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TM4C1294NCPDT and MSP432E401Y - what is the difference?

Alexander Podshivalov
Intellectual 530 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP432E401Y, CC3200

Hello,

I am choosing an MCU for a new design and I am somewhat surprised that TI's portfolio includes two very similar Ethernet-capable MCUs, namely TM4C1294N and MSP432E401Y. The technical characteristics seem to be the same, the errata for MSP432E401Y contains just the same issues as the latest silicon revisions of TM4C1294N, the datasheets and TRMs are very similar. The MSP432E401 on the launchpad can run the code examples for TM4C1294N development kit - so what is the difference between them? Only the software support (TivaWare for TM4C and Simplelink SDK for MSP432)?

  • 0
    TI__Guru 64491 points
    Hello,

    While they share the same Arm core, the MSP432E4 MCUs are part of the SimpleLink MCU platform, enabling customers to leverage the same software platform when designing a gateway with MSP432E4 and seamlessly add wireless connectivity with SDK plug-ins, reusing their knowledge and application code on the sensor edge node development. The TM4C129 MCUs are not compatible with the SimpleLink MCU family, nor offer wireless connectivity compatibility.

    Hope that helps,
    Chris
  • 0 in reply to Chris Sterzik
    Intellectual 530 points
    I suppose that they share not just the core, but most of the peripherals - I was able to compare UART and Ethernet modules, and they seem to be the same.
  • 0 in reply to Alexander Podshivalov
    Expert 1335 points
    This question appears periodically and TI never gives a clear answer.

    As it appears to me, the only significant difference is the software in ROM. So, presumably, another software guy came up with another "brilliant" new idea, so they needed a new MCU...

    Apparently Tiva (TM4C) is having a hard time, and TI is moving it away from the direct line of sight of the new users. They moved them into the "Others" category in MCU section and you can't find any Tiva launchpad on the launchpads page the for already quite some time.

    So I wouldn't bet on Tiva if I'd look for an MCU for a new product.

    P.S.
    This is just a humble opinion from a random person which is might be (and most probably is) misleading and wrong.
  • 0 in reply to Andrejs Gasilovs
    Intellectual 530 points

    As the ROM driverlib seems to be the same, I suppose that Tiva firmware can be easily ported to MSP432E4 - but may be some other parts of the ROM are somewhat "improved". Anyway, I still can't find any differences, the new "TI Drivers" in Simplelink SDK are just another software layer over the "old and deprecated" Driverlib (something similar was with the transition from CC3200 to CC3220 in wireless series of Simplelink MCUs - while the peripherals are mostly the same, the SDK structure was completely changed, and the Driverlib was declared "deprecated").

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