random order of transmitting bits, of course preliminarily assigned to the receiving part.

Official data:

- reduced to a minimum.

Enclosure:

- Mechanisms that exchange small data quantities at great distances away from each other in real time.

- Places where extensive noise-proof and reliability are required for data to be transmitted.

- All essentials protect data in transmission.

- Active possibilities of optimization.

- Maximum customization within every particular case.

- Conduit discharges redundant data to boost traffic capacity.

- Large price reduction of utilized conduits.

- Compression and ease of installation and maintenance.

Description of the established demonstration sample:

One of our 5 independent sections is a desk point. Each has 8 entry and 8 exit points, and can acquire and transmit data. Routing is not address fixed; the system feeding is 12V; the distance of points is 10 meters each, for a total of 40 meters; and the utilized cable is of field type that commonly supplies household appliances.

The utilized microchip is MSP430F1232.

In series we activate – sound signal /that activates 1 point/, lights of short and long type /that activate front 2 points/, emergency signal and rear-light /all are being activated/, left blinker /both left points/, right blinker /both right points/, and combinations of several signals.

Activation of entry point – a message will be sent to be received at the desk, then via a code of sixteen decimals it will indicate both the point number and the entry number that has been activated.

TI Saved my first project as Freelancer

Harshal Advane — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:46:48 GMT

Hi,

I am Advane Harshal, from India, I am Electronics Engg with 4+ years of exp as ASIC Verification Engg.I have been working

on 89c51 and AVR atmega16,32 from college days.

Recenlty I started working as freelancer and got my first project, The client wanted a medical pill reminder, running on 3v cell.

I started with AVR atmeg16L as it mentioned operating voltages as 2.7V-5,5V, but once you build it then all the problems started

popping out.

With less a week left to deliver the project, I came across TI's MSP430 Launchpad, It was so easy to use and with all

the example code readily available I was able to deliver the project in time.

Had I not got MSP430G2553 I would I have never again tried to be Freelancer.

Thanks TI for this wonderful product.

MAKE the New Year count with TI MCUs!

Make the Switch TI MCUs — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:27:48 GMT

Happy New Year!

Every New Year brings reflections on the past, possibilities of future endeavors and the opportunity for a fresh and renewed start.

Many of you have probably settled on resolutions and goals for the new year and we are no exception! Our resolution at Make The Switch is to aide customers in continuing to make the switch to TI microcontrollers while also enabling them to make things happen. After all, you are a community of makers – individuals and innovators known for their can-do personalities and willingness to see and invent new, different and exciting things.

TI MCUs would like to help you reach all of your design goals to create the latest technological breakthrough. That’s why we’re excited to share new events, announcements and (dare we say it) contests geared specifically towards the maker community in 2013.

To kick things off, here are a few tips on how you can make the most out of 2013:

Stay curious – dare to create new designs that could change the world.
Pay it forward – have you completed a new design? Share it with the larger community.
Take part in DIY (Do It Yourself) projects – trick out your garages, kitchens and homes with your designs. (You know you’ve always wanted to program LEDs to sync with your stereo, right?)

What are your resolutions this year? Share your thoughts below and stay tuned for more information on all things “make” in the future!

How I made the great kick start...

Amalinda — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:21:10 GMT

I dont have many to share because I an a new user to world of ARM,but let me share my one only one story.

I was introduced to the ARM Cortex Microcontrolers by our university in June of 2012 and NXP 1768 was the first and the only processor we learnt in particular. As we all were totally new to the field all C it self, everything was given to us and we were only given instructions to achieve things/tasks.. like to only do simple tasks..

As time passed on I realized that doing something serious is not so easy in this way using the chip we did because the support and the interactiveness in their web was not so good plus there were not much meterial suitable for a new beginner. Basically everywhere I went in that web was nothing understandable.. pure high-tech J

Larer one of my friends told me about TI as he had used one of TI’s Analog components to his power supply. Apartly i happen to check this site when i was free.. Small things happen for a very big reason! I started to like the site. All the other websites that introduced ARM- M lacked the lovable 'wanting' feeling that TI.com generates in you making you visit the site more and more often. Simply because everytime I visit TI.com I know I will have something to add to my knowledge! Something useful and something wonderful.! I must say this is the reason that made me visit ti.com more often. But yet, I hadn't even thought of making a shift. At this point I knew that TI too had "some" ARM chips but I was least interested, oh wait, rather scarred to start on a new chip.. the questions running in my mind were like

who is gonig to help me understand this new chip?

Will I screw up?

but later TI offered a me an ice-cream. All NXP boards at that time were really really expensive. So i was unable to buy any. TI came up with the LM4f120 board and I was surpsied and so much happy. GOOD!, I thought, now im going to get my own board! Superb! and what else can me more fantastic. I bought 9 development boards. 2 for me and 2 for my best buddies and the rest to donate to my University lab.

Then later the boards arrived.

Even before the boards arrived I had everything all materials collected to start the journey. Everything downloaded!

I already knew a lot about What TI.com is, and what it offers to students like us.. I even ordered my self some samples so i could make my own circuit using an ARM chip.

I would have never come this far , due to all reasons including cost, if I was stuck with NXP

I now stand strong in my knowledge and teach my friends about ARM. I dont know so much about ARM but I have managed to be the ‘TI guy’ at my university.. yep. I know that sounds crazy.. Ever since I meet a person who talks ARM, I wont ever forget to do him the favour of telling him about Stellaris. Its one of the coolest things that changed my life.

But I love the way TI had given us so much support to learn ARM. Specially CCS and Stellariswear. those are the best tools ever. And recently introduced TI RTOS though i havent tried im sure thats a killer too!

Im only 6 months old in Arm Cortex universe and I am so much happy I made a shift.

How to make the switch from Arduino to Launchpad a little less painful - Energia

Lonnie Honeycutt — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:07:02 GMT

I was struggling - I didn't know how to program the MSP430 yet. I found Energia - it lets you program a Launchpad as if it were an Arduino. It works very well. New libraries are being ported over every week, too. Definitely worth a look for some of you.

Energia download and docs - http://energia.github.com/Energia/

Energia forums at 43oh - http://www.43oh.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=38

I've tried a few things using the Launchpad and Energia - simple servo operations, LED blinking, and using the HC-SR04 sensor. They all work just fine. I've had some trouble with more exotic peripherals, like i2c LCD's, but the developers are working on these libraries all the time.

I'll plug my own little experiment here:

Interfacing Launchpad with HC-SR04 with Energia - http://www.meanpc.com/2012/09/using-hc-sr04-ultrasonic-sensor-with-ti.html

I still plan on learning how to program the MSP-430 someday, but Energia lets me use the Launchpad now. I think it would be a good resource for a lot of noobs like myself.

Switch to TI Stellaris

Andrey Cherepanov — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:46:50 GMT

I worked on a project in the navigation field. For the whole project we were given 2 months. The main concern was the price; the size of the device was secondary. Initially we planned to design on a different platform (NXP), as we already had a number of developments on it. Our supplier recommended having a look at some TI products. At a lower price, the processor had more functions; our main concern was the size of Errata and the lack of experience.

Thanks to the huge amount of examples, the use of built-in peripherals configuration functions, we were able to write the code very quickly. Also using the ROM functions helped reduce the power consumption of the device by 10%-15%.

We are done now! Project was finished just in time.

Thanks to All.

We’d like to hear how your designs using TI MCUs are helping athletes and others prepare for their next athletic event!

HulaGirl — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:03:47 GMT

On your mark, get set, GO! Whether you’re training for a race or just trying to stay in shape, monitoring your physical fitness is crucial to getting a leg up on the competition. We’d like to hear how your designs using TI MCUs are helping athletes and others prepare for their next athletic event. To enter, post a photo or video of your design in action with a quick description of your device and what TI MCU you used. First place will win a new tool kit of their choosing and second and third place will win a Make the Switch goodie bag! Submissions will be accepted through 5 p.m. CDT on Friday, August 10 with the winner announced on our E2E community on Monday, August 13.

Flex those design muscles and we’ll see you at the finish line!

For Videos: Provide a link to your external video.

Please note: The winner of this contest will be able to choose a tool kit from a select list of kits from each MCU product line. Additionally, employees of Texas Instruments will not be eligible to participate.

Greener place on Earth

Wojtek Stodulny — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:09:59 GMT

In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, I want to recall my project of saving energy in home by using MSP430 to automatically defer of electrical loads i.e. washing machine, dishwasher to the dayzone when cheaper electrical tarif is valid (night or weekend tarif) so it lowers average current load from electric plant.

why not earlier??!! with MSP430

Krishna Raj Nair M K — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:39:55 GMT

hi ,

I am an engineering student in electronics, and these microcontroller stuffs drove me crazy, and I became really interested in doing projects with them. And so the question of which brand was in front of me , which didn't last longer because i just asked my seniors, they having only used PIC16f uC , asked me go on with it. Very soon I became aware of the considerable power that it uses, and it's application became limited. One day I had this project from our college on making a digital speedometer with a cycle dynamo ofcourse for a cycle(GREEN THEME as they called it). Soon I made a couple of searches from web & my professors and they told me about the TI lab we have in our college and on TI MSP430.

As soon as I started working I realized the immense potential in it. Not only that the user friendly software made the design, debugging the code , circuit..,,I decided to use this on to the next level of projects i have , to build and implement a biped!! Of course I started on telling my juniors to use and make this switch over to TI !!

thanks TI

Tell us how YOU go green with TI MCUs – and win!

RandiW — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:42:44 GMT

It’s easy being green when you use TI MCUs! In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, we want to hear how you’re making the world a greener place using TI MCUs. Give a quick description of the TI MCU you used for your “green” design project for a chance to win a Make the Switch goodie bag. Submissions will be accepted through 5 p.m. CST on Monday, April 23 and the winner will be announced on our E2E community on Tuesday, April 24.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your green on!

Enter by creating a new thread here >

How I made the Switch to TI

Norman Chahuares — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:13:53 GMT

My first contact with TI MCUs was when I purchased the Launchpad. It was really low cost and it included an integrated programmer so I had everything I needed to start experimenting.

Having used PIC MCUs since I was in school, I was used to write firmware in asembler. So it was really nice to find out that a good C compiler for MSP430 MCUs was available. But I didn't completely switch to TI MCUs until I tried the Picollo ControlStick + ControlSUIT. The ControlSUIT had everything I could need to debelop a motor control application.

Now I'm looking forward to try the Stellaris MCUs and see what they can do.

Switched to Stellaris Cortex-M4

Simon Thome — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:37:21 GMT

I have just switched to the new Stellaris Cortex-M4 controllers. Coming form the 8bit world (8051 and AVR) and more recently, with the current project, the archaic Motorola M-Core. Stellaris Cortex-M controllers are a pleasure to work with! The Stellaris libraries get you up and running with ease!

msp430 haiku

Douglas Emes — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:43:29 GMT

hello m-s-p
four thirty is your number
but love is your game

sipping power as
a wedding guest drinks champaigne
but you work better

the watchdog timer
bane of many beginners
keeps ticking onward

sixteen bits you have
of address and memory
beats eight oh five one.

capture and compare!
a register works alone
no c p u time

interrupt vectors!
triggering a chosen step
on the rise or fall

two grapes power thee
my dear microcontroller
what is not to love?

your heart stops beating
m-s-p 4-3-zero
at l-p-m four

and now my poem
of love for this little chip
has come to an end.

I try to make the switch - but the unfriendly TI guy gave me nothing!

Wolf Ernst — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:20:51 GMT

The advertising TI slogan was:

"Going to the Embedded Systems Conference?

Bring in your competitive microcontroller hardware tools and Make the Switch to TI's leading solutions.

Stop by TI Booth #1320 and swap out a tool while supplies last!* "

I try it, but there was no switch only your unfriendly staff.

I switched this joke to TI MCUs

Andy Neil — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:35:27 GMT

Q: How do you confuse a microcontroller developer?

A: Line-up an MSP430, a Stellaris, and a C2000 against a wall, and tell him to take his PIC!

My switch to MSP430 family

Mark Felskowski — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:15:43 GMT

Programming microcontrolers is my passion for many years. Started from old fashion 8051,then later moved to the popular AVR family. I have planned to move to some
different microcontroler family for a long time. In the previously used microcontrolers with a very small amount of pins I missed the possibility of debuging the program in real time. I was also looking for the energy-efficient solutions for use in battery-powered applications.

When the Launchpad appeared, I found that it is the perfect answer to my needs. I was surprised that TI decided to use the DIP housing for the microprocessor, that is very great convenience for the hobbyists. To broaden my knowledge in this field I bought a book "MSP430 Microcontroller Basics" written by John Davies which explained me a lot of doubts.
Then without hesitation, I bought another of the MSP430 Launchpad with FRAM memory. The new type of memory was very noticeable when compared to conventional flash memory. Thanks for additional ic's such as accelerometer mounted on the board it makes a great opportunity for interesting projects. Personally, I have done a custom shield for Launchpad with a graphic display from Nokia 3310 cellphone.

I decided to use Launchpad for my M. Sc. thesis in which it is used as BGA soldering station with infrared radiators controller.
In the microcontroler's program I have involved almost all of the available interrupts, as for the communication I used UART based on hardware timers, I also used communication via SPI with the external thermocouple temperature converter. The MSP430 microprocessor is well suited for such applications.

I still have many other projects in my head based on MSP430.

Thanks TI!

MSP430 Love Haiku

Adam Goddard — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:37:22 GMT

Just a small micro,

But the heart of my design,

I can't live without.

msp430 Limericks

Douglas Emes — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:21:27 GMT

(9 9 6 6 9)
There was a controller from T-I,
Whose power settings were almost nigh'.
A demo one could see.
Two grapes could power thee:
Adrian cant drink on the job, sigh!

(10 10 7 7 10)
My voltage needed is lower than most
And this is not merely an idle boast.
With two alkaline I run
Even on two grapes I'm fun.
But don't use five volts or I will be toast!

(8 8 6 6 8 )
My methods are easy to know;
I have examples to follow.
C-C-S you can learn -
Just take time to discern.
Recall I'm not an Arduino!

(10 10 7 7 10)
Eric Gregori makes robots with me.
My code he writes in the language of C.
"G" chips make the robots go -
He has put on a great show.
Go view on his dot org named "robot see"!

- Doug Emes

Love You! TI's MCU

sergio ribeiro — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:56:33 GMT

Just Love you! TI's MCU!

Cause you make my projects shine like a STELLARIS'ed sky

Cause You're always there for me; fast, real time C2000's attitude

Cause you make me safe, on HERCULES strong, secure reply

and cause you MSP430'me, making larger my energy's "longitude"

On every idea my imagination goes through.. ther's always a TI's MCU

Sergio

MCU Haiku

Jordan Casey — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:43:35 GMT

Computing quickly

Requiring so little

Saving me money

Oh Hai! Ku.

Eric Wilborn — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:51:35 GMT

Texas Instruments

Thank you for saving my ***

Through so many math classes

Why I Love TI MCUs

Paul Asselin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:11:55 GMT

Use an MSP

Something people will see

Make money

pa.asselin@gmail.com