you tube video series on the MSP430 microcontroller - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ahbushnell
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2020, 09:28:33 pm
content: Hi,I just noticed this youtube channel was generating an up to date series on the MSP430.The channel is Digital Logic & Programming.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8ypyfIamGezvoVK0TFXqw/videosI'm spinning up on the MSP430 and some of the video's are not quite up todate.Hope you like it.Andy

author: Peabody
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 03:49:38 am
content: Looks to be very detailed and complete. Even starts with assembly. I've done a lot with the MSP430G2xxx parts, all of it in assembly. But I never installed CCS. It seemed like complete overkill for the kind of stuff I did. Anyway, the MSP430 parts are very nice. Very capable, and low power. And they are von Neumann processors, not the Harvard architecture you find in the AVR parts. Also, they are 16-bit, which I think is Goldilocks.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 12:33:56 pm
content: MSP430 is a pretty nice ISA, but last I saw they've never gotten to very high MHz. Also, with only 64k address space for code+data (von Neumann, as you say), they're pretty limited in the program size department, and you can't run as large a program as the AVR ATMega640, let alone the very popular ATMega2560 (256k of program space).

author: Daruosha
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 12:42:07 pm
content: Nice find. Thanks for sharing the link.

author: Peabody
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 02:27:39 pm
content: The x5 and x6 series have up to 512KB of flash memory and 66KB of ram, and operate at 25 MHz. The FR series parts are particularly interesting because the flash memory is replaced by FRAM memory.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 02:33:06 pm
content: Quote from: Peabody on April 21, 2020, 02:27:39 pmThat must have crazy bank switching or segment / base registers or some such?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 04:05:02 pm
content: The MSP430X series has a 20-bit address space.

author: ahbushnell
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 05:13:32 pm
content: Quote from: brucehoult on April 21, 2020, 12:33:56 pmThere are 20 Mhz units. And the target is for low cost low power.http://www.ti.com/product/MSP430F6636

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2020, 09:59:28 pm
content: Quote from: brucehoult on April 21, 2020, 02:33:06 pmAll of the registers are 20 bit. It is essentially a 20 bit CPU rather than 16 bit. No bank switching.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2020, 12:35:36 am
content: Quote from: oPossum on April 21, 2020, 09:59:28 pmYep, the MSP430X is a pretty clean 1M byte address space machine. It just has one significant annoyance with its addressing - the interrupt vectors are just below 64k, for compatibility with the MSP430 that is limited to 64k, and the interrupt routines have to start below 64k.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2020, 01:01:04 am
content: Thanks for the nice find! I have been using them a bit more for these side projects.Quick question: what is the practical advantage of FRAM versus Flash? I hear about FRAM sinxe the early 1990s, but the scenario back then was quite different: the ferroelectric structure was used in conjunction with the DRAMs at the time due to speed requirements.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2020, 01:31:36 am
content: FRAM is lower power than flash but is slower and has destructive reads. The MSP430s with FRAM use a wide memory data bus and a very simple cache to compensate for the slower speed. This results in occasional wait states that make cycle accurate code rather difficult.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2020, 02:06:57 am
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on April 22, 2020, 01:01:04 amFRAM doesn't wear out quickly on writes, like the flash in most MCUs, so its an excellent choice if you need to regularly update non-volatile values. Also, if you need to store non-volatile information in flash it needs sufficient Vcc voltage and a big current pulse to execute the write. FRAM performs writes with any valid Vcc voltage, and takes no more current than reading. So, its a great choice for storing non-volatile information in an ultra low power design.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2020, 02:59:27 am
content: Writing to FRAM is also completely transparent. You can treat it just like RAM. It's a really easy way to get non-volatile storage. No IIC/SPI layer or block erases to deal with.