Connected LaunchPad TM4C129 Tiva C Series

The Connected LaunchPad Tiva C Series TM4C129 is a new development platform from Texas Instruments based on the powerful TM4C129.

It is based on the 120MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 TM4C1294NCPDT microcontroller with 1 MB of flash and 256 KB of SRAM. Connected because the MCU includes a 10/100 Ethernet MAC and PHY.

The board also includes four LEDs, one reset plus two buttons and a built-in debugger. The board comes with a USB cable and a retractable Ethernet cable.

There are two major differences with the previous LaunchPad boards:

the board provides room for two 40-pin BoosterPacks, and
all the pins from the MCU are accessible through the 96 pins.

Two 40-pin BoosterPacks, Ethernet, USB and 96 pins

Software

The IDE or integrated development environment is called Energīa.

It is derived from Arduino 1.0. As Processing-based Wiring-derived Arduino-like, it is platform-agnostic and runs on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.

The Connected LaunchPad requires Energia release 12, which comes with a large set of examples including Ethernet connectivity.

The Connected LaunchPad is also supported by embedXcode, embedded computing on Xcode.

Other professional IDEs are also available: CCS based on Eclipse, Keil, IAR, Sourcery CodeBench.

SPI, I²C and Serial Pins

The Connected LaunchPad provides the usual SPI, I²C, Serial ports plus one Ethernet port.

Find the pins maps for the Connected LaunchPad on Energia, front, rear and X11 connector.

The Connected LaunchPad is aggressively priced at USD20 and offers a fast and powerful MCU.

Energia brings an easy and safe introduction to this board, including Ethernet applications.

However, projects leveraging all the resources brought by the TM4C129 may require more powerful development tools, IDE and framework, than Energia.

As usual, Texas Instruments provides a full on-line training workshop for this board, called Creating IoT Solutions with the TM4C1294XL Connected LaunchPad Workshop.

The workshop combines documents, videos and hands-on activities for a nice introduction to this board, including the MCU, and its applications, including LCD and Ethernet.

I've followed the similar workshops designed for the MSP430 and the Stellaris LaunchPad. I really appreciated them: they are of great quality and worth the investment in time.

The Ethernet section, with the connector,
activity and link LEDs, reset and wake buttons

Pros

120 MHz MCU with 1 MB flash and 256 KB SRAM, Ethernet MAC and PHY for less than USD20
Very nice ready-to-use package with USB cable and retractable Ethernet cable
All MCU pins accessible
Large offer in IDEs: 4 professional IDEs from Texas Instruments, Arduino-like Energia, and embedXcode

Cons

Too powerful for Energia?
No SD-card slot

Wrap-Up

Tremendous value at USD20
A perfect cost-effective introduction to Ethernet with 32-bit MCU
Room for two BoosterPacks
Great on-line training workshop