On 11 gru 2013, at 05:31, Nick <n...@desmith.net> wrote: > I've ben thinking about the MSP430 series and their SoC/ wireless chips > (mostly 802.15.4 based) - very nice suite of devices.... > Trouble is I've always been an Atmel guy, so it's a big switch though I > suspect that the learning curve is not too bad... > > Perhaps its time to change. ..
I'd really recommend taking a look at the MSP430 devices. To keep this on topic, I use the MSP430 in my nixie clocks. It's straightforward to program, *very* well documented, inexpensive, and runs for weeks on a single oily electron. The low-power modes are really easy to use. Average current consumption for my CPU module when running on battery backup is down to single microamps. My clocks usually use the MSP430G2553, mostly because I'm lazy — I could fit into a smaller part. For designs that are very price- or size- sensitive, and where I don't need the ADC, I use the MSP430G2412 in a QFN-16 package. It's tiny, it's really cheap, and needs only two external components (a pullup on the reset pin and a decoupling cap). Oh, all MSP430 chips are 16-bit. And it's easy to get started with the launchpad boards. I recently started looking at Freescale Kinetis devices, and I will be migrating to those in most of my designs. I'd recommend taking a look — pricing for the low-end KL05 chips is comparable to the MSP430, and the architecture is nicer (32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ core). For bigger devices I'll be using the KL25 and K20. One thing I noticed already is that Texas Instruments really has top-notch documentation, which means the learning curve isn't bad at all. Freescale's is harder to understand, isn't always complete, I have found mistakes, and is overall harder to use. As an aside, I don't really understand why Atmel microcontrollers are so popular in hobbyist circles. --J. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5D9198CA-9555-4BC2-9EE7-2187EA20B7C9%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
