You can now use Arduino sketches to program your TI Launchpad MSP430.
The video show me programming an Arduino Mega 2560 and a TI Launchpad MSP430 with the same Arduino sketch.
The TI Launchpad MSP430 is a microprocessor development board from Texas Instruments. It’s very similar to the Atmel chips in the Arduino. The MSP430 2553, which is the processor that ships with the Launchpad, has 14 I/O pins and 16K of program memory. Compare this to 20 I/O pins and 32K of program memory of the Atmel 328, the chip in the Arduino Uno, Nano, and several others.
The TI Launchpad MSP 430 only costs $4.30 from TI. This includes two MSP430 chips, a USB cable, and a cool sticker. The reason the TI Launchpad has not been more popular is they are very hard to program, especially if you are coming over from the Arduino. You have to use a complex software package called Code Composer Studio and either program the MSP430 in Assembly code, or you can use C code that just as cryptic looking as the assembly code. I’ve tried a few times, and always went back to ease of the Arduino.
Now you can use Energia to upload Arduino sketches to you TI MSP430 chips. A lot of the more popular libraries like LCD Serial and Servo have already been ported over, and people are porting more code over all the time.
So the tip is: use a low cost TI Launchpad in your next project instead of an Arduino, if the I/O requirements permit. For simple applications, the TI chips may make more sense. You can buy more chips from Mouser.com – the processors run anywhere from .50 cents to 2 dollars, and you don’t have to have a bootloader like you do with the Atmels. It’s very easy to either program your chips in the Launchpad, then move it to your circuit, or you can use the Launchpad as an In System Programmer very easily.
At $4.30, you can just use the development boards in your projects if you want. Compare that to the 20-30 dollar cost of Arduino boards…
Source: Use Arduino Code on a TI Launchpad MSP430
