Product Brief

TI adds software ecosystem MSP430 16-bit MCUs

Colin Holland
12/13/2011 8:19 AM EST
Texas Instruments has expanded its Code Composer Studio integrated development environment (IDE) with access to software and design resources for use with its  MSP430 microcontrollers.

MSP430Ware has an intuitive graphical user interface which provides access MSP430 MCU information by device, tool or software library. Automatic web updates ensure  access the latest up to date information such as documentation, code examples, and project templates.

It provides access to existing software tools as well as new resources such as the MSP430 Driver Library which allows the configuration, enablement and use of MSP430F5xx and MSP430F6xx MCU peripherals through application programming interface (API) and simple function calls. This abstracted API library eliminates bitwise programming includes a detailed  guide for each function call for peripherals such as ADC, DACs, timers, and serial communication interfaces.

Also packaged within MSP430Ware are project templates for Grace 1.1, the most recent version of the Grace software platform, which enables developers to enable and configure MSP430 Value Line and MSP430F2xx device peripherals. The MSP430 USB Developer’s Package is also available, which includes all necessary APIs and examples to begin USB development.

MSP430Ware is also available as a standalone tool with resources to support other IDEs such as IAR Embedded Workbench for MSP430 devices, a commercial tool chain as well as MSPGCC, a free, open source GCC tool chain.

Click on image to enlarge.

The introduction of MSP430Ware follows a similar initiative which incorporated StellarisWare and C2000 ControlSUITE in to Code Composer Studio.

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EREBUS

12/13/2011 5:02 PM EST

I like the way these IDE's are making it easier to develop applications with microcontrollers. You still need to know what you are doing, but these interfaces are taking the tediousness out of the process. I hope we see other vendors follow TI's lead in their tools.

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Luis Sanchez

12/15/2011 4:46 PM EST

I see now that the MSP430 development is mainly to be done under the CodeComposer Studio IDE. What would be the pros and cons of using IAR Embedded Workbench instead of CodeComposer, which is better? I only know IAR’s so I can’t compare… does somebody out there know both?
It’s a great move to provide this as a stand alone to interface so that one can choose even among an open source chain of tools like the MSPGCC.

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Dr DSP

12/28/2011 3:36 PM EST

Most IDEs seem to have converged on a standard set of functions so differentiation will now be based on the free 'IP' bundled to initialize peripherals and ease code creation. Are there any standards established to make it easy to mix and match functions?

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ReneCardenas

12/31/2011 10:15 PM EST

My experience with other vendors attempts at creating an app that assisted with initialization & configuration has beeb buggy and painful to be kind.
So I would like to explore their latest incarnation, but my take is that a deeper knowledge of the hardware is always necessary at to really optimize code, and work all the bugs.

What GRACE does well is a first draft of exploration code (proof of concept).
I hope this latest version probes me wrong, but I won't hold my breath, or bet the ranch.

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