ggProject - status log

MSP430 firmware update ;)

ggproject — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:42:25 +0000

ports can be configured now to high and low active… will be needed for the hardware release…
happens with defines so only relevant code gets compiled and execution time isn’t unnecessarily lengthened…

#include “msp430x11x1.h”

// define PORT configurations (high active / low active)
#define PORT11_LOWACTIVE 0
#define PORT12_LOWACTIVE 0
#define PORT13_LOWACTIVE 0

// 0×08 = yellow led (power/sleep indicator)
// 0×04 = green led #1
// 0×02 = green led #2

// port13 = P1 = PowerSupply GG
// port12 = P2 = GG Poweron
// port11 = P3 = GG Shutdown

int nextState;
int state3counter;
int state0counter;
void port13_off();
void port12_off();
void port11_off();
void port13_on();
void port12_on();
void port11_on();

// Timer A0 interrupt service routine
#pragma vector=TIMERA0_VECTOR
__interrupt void Timer_A0(void)
{
switch(nextState)
{
case 0:
if(state0counter == 9)
{
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT13_LOWACTIVE)
port13_off();                   // give PowerSupply power
#else
port13_on();                   // give PowerSupply power
#endif
nextState = 1;                   // set state for next ISR to 1
state0counter = 0;               // reset counter
TACCR0 = 1535;                   // sleep 3 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
}
else
{
state0counter++;                   // increase state0counter and go back to sleep
}
break;
case 1:
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT12_LOWACTIVE)
port12_off();                       // turn on GG (on impulse)
#else
port12_on();                       // turn on GG (on impulse)
#endif
nextState = 2;                   // set state for next ISR to 2
TACCR0 = 767;                   // sleep 1.5 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
break;
case 2:
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT12_LOWACTIVE)
port12_on();                   // disable on impulse
#else
port12_off();                   // disable on impulse
#endif
nextState = 3;                   // set state for next ISR to 3
TACCR0 = 65535;                   // sleep 128 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
break;
case 3:
if(state3counter == 1)
{
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT11_LOWACTIVE)
port11_off();                   // hardware unconditional shutdown (send reset impulse)
#else
port11_on();                   // hardware unconditional shutdown (send reset impulse)
#endif
nextState = 4;                   // set state for next ISR to 4
state3counter = 0;               // reset counter
TACCR0 = 153;                   // sleep 0.3 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
}
else
{
state3counter++;                   // increase state3counter and go back to sleep
}
break;
case 4:
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT11_LOWACTIVE)
port11_on();                   // disable reset impulse
#else
port11_off();                   // disable reset impulse
#endif
nextState = 5;                   // set state for next ISR to 5
TACCR0 = 5119;                   // sleep 0.3 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
break;
case 5:
TACTL |= MC_0;                   // stop timer
#if (PORT13_LOWACTIVE)
port13_on();                   // turn powersupply off
#else
port13_off();                   // turn powersupply off
#endif
nextState = 0;                   // set state for next ISR to 0
TACCR0 = 65535;                   // sleep 128 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer
break;
}
}

int main(void)
{
WDTCTL = WDTPW + WDTHOLD;               // Stop WDT

BCSCTL1 = 0xB0; // XT2 off, low frequency mode, 8xDivider, reset, lowest nominal frequency -> BCSCTL1 10110000
BCSCTL2 = 0×36; // DCOCLK, 8xDivider, DCOCLK, 8xDivider, Internal Resistor -> BCSCTL2 00110110

state3counter = 0; // initialize counter
state0counter = 9; // initialize counter so that we immediately execute state 0

// disable all output ports
#if (PORT11_LOWACTIVE)
port11_on();
#else
port11_off();
#endif
#if (PORT12_LOWACTIVE)
port12_on();
#else
port12_off();
#endif
#if (PORT13_LOWACTIVE)
port13_on();
#else
port13_off();
#endif

nextState = 0; // set next state to 0 = start

P1DIR = 0x0E; // set port 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 to out = 0000 1110
P1SEL = 0×00;
P1IE = 0×00;

TACTL = TASSEL0 + ID_3 + TACLR; // TACLK, divider 8, clear TAR,
TACCTL0 = CCIE;                   // enable interrupt
TACCR0 = 767;                       // trigger statechange after 1.5 seconds
TACTL |= MC_1;                   // setting mode bits starts timer

_BIS_SR(LPM3_bits + GIE); // Enter LPM3 w. interrupt

for (;;)
{
__low_power_mode_3();                 // enter low power mode 3
}
}

void port13_on()
{
P1OUT |= 0×08; // turn on
}

void port13_off()
{
P1OUT &= ~0×08; // turn off
}

void port12_on()
{
P1OUT |= 0×04; // turn on
}

void port12_off()
{
P1OUT &= ~0×04; // turn off
}

void port11_on()
{
P1OUT |= 0×02; // turn on
}

void port11_off()
{
P1OUT &= ~0×02; // turn off
}

announcement: board layout draft coming soon

ggproject — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:34:59 +0000

I played a bit with eagle today… will discuss the layout tomorrow with a friend of mine who knows more about electronics than I will ever do afterwards I’ll update everything according to his comments and release it here

edit (04.09.2009):
had a really good conversation with another friend of mine who is also an electronics guru he had some really good proposals and also showed me some mistakes in my layouting attempt :p
I decided not to release the layout until it’s really safe for operation… don’t wann be responsible if somebody builds the thing and kills himself
due to some changes in the layout there will also be some small code changes… I’ll update the MSP-source-post accordingly as soon as I have time

MSP430 timer source code

ggproject — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:03:47 +0000

#include "msp430x11x1.h"
 // port13 = P1 = PowerSupply GG
 // port12 = P2 = GG Poweron
 // port11 = P3 = GG Shutdown

 int nextState;
 int state3counter;
 int state0counter;
 void port13_off();
 void port12_off();
 void port11_off();
 void port13_on();
 void port12_on();
 void port11_on(); 

// Timer A0 interrupt service routine
#pragma vector=TIMERA0_VECTOR
__interrupt void Timer_A0(void)
{
 switch(nextState)
 {
 case 0:
 if(state0counter == 9)
 {
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port13_on();                    // give PowerSupply power
 nextState = 1;                  // set state for next ISR to 1
 state0counter = 0;              // reset counter
 TACCR0 = 1535;                  // sleep 3 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 }
 else
 {
 state0counter++;                // increase state0counter and go back to sleep
 }
 break;
 case 1:
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port12_on();                    // turn on GG (on impulse)
 nextState = 2;                  // set state for next ISR to 2
 TACCR0 = 767;                   // sleep 1.5 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 break;
 case 2:
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port12_off();                   // disable on impulse
 nextState = 3;                  // set state for next ISR to 3
 TACCR0 = 65535;                 // sleep 128 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 break;
 case 3:
 if(state3counter == 1)
 {
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port11_on();                    // hardware uncond. shutdown (reset impulse)
 nextState = 4;                  // set state for next ISR to 4
 state3counter = 0;              // reset counter
 TACCR0 = 153;                   // sleep 0.3 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 }
 else
 {
 state3counter++;                // increase state3counter and go back to sleep
 }
 break;
 case 4:
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port11_off();                   // disable reset impulse
 nextState = 5;                  // set state for next ISR to 5
 TACCR0 = 5119;                  // sleep 0.3 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 break;
 case 5:
 TACTL |= MC_0;                  // stop timer
 port13_off();                   // turn powersupply off
 nextState = 0;                  // set state for next ISR to 0
 TACCR0 = 65535;                 // sleep 128 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                  // setting mode bits starts timer
 break;
 }   
}

int main(void)
{
 WDTCTL = WDTPW + WDTHOLD; // Stop WDT

 BCSCTL1 = 0xB0; // XT2 off, low frequency mode, 8xDivider, reset, lowest nominal frequency -> BCSCTL1 10110000
 BCSCTL2 = 0x36; // DCOCLK, 8xDivider, DCOCLK, 8xDivider, Internal Resistor -> BCSCTL2 00110110

 state3counter = 0; // initialize counter
 state0counter = 9; // initialize counter so that we immediately execute state 0

 // disable all output ports
 port13_off();
 port12_off();
 port11_off();

 nextState = 0; // set next state to 0 = start

 P1DIR = 0x0E; // set port 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 to out = 0000 1110
 P1SEL = 0x00;
 P1IE = 0x00;

 TACTL = TASSEL0 + ID_3 + TACLR;   // TACLK, divider 8, clear TAR,
 TACCTL0 = CCIE;                   // enable interrupt
 TACCR0 = 767;                     // trigger statechange after 1.5 seconds
 TACTL |= MC_1;                    // setting mode bits starts timer

 _BIS_SR(LPM3_bits + GIE); // Enter LPM3 w. interrupt

 for (;;)
 {
 __low_power_mode_3();                 // enter low power mode 3
 }
}

void port13_on()
{
 P1OUT |= 0x08; // turn on
}

void port13_off()
{
 P1OUT &= ~0x08; // turn off
}

void port12_on()
{
 P1OUT |= 0x04; // turn on
}

void port12_off()
{
 P1OUT &= ~0x04; // turn off
}

void port11_on()
{
 P1OUT |= 0x02; // turn on
}

void port11_off()
{
 P1OUT &= ~0x02; // turn off
}

MSP430 states ;)

ggproject — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:47:25 +0000

clock calculations

ggproject — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:33:21 +0000

we want to use the MSP with the lowest power consumption possible. to keep it low we need to reduce the frequency to the minimum and stay in low power mode 3 (in LPM4 timers won’t work) as often and long as possible.

let’s calculate the maximum sleep time that can be achieved by using the lowest frequency and highest TACCR0 (Up-Mode) [see MSP datasheet for details]:

LFXT1CLK is 32768 Hz in our case…
ACLK is the buffered LFXT1CLK clock source divided by 8 -> 4096

For Timer-A we set TASSELx to 01 to use the ACLK and use IDx with 11 (which sets the second divider to 8 )
this gives us 4096 / 8 -> 512 Hz

Some info about Up Mode and TACCR0 [from the MSP datasheet]:
The number of timer counts in the period is TACCR0+1. When the timer value equals TACCR0 the timer restarts counting from zero.

by setting TACCR0 to 65535 (max) we can now easily calculate how long we can stay in LPM3 without waking up (time between interrupts):
65536 / 512 -> gives us approx. 128 seconds

that’s more than two minutes! pretty good… if we need to stay in LPM3 longer we can just increase a counter in the ISR. if the interval is too big we can easily reduce it by adjusting TACCR0…

low power mode 3 – problems solved

ggproject — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:09:40 +0000

even though I already did some projects with the MSP430 and LPM (low power mode) I made a stupid mistake the last days…

the MSP goes to sleep and wakes up on an interrupt after a specified amount of time.
usually you just let that interrupt service routine execute and that’s it… well… I explicitly sent the MSP back to sleep at the end of the ISR instead of a normal return.

that leads to some not really predictable behaviour: 18 times the MSP goes to sleep and wakes up again correctly, but after that some variables get overwritten (eg. the wakeup-timer-variable) which results in the MSP not executing the ISR correctly.

so remember: you don’t have to send the MSP to sleep at the end of the ISR. just return

VM disk size

ggproject — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:07:18 +0000

turns out I was too optimistic when I thought it would be sufficient to give my VM 5 GB of disk size

space was running out, so I had to find a solution to increase the disk size.

->> VMware Converter

I converted the machine to use 10 GB HDD instead (15 mins conversion time)… no reinstall needed, all fine… perfect!
just make sure you didn’t activate your XP already… cause it will reinstall the whole hardware and require new activation…

update (01.09.2009):
would have been too good if really everything would have worked perfectly the VM is not able to go to sleep or execute VM scripts correctly anymore… I guess I’ll just take another hour and reinstall the whole thing… wasn’t that much of a big deal. but this time I’ll use a 15 GB HDD… prevention is better than cure

programming environment

ggproject — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:32:56 +0000

MSP430 + JTAG (on parallel port) + Win XP = awesome
MSP430 + JTAG (on parallel port) + Win Vista = no go
MSP430 + JTAG (on parallel port) + Win 7 = no go

the problem is: I want to use Win 7, but I also want to avoid having a dual-boot system…

so I was thinking about using MS Virtual PC to route the parallel port to an XP VM and have my dev environment set up there.

well… didn’t work as expected, as MS Virtual PC is not able to route my LPT, because it’s not using adress 378h-37Fh and thanks to APCI (mandatory for Win 7) I can’t change that.

JTAG on USB was no option for me, as I didn’t want to spend another 80$ for sth. which was already working

after a lot of hours spent on various blogs and google, I finally tried VMware (Player) [because it's free!!]

I set up a VM with VMX Builder [also free] and tried routing the parallel port to the VM. To my big surprise VMware is able to do what Microsoft itself is not able to do

Long story short:
MSP430 + JTAG (on parallel port) + Win 7 + VMware Player + Win XP = awesome

btw: I’m using Code Composer Studio v4 Core Edition for coding + flashing + debugging [it's also freely available!! thanks TI ]

power supply – check

ggproject — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:56:35 +0000

Done today: temporary power supply with LM2937 + 10 yF cap. + 0.48 yF cap.
(details in the datasheet)

did it because I thought the parallel port of my PC (PCI ext. card) doesn’t supply enough power… well… didn’t solve the problem at all [cause it’s Vista’s fault… )

at least now I have a power supply with fixed 3.3V

the beginning

ggproject — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:45:43 +0000

I started with a test-layout for my MSP430F1121 [on an olimex header board] (that’s what I have at home and it fits my needs )

added three LEDs for debug reasons just to get into yC-coding again

let’s see how long it takes me to have the power-toggle mechanism for the GG up ‘n running.