Run Arduino code on MSP430

Hi Nico,

I've been using Energia for a few months now. As a development tool, it is much easier to use than CCS, primarily because of the way it hides the low-level register manipulation with a higher level API. This approach does have some drawbacks. Firstly you don't have the same level of control over the hardware, especially clocks, so you won't get the same degree of low power that would be possible with CCS.  Secondly, the libraries come with quite a bit of overhead. Although the compiler & linker are quite good at leaving out unused code, a "do nothing" sketch still runs to about 500 bytes, and even very minimal sketches will run to a bit over 2k, meaning it is of very limited use on the 2231 chips. Also, Energia doesn't provide an interactive debugger as in CCS, so debugging is a little trickier also.

But I believe the benefits of Energia will far outweigh these minor drawbacks in many situations. The Arduino compatibility isn't perfect but is quite good, so it gives access to a large pool of libraries and example code, making development much faster and less prone to mistakes.  Since the modern launchpads include the 2452 & 2553 chips, the code bloat is less of an issue than with a 2231.

Over on the 43oh.com forums there is a quite active sub-forum about Energia development, including quite a few libraries - some written from scratch, some adapted from Arduino.  If you have a specific issue or question, there's a good chance someone over there has done something similar already.

Hi Nico,

I've been using Energia for a few months now. As a development tool, it is much easier to use than CCS, primarily because of the way it hides the low-level register manipulation with a higher level API. This approach does have some drawbacks. Firstly you don't have the same level of control over the hardware, especially clocks, so you won't get the same degree of low power that would be possible with CCS.  Secondly, the libraries come with quite a bit of overhead. Although the compiler & linker are quite good at leaving out unused code, a "do nothing" sketch still runs to about 500 bytes, and even very minimal sketches will run to a bit over 2k, meaning it is of very limited use on the 2231 chips. Also, Energia doesn't provide an interactive debugger as in CCS, so debugging is a little trickier also.

But I believe the benefits of Energia will far outweigh these minor drawbacks in many situations. The Arduino compatibility isn't perfect but is quite good, so it gives access to a large pool of libraries and example code, making development much faster and less prone to mistakes.  Since the modern launchpads include the 2452 & 2553 chips, the code bloat is less of an issue than with a 2231.

Over on the 43oh.com forums there is a quite active sub-forum about Energia development, including quite a few libraries - some written from scratch, some adapted from Arduino.  If you have a specific issue or question, there's a good chance someone over there has done something similar already.