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The New Arduino Alternative?

Launchpad

A new product was launched by Texas Instruments recently that seems to be aimed at the hobby-electronics geek. The MSP430 Value Line Launchpad is a super cheap board that features a PDIP socket that allows you to use either the MSP430G2211IN14 or MSP430G2231IN14 uControllers. 

The specs of these processors aren’t phenomenal but seeing as the complete kit will set you back a whopping $4.30, you can’t really complain.  The kit comes with a whole bunch of things in the box:

  • LaunchPad Development board (MSP-EXP430G2)
  • Mini USB cable
  • 2x MSP430 flash devices
  • 10-pin PCB Connectors (2 male & 2 female)
  • 32kHz crystal
  • Quick Start Guide
  • 2x LaunchPad stickers

I mean, all that for just $4.30? I ordered two of these kits yesterday at Mouser and was out a massive bank breaking 7.82 EUR, including shipping (which is free)! The only trouble is that the shipping date is 5 July, so I am going to have to wait a bit.

This chip can be programmed by a myriad of different environments, be sure to check out the wiki page here for all the options: [LINK]. 

A member of the NXTasy forums named LEGACY has already turned it into an NXT sensor, you can find it here: [LINK].  The program can copied from there.

About Xander

Xander Soldaat is a Software Engineer and former Infrastructure Architect. He loves building and programming robots. He recently had the opportunity to turn his robotics hobby into his profession and has started working for Robomatter, the makers of ROBOTC and Robot Virtual Words.