FRAM:The Future of Embedded Memory for 50% off!

Good!

I already ordered one on 5/11/2011 (order#48069). Nothing in sight yet.

old_cow_yellow said:

I already ordered one on 5/11/2011 (order#48069). Nothing in sight yet.

Looks nice. (in fact, it somehow looks like the picture in this original post :) ) but I haven't played with it yet. No time.

The link in the opening post contains an incorrect href (it leads to Outlook Web Access).

Very cool and exciting.  If you ever make one that's 5V/16Mhz and added a gyro with the accelerometer there would be a large hobby base that would buy them up.

Thanks for the heads up! The link has been fixed to redirect to the appropriate page.

OCY,

Feel free to send me an email @ adrian-fernandez@ti.com and I'll try and dig up your order number. We definitely have them in stock, so I'll get this fixed for you!

Thanks,
AdrianF 

Just bought 2 of them. One probably will be used for the R2D2 droid I started to build.

It would be great if you could add a gyro to the board 2.0 :)

Best Regards

Enrico Colautti

Positive Software

Hi there,

@OCY --> Hi there! Why don't to take the chance anr re-order (one or two or even more)? Ordered mine yesterday morning and got the shipping confirmation yesterday evening. If Fedex delivers in time I will have them at hand on Monday.

@Enrico --> Hi Enrico, buy a Wii motion plus controller (i.e http://www.amazon.com/Wii-MotionPlus-Nintendo/dp/B001TOQ8NO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1308407989&sr=8-2), slaugther it (excellent video on http://www.multiwiicopter.com/pages/videos, look here for details on it: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wiimote/Extension_Controllers) and hook it up to the I2C port of your MSP430. The cheapest gyro you can get! Adding it to your experimenter board will result in a 6DOF board! 

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare 

Is there some reason that the clock crystal isn't soldered onto the board, or alternatively that they couldn't use a though-hole crystal instead of surface mount?  

I'm a hobbyist, not a professional, and I'm not set up to do surface-mount soldering at home, and this was a real problem with the Launchpad board.

If they can't ship with the crystal installed for RoHS reasons, the way they don't install LDRs, that's fine, but through-hole would be much easier.

^^Hi Bill,

Here is the link for the manual:

http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/slau343/slau343.pdf

You can see that it has the option for both SMD and through-hole.  Hope that helps.

Hi Bill Albrant,

the MSP430FR5739 can run at up to 24MHz! Yes, it is a 3.6V (max) device, but where's the problem? When you need to connect it to 5V peripherals you can use level shifters i.e. like the TXS0104E (4-bit OD) or SN74CB3T1G125 (1-bit); find an overview here: http://focus.ti.com/paramsearch/docs/parametricsearch.tsp?familyId=338&family=analog&uiTemplateId=NODE_STRY_PGE_T).

You can add a gyro by yourself (see my post above). If you want to have a 'high-end' device you should have a look at Sensor Dynamics SD746 (http://www.sensordynamics.cc/cms/cms.php?pageId=73) - a 3D accelerometer with a 3D gyro in one package!

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare 

Hi aBUGSworstnightmare,

The link you provided (http://www.multiwiicopter.com/pages/videos) is the exact hobby that I was referring to that would capture a lot of interest if the board were5V/16Mhz.  I guess I should of said, very cool and exciting board and will you make a compact all-in-one IMU with at least 6DOF that will run in a 5V environment.  I will try this in a native 3V environment someday to see if it'll work with the ESC's but as of now 5V is it for this hobby.

REF: http://www.multiwii.com/

Bill Albrant said:

I will try this in a native 3V environment someday to see if it'll work with the ESC's but as of now 5V is it for this hobby.

Your ESC will work with 3.6V too; most of the 2.4GHz receivers work with 3.6V; your sensors work with 3.6V (that's why the Arduino needs level shifters)  --> so, there's no need for a 5V design.

By the way: The ATmega32 needs to be supplied with 5V to run at 16MHz (only 8MHz at 3.6V). 

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare 

Bill Albrant said:

that will run in a 5V environment

Also, most sensors are quite happy with 3.3V supply voltage.

Our own projects are mixed 5V/3.6V projects, where the interface parts are 5V based and the MSP (and almost only the MSP) has its own 3.6V step-down regulator. In a few critical situations, I use a diode and a pullup on the inputs.

I built a micro/nano quadcopter using  TI MSP430 RF2500 boards. In my quadcopter, the TI board interact with the regular off the shelves RC gears (receiver, gyros, servos, ESCs). I didn't have to convert any voltage and they worked.

Hmmm, that store is unable to deal with umlauts and where do I apply the discount code ?

Hi Stephan,

as you know TI is an US company --> they don't know about UMLAUTS! So, you need to use a standard character set.

You need to apply for the discount code on the page were you enter your credit card number (see below).

Rgds (Gruss aus Muenchen)
aBUGSworstnightmare

Hi Adrian,

can you pls provide the exact part number for the Samtec TFM series connectors (http://www.samtec.com/documents/webfiles/pdf/TFM_SM.PDF) mounted on the MSP-EXP430FR5739?

The BOM doesn't contain the information on RF1/RF2.

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare

Thanh H Tran said:

I built a micro/nano quadcopter using  TI MSP430 RF2500 boards. In my quadcopter, the TI board interact with the regular off the shelves RC gears (receiver, gyros, servos, ESCs). I didn't have to convert any voltage and they worked.

Hi Thanh,

this tiny little gem is quite cool! Did you post the sources in the forum too?

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare

Hi a BUGSworstnightmare (like this nick),

that's lame. I know american firms who know umlauts and those aren't in the IT business. It's just one in the street name, should arrive even without those dots. I'll give it a go, shipping costs will probably scare me away.

Thanks (Grüße aus Essen)

Hi Stephan,

you don't need to pay shipping cost! Fedex Express shipping is included!

Gruss

aBUGSworstnightmare

aBUGSworstnightmare said:

Hi Stephan,

you don't need to pay shipping cost! Fedex Express shipping is included!

Gruss

aBUGSworstnightmare

Which actually could mean - cheaper prices from cheaper shipping - right? (Not that it isn't cheap enough)...

Perhaps there is a marketing reason behind using FedEx - the sooner they get it in the hands of those who can develop for it, the sooner it penetrates the market...?

LOL Website temporarily not available... 

Stephan Goldenberg said:

that's lame. I know american firms who know umlauts and those aren't in the IT business.

Jens-Michael Groß

Thanks aBugs.

Yes the source code is available at http://code.google.com/p/simple-flight-controller/. It's also linked in the forum.

-Thanh

Jens-Michael Gross said:

Since my name (normally) contains one, I know what I'm talking about :)

Jens-Michael Groß

Are you that swimming ace from the past ? :) Not acceptable, I wouldn't buy there and let them know.

I gave up on ordering here, looks like b2b to me. I'm asked for my company URL and some other stuff I don't even understand what they're asking for.  

Hi Stephan,

you don't need to provide a company URL; simply type N/A and everything is fine!

What are the other things that you don't understand?

aBUGSworstnightmare

AdrianF,
Thanks for the offer: “OCY, Feel free to send me an email @ adrian-fernandez@ti.com and I'll try and dig up your order number. We definitely have them in stock, so I'll get this fixed for you!” But no thanks, I will just let it sit in Limbo and rot. This actually saved me $29 (; or 50% of it ;) See below.

ABUGSworstnightmare,
I took your suggestion: “@OCY --> Hi there! Why don't to take the chance anr re-order (one or two or even more)?” And the new order is received.

bill stewart,
I agree with you. TI could have soldered the 32768Hz crystal on the PCB. But I found that it is very easy to solder this crystal. I used to do a little soldering of though-hole parts some 40 years ago. I have never tried to solder surface-mount parts. However, it did not take much effort to solder the crystal TI shipped. The two contacts are pre-formed wires, totally exposed for soldering. I needed proper lighting and my reading glasses (I have cataract) and it took me ~10 seconds to solder it. A through-hole crystal would have been more difficult for me.

Stephan Goldenberg said:

Are you that swimming ace from the past

Stephan Goldenberg said:

I gave up on ordering here, looks like b2b to me

If you're from Germany, you can find some TI products at Reichelt electronics or Conrad. But not the whole portfolio.

Stephan Goldenberg said:

I'm asked for my company URL and some other stuff I don't even understand what they're asking for

aBUGSworstnightmare said:

Hi Stephan,

you don't need to provide a company URL; simply type N/A and everything is fine!

What are the other things that you don't understand?

aBUGSworstnightmare

Hi,

"Select your end equipment" and "Select your application". I chose 'Vacuum cleaner' and 'Consumer electronics' for now and that went through.

Cheers

PS: I've ordered two of the boards but the discount code worked only once. That's $21.50 per board including shipping, still a steal though...

Stephan Goldenberg said:

PS: I've ordered two of the boards but the discount code worked only once. That's $21.50 per board including shipping, still a steal though.

Hi Stephan,

well, as Adrain has written in his post this code will give you a 50% discount on ONE board, and you can use it as often as you want too.

When ordering two boards you will get 50% off on one board and you have to pay 100% for the second one.

SOLUTION: Place two (or even more) orders on one board and you will get a 50% discount on each!

CU
aBUGSworstnightmare 

Any idea when the MSP430FR5739 and family will be supported by GRACE?

--Joe

Hi Joe,

hopefully in the near future! Maybe Dave (David Friedland) can give us an answer on this!

Rgds
aBUGSworstnightmare 

WHOAA, that was quick. Delivery was faster than the ordering process. :-D

The positioning of the switches on the board is kind of disappointing, every time a switch is pressed (Reset, S1, or S2) it topples the board.  One has to use both the hands to operate the switches.

Regards

Arun

hi , is the 50% offer still holding up ?

Gurinder,

Unfortunately, that deal is over, but there are plenty more at tideals.com.  We try to have new deals every month.

Thanks,

Jacob

jborgeson said:

Gurinder,

Unfortunately, that deal is over, but there are plenty more at tideals.com.  We try to have new deals every month.

Thanks,

Jacob

tideals.com is down and has been already for a long time. Any news when a new offer will be available there?

Enrico