Joe-- Thanks for that! A great deal of what makes the Arduino popular, as you've identified, is the ease of use through the IDE.
I just finished re-doing code for a portable RF power meter (AD8307, LTC1288), and the Arduino implementation was quick, easy, and provides a lot more capability. I used one of the $20 small form factor Arduino devices, rather than the full-sized board. I looked at the MSP430 when it came out, and it looked interesting, but I wasn't interested in the learning curve of yet another system. This looks like one to check out -- thanks again! 73 de Bob K6RTM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2012 21:30:06 -0700 From: Joseph Gray <jg...@zianet.com> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <time-nuts@febo.com> Subject: [time-nuts] For Arduino lovers and haters Message-ID: <caf7opz1fr+c1mf68qwbgk-hlgixb5-apgorhdukufprtent...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I'm posting this seemingly off topic information, because many times a Time Nut needs to do something with a microcontroller (witness the recent discussion about GPSDO's). Sometimes, you just want to throw something together for a quick test or for a temporary project... I have never used an Arduino, but I see them mentioned all the time, with numerous projects and code posted on the net. A while back, I did pick up a few MSP430 Launchpads, as they were so inexpensive. I started teaching myself C, but kept getting sidetracked with other things. In any event, the simplified C-style of an Arduino program, and the huge quantity of code out there is attractive. What does Arduino have to do with the MSP430 Launchpad? Well, a few guys ported the Arduino IDE to the launchpad. The project is called Energia and is found here: http://energia.nu/ With some minor pin remapping, many Arduino programs (I won't call them sketches) can be run on the Launchpad. Considering that the Launchpad is $4.30 (with free shipping) and an Arduino board is several times that, it makes the Launchpad even more attractive. Of course, you don't have the Arduino addon boards (shields) with the Launchpad, but you may not need all that for a particular project. One item of particular note - the Energia IDE was just updated to include the new TI Stellaris Launchpad. This is a very powerful ARM Cortex board that costs very little. I got two for $5 each with free shipping, on a pre-release special deal. As an example of just getting something done without reinventing the wheel, I just got in one of those AD9851 DDS modules that you find online from China. For now, I just wanted to make sure that the module worked (I have a particular use for it later). I quickly found an Arduino program online that uses the same DDS module. All it took was some pin remapping to make it work with the MSP430 Launchpad and the Energia IDE. I was able to quickly verify that the DDS module works just fine. Sorry for the long winded post, but I thought some here would find this information of use. Eventually, I'll get back to learning C. Right now, the project I'm doing requires me to learn Python :-) Joe Gray W5JG _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.