Recommendations for MSP430 dev system

Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2005-02-07, larwe@larwe.com <larwe@larwe.com> wrote:
>
> > * Your MSP430 toolchain will be specific to the MSP430. An ARM
>
> Gcc is free for both of them.

Of course; but I was using the broader sense of "toolchain" covering
the debug interface H/W and also the EVB. If he has a generic ARM JTAG
interface it's probably going to support a lot more chips than just
those from one vendor.

Tom Loredo wrote:

> Hi folks,

...
  posts in this forum the MSP430 is my current (tentative) choice.
> 
> An opinions on whether the move to 16 bits is sensible (stay
> at 8? move on to ARM/32 bits?) would be welcome, as would
> suggestions of other families.  Speed is not a major factor
> as the MCU will be used primarily for interfacing.  Low power
> may play a role, but I haven't yet settled on whether battery
> power is a sensible option for this project so low power may
> not prove important in the end.
>



Hallo Tom,

As Jim said, it depends on what you are looking for.

One imortant thing to note about the MSP's is that there is no device
with an external bus interface. Adding more memory (RAM/ROM) is nearly
impossible.

The MSP's are a good choice for a well defined single chip application
where power consumption is critical and where most of its periphereal modules
can be used to reduce the number of external components.

For tools, MSP-GCC in combination with KDevelop and and a FET can be
recommended. Total cost: < 100 USD + some grey hair for setting up and
making it all work. But it is really worth the effort.

Regards
Markus Mandl

My thanks to everyone for some very helpful advice.  I'm still
making my decision, but with more data and insight than I had
a week ago!

Cheers,
Tom

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