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VERY inexpensive Microcontroller board from TI — Parallax Forums

VERY inexpensive Microcontroller board from TI

Shawn LoweShawn Lowe Posts: 635
edited 2012-02-27 21:00 in General Discussion
Hello everyone! I hope I'm not duplicating a thread but this looks interesting:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/02/inexpensive-arduino-alternatives/

At $4.30, it would be fun to get and play with.

Comments

  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2012-02-27 07:49
    wow.. a TI cash drain... Guess a company that size won't feel it.

    OBC
  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2012-02-27 08:04
    I picked up one of these when they first decided to promote the chip this way. It's a nice little kit, but the chip is very limited. If you like to tinker with CPUs and learn some assembly, etc... great deal.
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    edited 2012-02-27 08:48
    Hi;

    Right, they are a wonderful little board, and the debug feature is great for the assembly stuff I write on them, and then transfer the code directly into my 3/4 inch square application board.

    I use these application boards with their 30 cent TI processor with its internal A/D as high speed serial RS485 interfaces from a variety of sensors... pressure, temperature, contact closure etc. into a Prop board that has a Telit cell phone on it. The whole shebang runs for three years on 3 "D" cells. The long life is a result of being able to turn the Prop down to a current of 6 uA, and the TI430's (up to 16 of them on the 485 bus) each draw 1 uA. This whole thing is possible because the TI430 wakes up in less than 5 uSec. GREAT little chip for this application.

    Cheers,

    Peter (pjv)
  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2012-02-27 09:25
    I picked up 3 of them when they first came out since shipping was free but it took 5 months due to back orders until I got one. TI has had some great deals, I picked up two touch sensor panels at half price for the board and 3 usb thumbdrive development systems free with free shipping! A good forum to check out for info and sales is http://www.43oh.com/. I have to agree that it is a great little chip but very limited compared to the Propeller.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-02-27 09:34
    There are pin-compatible chips from the same range with more peripherals.
  • MacTuxLinMacTuxLin Posts: 821
    edited 2012-02-27 21:00
    This chip, MSP430G2 is sufficient to build a line-following 4-wheel robot, it seems....
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