Standalone MSP430G2955
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Texas Instruments has released new MCUs on the MSP430 value line.
The new flag ship is the MSP430G2955 with 56 KB of flash and 4 KB of RAM. Unfortunately, it comes in TSSOP package which makes it difficult to use with breadboards. Using a TSSOP to DIP adapter wasn't as difficult as I thought first. I used a clean soldering iron, some tape, 20x binoculars and a DSLR with a macro lens to check the solder points. Although the MSP430G2744 is said to come in DIP40 package, there's no information on the release date or a specific LaunchPad. Here are the pictures! |
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Back on the Game
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As the MSP430FR2433 LaunchPad seems to be the replacement of the MSP430G2553 LaunchPad, there is no more MCU available with the DIP or TSSOP form-factor, making access more difficult to hobbyists.
Fiver years later, the MSP430G2955 is making a come-back! I'm using a breadboard to get access to the pins of the DIP-adaptor. I've added the standard red LED on GPIO P1_0 and a RESET button. |
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I'm using an old MSP430G2 LaunchPad rev 1.4 as programmer-debugger. Only six cables are required: +3.3V, Ground, Test, Reset, RX and TX. I tried to use the MSP-FET Flash Emulator Tool but I didn't manage to get the right software.
An Energia implementation is available on the G2955 branch of the Energia repository. |
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Pins Map
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The MSP439G2955 shares ports on the same pins:
The pins map is available here. |
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Tests
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The first test was obviously the blinking LED and it worked as expected.
So does the Serial port, on a second test. |
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The third test was about the SPI bus.
The MSP430G2955 is connected to a Nokia 5110 screen through the SPI bus. |
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On the fourth test, I investigated the I²C bus with a 2-axis magnetometer and a 128x64 screen, both connected on the I²C bus.
For the screen, I reused my LCD_screen Library Suite and just added the driver for the specific controller. |
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Conclusion
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The MSP430G2955 is a welcome member on the LaunchPad family, with more RAM and Flash than the MSP430G2553. The TSSOP package made it relatively easy to solder on a DIP adaptor for use on a breadboard.
On the MSP430G2955, the I²C and SPI buses share the same pins 12 and 13. More modern MCUs like the MSP430FR2433 outcome this limitation, but only come in packages with no leads. Energia supports the MSP430G2955 with a dedicated branch, and so does embedXcode. |
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Links
This platform is supported by embedXcode, embedded computing on Xcode.
Posted: Apr 5, 2013
Updated: Apr 26, 2018; May 09, 2018; June 02, 2018
