Hi

Hi there! :)

I'll go delete the off-topic comments on that post so we don't get moderator wrath

I'm too curious to stay away :D

:-)

I'll do that too, then

OK so here's the thing with the MSP430 family...

Although, the moderators on this site are quite understanding

Terrific pricing for dev boards, pretty reasonable (could be better) technical responses on forum posts on E2E...

But pathetic mass public response considering the basic launchpad board is a mere $4.30 including shipping world-wide.

Also, the flash is a bit too little on the G2 family, which the launchpad uses.

I've ordered the Lauchpad, but haven't use it yet

It looks great for $5, with shipping included

I have about 15 of the MSP430 LaunchPads, a few of the piccolo launchpads, and my current favorite, the Stellaris Launchpad.

That last is really hefty power at an amazingly low price. It's an Arm M4 chip, superb board, awesome.

How come you paid $5 for it? Where did you buy it from?

@AnindoGhosh yeah.. they have very little Flash, but I think they serve a particular set of application

those low power, low cost & simple application

Their whole marketing stance is about pricing it at 4.30 because it is the 430.

Did you buy from somewhere other than estore.ti.com ?

@AnindoGhosh Actually, yes, I paid $4.30. I just round that up cu 5 :)

ahh ok.

I had preordered the Stellaris launchpads, a few of them, and I am truly impressed.

Leaves the Arduino Mega2560 in the dust (obviously) for a much lower price than even the chinese clone arduinos

@AnindoGhosh I bet they loose money on those dev boards

I was told by the TI marketing head for India that they lose money on all samples due to shipping, but they actually break even on the launchpads

Because with the volumes they manufacture, cost per unit comes in under $1

@AnindoGhosh $1? that's almost unbelievable. Wow

And their shipping contract with FedEx costs them barely $3 for the FedEx small-box.

Remember, a lot of the components are their own products, so pricing is essentially wafer + package cost

That's good. I like the Launchpads more than the Arduinos, even though I haven't used any of them yet

I would like the launchpad a lot more if there were an active public community like arduino.cc

Arduino has such a hideous IDE, IMO

Oh, I agree. What makes the Arduino a success is not the IDE, but the massive public engagement.

Which won't happen for the MSP430 until Energia is a bit more stable (yes, that's the Arduino IDE cloned over for the MSP).

@AnindoGhosh Then I sure won't use the Energia IDE :D

While I've used everything from TurboPascal to Visual C++ to Borland C to VisualBasic for DOS, many newcomers to MCUs have no computing / developer background at all.

The ability to just select a Blink sample from the menu and make it run is a huge ease-of-entry factor.

Actually I'm looking forward to Energia's success, the reason being that a bunch of Arduino fans will then move over to the much cheaper MSP430 and carry their code and their ideas over with them.

That should raise community like nothing else.

@AnindoGhosh Yes, I agree; for newcommers it's a good thing. I, for one, like it close to the metal, just pure C

I have to admit I like being able to google pretty much any random sensor or IC I want to interface with the MCU,

and find Arduino code or libraries for it, along with all the newbie mistakes others made trying to use it.

If the user-base consists of experts, on the other hand, they don't blog about basic mistakes so much. Hence, every new experimenter, however much of an EE expert, ends up re-making some mistakes.

@AnindoGhosh That sounds good, but aren't you annoyed if you try to use more then one libraries and they come with all kind of incompatibilities?

My current big pain point with the MSP430 family is the lack of cheap MOSFETs I can switch directly with 3.3 Volts.

Well, I rarely use libraries directly, my preferred model is to look at the code, figure out all the gotchas and work-arounds, and then either rewrite, or copy-paste to my liking.

So I don;t recall having seen any incompatibilities at the library level.

I see

At the shield level, hell yeah, it's always a mess due to pin battles.

Do you have any insights on (really cheap like the 2n7000) low-current MOSFETs that can be driven at 3.3 Volts?

@AnindoGhosh Yeah, there aren't many 'logic-level' MOSFETs largely available, but then.. there are the good ol' BJTs

I somehow prefer 2n7000 type stuff because I never have to bother about biasing or junction voltage range etc.

@AnindoGhosh Not really, sorry. I'm more of a 5V guy, at least at the moment. Once I get into the MSP430, I expect I'll have the same problem :)

Just slam one into the board, put a 100 ohm gate resistor, drive it with logic high, and I'm home free.

I think that deserves to be a question on the site - Cheap substitute for 2n7000 for 3.3 Volt logic MCUs.

let's say cheap and robust substitute. The 7000 is almost anything-proof.

@AnindoGhosh Yes, good idea. I've seen some people recommend some logic-level MOSFETs, but I couldn't find the posts if I needed too

OK, I'll put up a question.

What is keeping you from starting to use the Launchpads?

@AnindoGhosh The fact that most of my existing boards, components are for the 5V and laziness :)

Bidirectional level switcher ICs. 1-bit and 8-bit ones. Not expensive. Buy them by the dozen. :-) But not ideal when component count becomes a constraint.

@AnindoGhosh Just make sure how you phrase the question, so it doesn't sound like a shopping question..

Yes, that's why I'm not rushing into it. I'll think through and structure a good question after dinner or in the morning.

I'll make sure to upvote it

:-)

What are the type of projects you do? My company primarily consults in ultrasonic systems for chemical and oil refining industries.

We are pure design consultants, prototype built and we're gone.

NOT ultrasonic cleaning.

Okie, dinner's on the table, I need to go before the wife gets upset.

Nice chatting with you, and I'm going to keep this room open.

@AnindoGhosh That sounds very interesnting; I'm involved in simpler projects. Right now I'm working on a big LED display, controllable through RF

Oh cool! I'm keen to know more. Perhaps after half an hour.

@AnindoGhosh Sure, we'll talk latter

@AnindoGhosh Actually latter than that. I have to go to a soccer match :-)

Sorry, I have to go out.

Thanks for all your insight! :-) Hope we'll talk again soon

Hi again, I'm back, and it was great chatting with you.

Catch you again when you're around and free. :-0

How long has this room been around for? :D