MSP430 LaunchPad in Ubuntu

There are a few sites with info about how to use the TI’s Launchpad platform in linux, but none of them worked for me, but mixing them I’ve got a functional development enviroment in my ubuntu box.

These are the steps I’ve done to compile and burn program into the microcontroller:

1. Install required packages:
   

   sudo aptitude install git-core gcc-4.4 texinfo patch libncurses5-dev zlibc zlib1g-dev libx11-dev libusb-dev libreadline6-dev

Download and compile mspgcc:

git clone git://mspgcc4.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/mspgcc4/mspgcc4
cd mspgcc4
sudo sh buildgcc.sh

Press enter to use the default answers when the scripts ask you. Only write yes when it ask “Do you want to start build right now? (y/n) [n] ” because the default is no.

2. Download and compile mspdebug:
   

   wget -O mspdebug.tar.gz http://sourceforge.net/projects/mspdebug/files/latest
   tar -zxvf mspdebug.tar.gz
   cd mspdebug
   make
   sudo make install

3. Create a udev rule to be able to use the usb debug shield
   

   sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/46-TI_launchpad.rules

   Now paste inside the following rule:

   ATTRS{idVendor}=="0451", ATTRS{idProduct}=="f432", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"
   

   Restart the udev service:

   sudo restart udev

4. Create a file named led.c and paste the following:

   /* Blink LED example */
   
   #include <msp430g2231.h>
   
   /** Delay function. **/
   delay(unsigned int d) {
     int i;
     for (i = 0; i<d; i++) {
       nop();
     }
   }
   
   int main(void) {
     WDTCTL = WDTPW | WDTHOLD;
     P1DIR = 0xFF;
     P1OUT = 0x01;
   
     for (;;) {
       P1OUT = ~P1OUT;
       delay(0x4fff);
     }
   }
   

   The include is wrong, but will do the trick for the example.

5. Compile the source code and create de elf file data to be uploaded to the chip:
   

   /opt/msp430-gcc-4.4.5/bin/msp430-gcc -Os -mmcu=msp430x2231 -o led.elf led.c

6. Connect the platform to the pc and upload the program to chip:
   

   mspdebug rf2500
   prog led.elf
   run

7. Now you have to see red and green lights blinking alternatively. Let’s try to do your own changes to the code and create awesome projects!

Sources: hackaday.com and mylightswitch.

Updated 18/11/2010: thanks to hvontres I’ve changed the retrieval of th mspgcc4 code and now it download the latest version from git. Indeed it has support for the microcontrollers that come with the Launchpad, so I also changed the sample code to include the correct header and the compilation command.
Updated 28/05/2011: thanks to Andrew I’ve changed the mspdebug download link to always download the latest release.