Welcome to my collection of MSP430 C modules!

Over the years I have developed a variety of drivers and services for TI's MSP430 series microcontrollers. Since these modules have been developed on an "as I need them" basis, the collection is far from complete. Instead of letting them sit around unused on my hard-disk, I have decided to release them to be used freely by the public.

Below is a list of some of the programming philosophies I try to stick to when developing these modules:

Configured at compile-time
Firmware design for microcontrollers tends to be quite static. It is rare that a small system's configuration needs to be changed at runtime. For this reason, module configuration is generally done at compile-time using configuration *.h files and heavier use of the C preprocessor. Doing so reduces code size and RAM usage. Memory is always allocated statically (on the stack vs. using malloc) for more robust and deterministic design.
Universal
These modules have been written to be compatible with as many of the processors as possible. Ideally, a program using these modules can be written for a 1xx device and then be recompiled the next day for a higher-performing 6xx device with minimal modification. I tend to primarily use the 5xx family of devices so support will inevitably be best for those.
Modular
With a few exceptions, the modules are written so that they can be used as completely standalone pieces of firmware that do not rely on other libraries. This makes them easy to drop in to a project as needed.

Compiler Support

Module code and makefiles are primarily designed to use the msp430-elf GCC compiler. However in most cases, the TI compiler will work too.

Getting Started

To help get you started, a few example projects have been included in the download and can be found in the "examples" folder.

These projects should be compiled using the included makefiles. This can be done though a command line or from within Code Composer Studio by creating a custom makefile project (not a managed-make)

In order for the makefiles to work, the following environment variables must be set:

PATH: Add the msp430-elf compiler's bin directory.
MSP430_HEADER_PATH: Set to point to the MSP430 header folder (contains device-specific .h and .ld files)

Examples:

Basic Example - Blink some LEDs using a timer and control them with pushbuttons.
UART CLI Example - Communicate with the MSP430 using a serial port
USB CDC Example - Communicate with the MSP430 using the 5xx/6xx-series USB interface

Module Basics

All code in this library is broken up into separate modules. Each module is made up of a collection of related functions, variables, and definitions.

Parts of a Module

Modules in this library are typically made up of several files that follow a consistent naming convention. Some modules may require additional source files while others my only use a subset of the ones listed. Given a generic module called MODULE, its files may be organized as follows:

MODULE.c
- Contains the source code for the module
MODULE.h
- Contains definitions to functions and variables which provide an interface to the module.
- When using a module in your project, this is typically the only header file that must be included.
MODULE_internal.h
- Contains any internal definitions that are probably not useful to the end-user.
MODULE_config.TEMPLATE.h
- Some modules are configured at compile-time by the pre-processor. This file is a template configuration file that allows the user to modify some aspects of the module.
- If a module comes with one of these files, it must be copied to your project's local config directory.
- After copying the file, rename it to MODULE_config.h (remove "TEMPLATE." from the name)
- This config directory must be added to the compiler's list of #include search paths
MODULE.mk
- This makefile instructs the compiler how to build the module.

Terms of use

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation is hereby granted. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. See the License for more details.