Github support on inventortown
I’ve now added support for cloning a github project into your Inventortown project. Basically:
1. Create a new empty project on Inventortown.
2. Click the ‘git clone’ on the left
3. Enter the readonly address for the github project you want to clone. For example git://github.com/mobilars/LarsRF-mspgcc.git
4. If your project had multiple main-files, you have to delete the ones you don’t want (the example has several files with main in them).
5. If your project had a directory structure, you may have to change the relative include files. The above function copies ALL the .h and .c files into a single directory, so you have to change files because of this.
6. Click compile…
It’s a very untested function. Please report if it works or not for you, and give feedback to how you’d like the function improved.
Playing Super Mario Theme on MSP430
Adam at Inventortown came up with something quite cool. He copied Bob Somers’ code which can play music and compiled it using Inventortown’s online compiler.
UPDATE: I couldn’t get that project to compile properly after the compiler has been updated, as it was for the old MSPGCC. Bob Somers has updated his code for the new compiler. So I got it from his Github again and made a new project which is here.
And a video of it playing. (After programming with the Inventortown uploader, you need to unplug the board and plug it in again for it to work).
Online MSP430 editor featured on Hackaday
I was really happy and proud when I discovered that my inventortown online development environment for MSP430 Launchpad has been featured on Hackaday. Thanks!!
Program a launchpad in my lab and see it on a webcam
I’ve now added a feature in Inventortown which allows you to use the online IDE to program a device that sits in my basement with a webcam pointing at it. Log into inventortown and click ‘Webcam’ to see it. A static picture of the project right now is shown below.
Servo library for MSP430 Launchpad v2
I’ve made a second servo library for MSP430 Launchpad. This one only supports 2 servos, but is far more accurate than the one supporting more servos. The code is on inventortown.
3D printed simple biped with 4 servos
Here’s a simple biped I’ve printed using my Makerbot. It’s printed in clear PLA, which I think looks quite nice. The design is rather poor, but it walks ok. This one here runs with a standard radio control, but I’ve tried it with Arduino and Launchpad MSP430 also. Maybe I’ll fix it up to look a bit better.
It uses 4 cheap servos from Hobbyking, and a cheap remote from Hobbyking. You can easily build this robot with wooden sticks or similar, without a 3D printer. There are several examples on Youtube of this. This version is not as complex as my other biped, but this one is much simpler to build (and control). It uses a 2 cell LiPo battery and an ESC to convert down to 5V for the receiver and servos.
The 3D model is here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11325
Graphical development environment for MSP430?
I wonder if anyone would use a graphical development environment for the MSP430. That’s what inspired me to make the online editor (which is still standard C), thinking that maybe I should make something like Modk.it’s interface, but for the MSP430.
I wonder what the best UI for something like this would be. I made a completely non-functional simple mockup of some drag-and-drop functions here, but I’m not sure what would be the best approach if I developed this for real… and of course, who would use it?
Simple MSP430 based servo robot
This is a very simple robot to make, with cheap components:
- 1 x Launchpad MSP430: $4.30 (plus shipping)
- 2 x cheap Hobbyking.com servos: $1.98 (plus shipping), easily modified for full rotation.
- 2 x wheels. I 3D printed mine, but you can make these from many other things
- 2 x light sensitive resistors (LDR). < 1 USD each.
- A battery pack with 3 rechargeable AA NiMH batteries, totalling 3.6 volts (Don’t use alkaline!)
MSP430 Servo Library
I’ve written a servo library for the MSP430 Launchpad. It’s available here. You may need to be logged into the editor to use that link.
The library allows you to control 4 servos using a simple call Servo(pin,angle), a bit similar to the Arduino calls. The library could be modified to support PWM in general and more servos.