Apologies for anyone reading as I haven't been as diligent as I'd like in updating the blog, but we have some relatively exciting updates. First, we have another presentation coming up next week, so stay tuned for that in a bit. Next, we have some cool project updates on the agenda I'd like to discuss.
First, we have Jorel's prototype experimenter board. They boast improved functionality and robust features not available to the normal msp430 board, and initial plans show it to be quite feasible financially. There will definitely be a lot of exciting developments brewing with this project, so keep your eyes peeled. Pictures and feature descriptions will follow forthwith in another post. Also, as a side note, Jorel is also the eponymous purveyor of lalicki.com, a journey through time, space, and electronics, with notes on some of his insane projects (check out his cnc machine and the stereo amp). The site is under construction, so mind the dust and bits, but once complete I'd like this blog to serve as a little gateway to lalicki-land.
Second, I'd like to talk about some developments and problems in working with the msp430 (one of which Jorel's board solves). As a successor to my software UART for educational purposes on the operation of serial communication, I have implemented a basic hardware UART on the msp430. I feel for practical projects, this is the best choice. Using this, instead of keeping track of your bits yourself, one can simply load a byte into the TX buffer, and it handles the timer and data behavior. All you need to do is set up the right conditions (which was slightly annoying, I should probably write a little something about that). I've gotten a gain of about 4x the data (9600 up from 2400 baud @ 1MHz. 19200 was spotty, I kept getting something like "hello wldr%". I think boosting the clock will allow me to boost the data rate cleanly). Anyway, the final product is a very modular code for implementing a reasonably fast hardware UART, a very good development in my book. The example python script I wrote for it can send and receive from the launchpad (currently all it does is echo "hello, world" very, very quickly, but it has more functionality. I am also putting the UART to use in my current applications, Arduino sensors.
I have some common Arduino-ish robotics sensors that I'd like to make msp-compatible, so 430-ites have access to common robotics sensors. Currently, I have an ultrasonic range-finder program working, msp430-style. It is heavily interrupt driven, and can spend quite a bit of time in Low-Power Mode 3, LPM3 (basically the point of the msp430, has a real-time clock and all interrupts active using an incredibly low amount of power). It intermittently sends out pulses until it "locks on" to an object or obstacle, then scans faster to get more accurate data. I'm planning on using it for a mouse control for our second presentation (same gimmick, I know, but I like it). I like the different coding style compared to Arduino, it gives the msp430 a distinct flavor and spiciness about it, even if power conservation is not totally necessary. However, it was a nightmare to get working initially, and that will be discussed with the details on Jorel's board in the post "Why My Things Didn't Work, How Jorel's Board Fixed it, and Why I'm not Allowed in Estonia Anymore" (just kidding, its not called that, Estonia and I are still on speaking terms). Stay tuned for this and more.
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