MSP430 WOLVERINE development kit

aBUGSworstnightmare said:

- are there any details so far?

However, the Wolverine promo article contains an interesting information:

"The MSP430F58xx, the inital Wolverine devices, will contain 64k FRAM".

This contains two interesting statements. First, of course, the large amount of 64k FRAM, which is four times as much as the current FR57xx.
Less obvious on first glance, but more important, is that the Wolverine will be sorted into the MSP430 family and won't be an independent processor family (successor of the MSPs). This means that experience gained with MSPs can be used for the Wolverines too.

Hi Folks,

Good to see this discussed on Guru level! From the measurement results we have seen so far it is totally worth it.

Yes - as stated by Jens-Michael - the Wolverine platform integrates well into the MSP430 family. 'Platform' refers to the technology that the devices will be based on. Knowledge gained on other MSP430 parts can be applied. 

For more information stay tuned: We expect samples in June 2012 and will have more details by then.

Regards, Dietmar

Hi Dietmar,

thanks for answering! Keep us posted on the progress.

And: a look what's behind the curtain s always welcome ;-)!

aBUGSworstnightmare

Based on my (rather theoretical) experiences with the FR chips, there are two main 'problems' with the current FRAM devices.

First, FRAM is rather slow. On the FR57xx, it doesn't go beyond 8MHz and requires waitstates above. Even if prefetching and caching is used, this breaks calculations on hand-crafted timed code.
The other problem is the incompatible approach of dynamic use of data and program storage. Normally, the linker assignes code space bottom-up in the flash area and same for variables in the ram area. With the dynamic assignment of program and data storage, a different linker strategy is required, and also some additional configuration is needed, e.g. in the startup code. This breaks compatibility with existing compilers/linkers beyond adding just a new linker script or include file. So it will take some time until the FRAM chips will be fully integrated.

considering these two things, putting the stack in FRAM area, as reportedly done by CCS/IAR, is plain stupid, as it slows down any push/pop/call/ret/ISR or local variable operation down to 8MHz CPU operation.

I hope there will be some improvement on this for the Wolverines.

Does the fact that wolverine is a part or successor of msp mean that other controllers like cc430 might get it too ?

Up for the CC430 Wolverine edition ! Any insight coming from a TI employee on this ?

Anyone heard any updates on Wolverine's release?  I'll admit it has me drooling a bit (almost as much as the Stellaris launchpad...)

Eric Brundick said:

Anyone heard any updates on Wolverine's release?  I'll admit it has me drooling a bit (almost as much as the Stellaris launchpad...)

Jason Work said:

You can evaluate the samples using the MSP-FET430U48C kit

Also,"The MSP-FET430UIF development tools supports development with all MSP430 FRAM devices" should be extended by "and also supports all Flash-based MSP430 devices" (assuming it is the same MSP-FET430UIF as used for normal MSP development)

Jens-Michael Gross said:

Also,"The MSP-FET430UIF development tools supports development with all MSP430 FRAM devices" should be extended by "and also supports all Flash-based MSP430 devices" (assuming it is the same MSP-FET430UIF as used for normal MSP development)

The FR5969 can be programmed with a standard FET430UIF if it's updated to firmware 3.0 as used with CCS5.  I've also tested this with mspdebug on Linux using the tilib driver.  Sometimes mspdebug makes me add the '--allow-fw-update' option, but this seems non-destructive and is required only once per session.

I believe but will not assert that the FET430UIF firmware 2.x does not work with these MCUs.

Good catch Jens-Michael!

The MSP-FET430UIF is the same as for flash devices and can absolutely be used for FRAM MSP430s too. Just a copy and paste mistake that got overlooked on our end. Thanks for letting us know, I will have it fixed.

Also note that you can order the kit on eStore already, so the preview status is no longer valid. Will have that fixed too.

Regards, Dietmar

aBUGSworstnightmare said:

just seen this blog at  http://www.43oh.com/2012/02/fresh-new-msp430-wolverine-dev-kit-with-lcd-boosterpack/

Questions:

- are there any details so far?
- what is the estimated release date?

The upcoming MSP-EXP430FR5969 has now been added to digikey.

Hi guys, 

Rather than create a new post I thought I might as well drag up this one. I don't suppose any more news has trickled down on the rumoured Wolverine Launchpad? I have a project on which may benefit from it, but I haven't seen much news on it for the past year.

Regards,
Alan 

Digikey says February 2014. Mouser says it's "Obsolete".

There must be some runes in there somewhere.

Hello!

Thanks for your interest in this board.

We are most definitely still making it :) We will be launching it early next year and you will be hearing more from us in Jan 2014.

It will be offered as a bundle with a SHARP LCD booster pack.

So stay tuned!

Regards,

Priya

PS: you can send me an offline note if you have more questions

Thanks for your reply, good to know its still in the works. Looks like I'll be looking into the MSP430F5529 LP instead :)

Until the Wolverine Launchpad comes out, here is the higher priced Wolverine board:

http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-fet430u48c

It is still January - will the Launchpad be announced by tomorrow?

aBUGS,

We are working on launching this very soon in the next 3-4 weeks.

Please stay tuned.

Regards,

Priya

All:

It looks like the FRAM board has now been added: http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/launchpads-msp430.html#tabs

Hi,

The red boards of MSP-EXP430FR5969 Rev 1.6 has a ezFET Rev 1.0,

while the green one Rev 1.4 has a ezFET Rev 1.0 with Energy Trace.

The hardware layout looks similar.

Does anyone know what "Energy Trace" is?

Jan

Jan,

Energy Trace refers to a software we are testing for the FR5969 platform that is currently in the alpha phase.

You will be hearing more from us on this topic in June.

Stay tuned!

PS: The red FR5969 launchpads are the latest ones and you should receive these if you have ordered via the TI estore.

Regards,

Priya

Hi Priya,

As I need to build a simple current monitoring for a low power uC system, I did have a look at the schematic of MSP-EXP430FR5969 and couldn't find any current sensing circuitry.

Can you give me a hint where should I look?

As well speaking of current sensing/power monitoring, can you recommend a solution and/or a TI devices to use?

I would like to have a build-in power monitor for WSN mote based on MSP430FR5969. The current range would be from a few uA to a tens of mA.

Regards

Jan

Take a look at the Launch Pad Eval Kit manual (slau535.pdf) - on page 11, it shows that J9 is the jumper to be removed when measuring current.

Hopefully, that helps.

EnergyTrace++ is something the world lacked so much! thank you TI!! If not for this, I would be still dreaming of measuring values I wanted to document.

Hi Priya,

I am tuned as well, but maybe I am on a wrong frequency.

I can see some output if only EnergyTrave is enabled, but nothing if EnergyTrace+[CPU State}+{Periphera States] is enabled.

Regards

Jan

Hi Jan,

Which board/tool are you using? Is it the MSP-EXP430FR5969 Launchpad?

If it is the FR5969 Launchpad, which revision number is on the Launchpad? Please see Will's post for more info on why I am asking: http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/p/350411/1229015.aspx#1229015

Regards,

Katie

Hi Katie,

I have a number of MSP-EXP430FR5969 Launchpads, all of them Rev. 1.6

I have not received any notification about replacement as stated under the link, you provided.

"Customers that purchased an MSP-EXP430FR5969 LaunchPad prior to June 24, 2014 have the opportunity to receive a free replacement via an email notification that will come from TI. For customers that choose to receive a replacement, please note it may take up to 90 days for the EnergyTrace-enabled MSP-EXP430FR5969 LaunchPad to be delivered."

And of course I would like to replace all my FR5969 Launchpads without EnergyTrace fo the one with EnergyTrace-enabled.

Jan

please note my reply in the previous thread mentioed by Katie,

 here is it for your easiness, 

in a nutshell, 

EnrgyTrace will work with any MSP430 device if it has second-generation on-board eZ-FET flash emulation tool or a  second-generation standalone MSP-FET JTAG emulator.

EnrgyTrace++  works only with specific MSP430 MCUs. currently MSP430FR58xx and MSP430FR59xx as they have additional silicon in them to suport the features. 

The question I have is how  to figure if the eZ-FET in the launchpad is first or second gen.

hope this helps.

Amalinda said:

The question I have is how  to figure if the eZ-FET in the launchpad is first or second gen.

Simple: first generation uses an overclocked MSP430F1612 and a TUSB USB/serial bridge, while second generation uses an USB-enabled 5x family processor and no bridge chip. Not to mention the additional hardware for the energy measurement.

I received an email regarding my 5969 Launchpad today. Thanks, William and TI.

I received the follow-up email last week, and my Energy-Trace 5969 Launchpad is on order.

Thanks again, William, and TI.