Getting Started with the MSP430 Launchpad

Book excerpt: This book explores the world of microcontroller development through friendly lessons and progressively challenging projects, which will have you blink LEDs, make music with buzzers & interact with different sensors like accelerometers and temperature sensors. This book is focused on the MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad Evaluation Kit, which is a complete microcontroller development platform that includes everything you need to start creating microcontroller-based projects. Many of the 25+ projects will also leverage external components, such as the highly-integrated Educational BoosterPack, which is a modular extension to the LaunchPad and includes many components such as an RGB LED, character LCD & potentiometer. This book provides helpful guides that break down hardware circuits through visual diagrams and includes fully-commented code examples. Concepts are broken down and explained in an easy to follow language and analogies to help you understand the principles behind each project/system. The projects will encourage you to use and even combine the fundamental concepts to develop your ideas in creating new microcontroller solutions. Coverage includes: Digital Input/Output: buttons, LEDs, turning anything into a button Analog Input/Output: sensors, temperature, accelerometer, potentiometer, etc. Programming fundamentals: conditional branches & loops, flow, logic, number systems Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM): square wave, buzzer, analog signal simulation Serial Communication: UART, SPI & I2C Code development using Energia, a free, open-source code editor and compiler Debugging through serial communication with a computer Interfacing with external components such as LEDs, buzzers, potentiometers, sensors & more. With the help of this book, you will be challenged to think about developing your own unique microcontroller-based application, and you will be equipped to start solving various problems, adding intelligence to existing products, or even developing your own innovative creations with a LaunchPad development kit. Includes over 25 projects which focuses on a learn by doing approach Contains easy to follow diagrams and code examples Covers Programming fundamentals, such as conditional branches and loops, flow, logic, number systems