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MSC (MicroSystem Controller) family

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSC1210Y5, MSC1210

Dear Champion,

Hi I plan to design a remote gauge device using MSC1210Y5. However, I found that most of the supporting hardware no longer valid on TI site. My questions as below:

1) What's the support plan for this device? Is it going to obsolete soon? If so, what would be the replacement?

2) Any emulator, ICE/ICD (TI or third party) to recommend?

3)  Is there any kits or EVM available? I read about MSC1210EVM in the user guide, but it seems that the hardware no longer available

4) Support roadmap for this controller

5) I plan to use C, is there any C instruction set manual available?

I would be greatly appreciate if some experts could give a pointer. Thanks allot!

Rgds,

Andrew

  • Andrew,

    Welcome to the forum!  The MSC1210 is a great device, many customers are using it and there are no plans to obsolete it.  However, we have limited support due to limited staffing.  Due to the limited staffing support, we discontinued production of EVMs.  There is a ftp site where you can view all of the information we have regarding the MSC part family:

    ftp://ftp.ti.com/pub/data_acquisition/MSC_CD-ROM/

    Information regarding the building of your own EVM can be found here:

    ftp://ftp.ti.com/pub/data_acquisition/MSC_CD-ROM/EVMs/MSC1210EVM/

    The gerber files can also be found in that director that can be sent to a PCB board manufacturer.  Also on the ftp site is information regarding the C compilers that are available (Keil and Raisonance.)  Many example programs are also available on the ftp site.

    I third part emulator is available:

    http://www.8051-emulator.de/Products/Biceps8051_e.html

    If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.

    Best regards,

    Bob B

  • Hi Bob,

    Thanks for your info, it is really helpful. After going through the materials, I've got more questions:

    1) What's the difference between MSC1210EVM and MSC1210-DAQ-EVM? My project needs only 3x 20bits ADC for pressure and temperature measurement, the rest would settle with 12 bits resolution. Hence which EVM is more suitable?

    2) Is Bicep8051 a good emulator? Have some shortfalls of Hitex AX51 being solved in this one? I was told by my colleague that there are shortfall of Hitex emulator, eg. auxiliary interrupt is not corretly masked and cause problem with single stepping, processor clock frequency cannot be set lower than 11MHz.

    3) Have you ever tested MSC12010 with Bicep in P0/P2 (Softhooks) and POD mode?

    4) Bicep told me that they have stopped support for MSC family. I wonder if I could continue get the info/support from you?

    Thanks in advance!

    Rgds,

    Andrew 

  • Andrew,

    The MSC1210EVM is a full EVM with external memory, 2 UART connections, and full access to all ports of the MSC1210, and includes a connector for the emulator.  It also has a small prototyping area on the board as well.  The DAQ version is a stripped down version and is powered via a RS232 connection.  Analog inputs are the only connections available outside of the RS232 connection.  It is about the size of a USB memory stick.  In either case you will have to manufacturer your own boards as neither are in production by TI.  The user guides and schematics are on the ftp site for you to see the differences.

    As far as the emulators, I really haven't used either the BICEPS or the Hitex.  One of my colleagues tested out the BICEPS, but that is a number of years ago and he really doesn't recall much about it.  It sounds like your colleague knows more about the emulators than I do.  I have one of the BICEPS, but have never used it.  As it is a third party product we do not support it, and as I mentioned earlier, we have very limited resources to support the MSC devices themselves.  The only information I have on the BICEPS is found on the ftp site:

    ftp://ftp.ti.com/pub/data_acquisition/MSC_CD-ROM/BicWin/

    I have no idea if the software/dll will work on anything other than Windows XP.

    Best regards,

    Bob B

  • Hi Bob,

    Since you're not using BICEPS anymore, I wonder could you look around and see if there are EVMs sitting around, get it and bundle them together and sell it to me?

    Beside this, I wonder do you have small and efficient error detection/correction code for TI 8 bits controller? I'm thinking of implementing it on my SPI channel, which is used to communicate with FPGA, and I wouldn't want it to overload my poor 8 bit controller. 

    Rgds,

    Andrew

  • Andrew,

    Can you click on my name and start a conversation with me?  Start a conversation is on the upper right portion of the page.

    Thanks,

    Bob B