Eons ago when the MSP430 was getting a hold in the hobbyist world, the cost of the Launchpad was $4.30. This was on June 23rd, 2010 when the post – TI MSP430 Launchpad for $4.30, was published.
Although we would love that TI would carry on the tradition with the new Launchpad at $4.32, the price of $12.99 is pretty reasonable, considering the amount of board you get compared to the “A” world. It even includes an on-board emulator with EnergyTrace+ Technology, which means you can program and debug your projects without the need for additional tools, while also measuring total system energy consumption.
Board Features
- Low-power, high performance MSP432P401R MCU
- 48MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex M4F with Floating Point Unit and DSP acceleration
- Power consumption: 95uA/MHz active, and 850nA RTC standby operation
- Analog: 24Ch 14-bit differential 1MSPS SAR ADC, Two Comparators
- Digital: Advanced Encryption Standard (AES256) Accelerator, CRC, DMA, HW MPY32
- Memory: 256KB Flash, 64KB RAM
- Timers: 4 x16-bit, and 2 x 32-bit
- Communication: Up to 4 I2C, 8 SPI, 4 UART
- 40 pin BoosterPack Connector, and support for 20 pin BoosterPacks
- Onboard XDS-110ET emulator featuring EnergyTrace+ Technology
- 2 buttons and 2 LEDs for User Interaction
- Back-channel UART via USB to PC
The MSP432 allows you to get the best of both worlds – MSP430 and a Cortex M4F on a single chip. Would this make you gravitate towards the new chip more than the MSP430? Speak your mind in the comments below.
Links for the impatient:
- Buy the MSP432P401R Launchpad from TI
- MSP432 Quick Start Guide
- TI’s EnergyTrace+ Technology
This seems to be one good kit. Does CCS already come with support built in for the MSP432?
Yes, if you have Code Composer Studio, goto Help->Check for updates.
CCS will download the latest updates and board support files.
Haha! Those were the $4.30 days. I remember getting 5 kits and still use them in odd end projects. It is way way cheaper than the Arduino, especially with Energia integration.
Will this have Energia support? If it does, then I’m ready to switch to the Launchpad ecosystem.
Yes! Stay tuned. Our TI sources say something big is coming up on the Energia end too!
It will be supported in Energia 15+.
http://energia.nu/pin-maps/guide_msp432p401r/
Current version of Energia is 14.
I’m seriously comtemplating to get one. The MSP432 will allow me to get the best of both worlds – low power profiles as well as processing power, not to mention floating point support.
This seriously beats the Arduino in terms of entry level boards with on-board debug support. No fiddling around with bootloading – What a pain!
Shouldn’t be “Black is the New Red” ?
Nice looking board, looking to get one very soon…
I like that it’s $12.99 or £10 in the UK, but I can only find it at Mouser.com, you then get a £12 carriage charge…which kind of defeats the object of a cheap board.
I hope TI look into this supply chain as seems like an issue to me.
How Can we increase the number of analog channels in MSP432 Microcontroller from 24 to 48 or more.