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I need to learn to program MSP430, but don't have the actual chip yet. All configurations that I've tried at Code Composer Studio (except Snapshot, but it does not count, right?) require something on my USB. How do I learn to program the chip without the chip?

And what is an emulator that requires a USB?

Irina Rapoport
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    you can get an msp430 launchpad for between $5 and $10. and yes there are simulators, but when you add code composer studio as a requirement that probably leaves you dry. Of course you dont have to integrate with the ide, you can have the ide build the binary then just execute that in a sim. – old_timer Mar 09 '14 at 17:41
  • I know I can get launchpad, but I need to learn it urgently. How much are the processors without launchpad btw? – Irina Rapoport Mar 09 '14 at 18:16
  • Can you recommend a simulator? I guess I'll bite the bullet and work without an IDE – Irina Rapoport Mar 09 '14 at 18:20
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    You may have already seen this thread: http://e2e.ti.com/support/development_tools/code_composer_studio/f/81/t/182049.aspx You can get a free IAR eval that has no time limit, but restricts the code size (or a 30-day eval which has no code size limit): http://supp.iar.com/Download/SW/?item=EW430-EVAL – Michael Burr Mar 10 '14 at 19:22
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    You can also use Energia (similar to Arduino, but for MSP430) to prototype quickly. – bblincoe Mar 11 '14 at 11:42
  • Thank you all! As an aside - I really like the idea of programming embedded systems, but I don't like C. Is there an affordable Java processor? Ruby processor? Anything else? – Irina Rapoport Mar 11 '14 at 16:48
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    working on embedded Systems and hating c is like living in sea and hating crocodiles. – Wafeeq Jul 20 '16 at 09:32

3 Answers3

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Online emulator (used chrome): http://www.msp430emulator.com

This MSP430 Emulator is open source, and can be used directly online without downloading anything. Still under construction but has a good debug interface. Unfortunately no integration with CCS.

It is on the TI Open source page: TI Open Source Project Page

"The MSP430 Online Emulator provides a complete software model of the MSP430 16-bit instruction set. It is an interactive debugger for advanced development and in depth firmware/hardware analysis. Peripherals include UART, GPIO Ports, BCM+, Timer_A, and more! Open source, and absolutely free - access to the TI MSP430 Launchpad allows you to effectively build and debug firmware. No hardware setup, emulate anytime anywhere!"

open source on github: https://github.com/RudolfGeosits/MSP430-Emulator

If you need something implemented you can add to the code yourself and run a local emulation server for real time applications.

MSPguy
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This emulator is pretty awesome, once you can get it running. Note that it does claim GDB support, which likely means you can get a pure eclipse CDT C project & CDT-GDB-HW-Debugging session up and running against it (making sure to compile with the msp430's tool chain, of course).

http://opencores.org/project,openmsp430

As far as a simulator, the answer is truly 'no'. I would like to be wrong on that... But consider for a moment the number of variants of the msp430, the peripherals, and so on. Not sure if any company can justify that kind of cost!

Especially when launchpad/etc are so cheap and fast.

J-Dizzle
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If you can afford £10 then the launchpad is the way to go just to teach yourself about the MSP430. You can use either IAR Embedded Workbench or Code Composer Studio, both which come in code size limited version which will be plenty big enough to learn with. I don't like either, but of the two the IAR one is, IMHO, the better bet as it's not Eclipse based. If you don't mind Java and Eclipse, then CCS is a viable option for you. One huge advantage with CCS is it runs on Linux, but really, it's still not a patch on Rowley Crossworks which runs on Linux. The latter has a cheap educational licence.

As far as the emulator and USB question is concerned, it's maybe being slightly pedantic, but it's not an emulator, it's a debug interface. There is a debugger built into the chip that enables you to load the code into the chip, set breakpoints, single step through code.

This kit is a great way to start because the debugger interface is built into the kit, you can access pins on the processor, see LEDs come on and all that good stuff that gives you the warm feeling you're programming a chip properly. For the sake of £10 you'd be mad not to!

DiBosco
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  • A little biased are we...? – J-Dizzle Mar 13 '14 at 07:53
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    The Launchpad kit is pretty awesome. I got it when it was on promotion at $4.30, but it's still awesome at $10 --- you get two processors and the USB programming board. I'm an old-school programmer so I didn't bother with the hassle of IAR or CCS and just used the gcc port of MSP430; all the tools, including compiler, debugger and the USB programmer, are in Debian. – David Given Oct 04 '14 at 21:21