The history of MSP430 core

Tomas Jira

Hello, are you guys aware of any resources about the origin of MSP430 core, like who and why started the project, who developed it, what engineering constrains were in place, what inspired the designer(s), what the original TSS400 were intended for and who designed these, etc.?

Like, there are tons of info about the Intel's 8080, MOSTEK's 6502 and other famous cores, with names, dates and interesting stories, but for sdome reason almost nothing is known about TI's MCU and DSP cores design history.

over 2 years ago

0 Eason Zhou over 2 years ago

TI__Mastermind 39775 points

Can you tell me why you are intersting on the history of MSP430 core?

Most of this information is treated as NDA.

0 Tomas Jira over 2 years ago in reply to Eason Zhou

Prodigy 60 points

Hello, I'm just curious.

I've spent most of my active career designing with ADI and TI DSPs, and now that I've left the trade, I realize that while I know them quite thoroughly, I know mostly nothing about their history. I thought it would be a nice topic for at least an article, if not a book. However, if TI considers such information confidential, I can live with that.

Many thanks for explaining.

0 Eason Zhou over 2 years ago in reply to Tomas Jira

TI__Mastermind 39775 points

I remove some of the information in the history map:

The key target to make MSP430 is that to reach lowest power for all blocks.

0 Derek over 2 years ago in reply to Eason Zhou

Mastermind 9802 points

I too am curious as to the back story of the original MSP430. It seems kind of ridiculous that this is treated as NDA material, given that it happened 30 years ago. It would be good to capture, just as part of technology history. We all know what they did, we're just curious *why* they did it. I found a few pieces of information, namely that it started from something called the TSS400. Below is some background information but this is all secondhand; it would be great to know more.

www.embedded.com/.../