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Compiler Limitations?

Paul Klapperich
Prodigy 170 points

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F5438, SIMPLICITI, MSP430F2274, Z-STACK

I swear when I downloaded IAR Kickstart the download page said it was limited to 16KB, but after adding just 1 additional function call to the ZASA demo that come with my EZ430-RF2480, I get a linker error referencing a 4KB limit (0x1000 bytes). Now I when search again, it seems that Kickstart is, indeed, limited to 4KB.

But then I found the eZ430-Chronos Development Tool PDF (slau292.pdf) which states in the FAQ that KickStart has a 16KB code size limit.

So what's going on? Is KickStart limited to 4KB for some target boards and 16KB for others? Did I just download the wrong version? (I have slac050v.zip). It's hard to do much experimentation with the RF2480 if adding a single function call can put it over the compiler limit. I was hoping to get a good feel for the functionality before running vastly different code on it.

-Paul

  • 0
    Guru 17650 points

    Hi,

    IAR kickstart is limited to 4kBytes for MSP430 and 8kBytes for MSP430X devices (http://supp.iar.com/Download/SW/?item=EW430-KS4). Have a look at TI CCS 4.x instead since it's free version is limited to 16kBytes (Microcontroller Core).

    Rgds
    aBUGSworstnightmare 

  • 0 in reply to Joerg Quinten
    Prodigy 170 points

    I'd accept that answer straight away, and indeed I already have started porting the ZAPI demo to CCS, but I'm still confused by this line in the ez430-Chronos developer guide:

    11. When I try to compile the source code with IAR KickStart, I get the following error:
       Fatal Error[e89]: Too much object code produced (more than 0x4000 bytes) for this package
    IAR KickStart currently has a 16KB code size limitation, and the project being compiled is larger than 16KB (0x4000 = 16384).

    This would indicate, at least to me, that KickStart supports up to 16KB for the ez430-Chronos and possibly other target boards or that there are multiple versions of Kickstart in circulation. Any clarity?

  • 0
    TI__Expert 4420 points

    hi Paul - IAR kickstart actually has 3 different code size limitations that depend on the device. In the case of the Chronos, it uses the 16KB limit so the documentation is correct.

    • 4KB – Traditional MSP430 devices
    • 8KB – MSP430X devices.  Currently, this is all devices with >64KB of Flash
    • 16KB – For some projects, that usually use RF or SimpliciTI, when using the MSP430F2274, CC430, or MSP430F5438(A).

    This is how large projects >8KB, like the Chronos or the eZ430-RF2500-SEH, still work with the IAR Kickstart.

  • 0 in reply to adrian
    Prodigy 170 points

    Thanks Adrian! So, the 16KB limit doesn't apply in my case (eZ430-RF2480), even though I'm using an MSP430F2274 with RF, because the ZigBee stack is handled by the CC2480 and not running on the MSP?

     

  • 0 in reply to Paul Klapperich
    TI__Expert 4420 points

    I'm not very familiar with the size of the app running on the RF2480, so i'm not sure if the 16KB limit is need, but I know that the program running on the MSP430F2274 in that case is actually very simple because (as you mentioned) the Z-Stack is actually on the CC2480.  It's very likely that that app fits under the 4KB limit.  If you generate a map file in IAR, it will tell you the size of the program. 

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