Sonsivri
 
*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 10:53:24 22:53


Login with username, password and session length


Pages: 1 2 3 [All]
Print
Author Topic: Cheap Stellaris LM4F120 LaunchPad Evaluation Board from TI  (Read 17388 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« on: September 05, 2012, 06:45:51 18:45 »

Just a heads up...

I mean cheap as in $4.99 - great value! I've just noticed it at TI's site and ordered two (the maximum). I bought some of their previous $4.99 kits and they are well worth the few $. You need a TI 'account', but it's just a case of signing up.

See here: https://estore.ti.com/Stellaris-LaunchPad.aspx

The Stellaris LM4F120 LaunchPad Evaluation Kit includes the following items:

    Stellaris LaunchPad Evaluation board (EK-LM4F120XL)
    USB Micro-B plug to USB-A plug cable
    ReadMe First quick-start guide

The Stellaris LM4F120 LaunchPad evaluation board offers these features:

    Stellaris LM4F120H5QR microcontroller
    USB Micro-B connector for device
    RGB user LED
    Two user switches (application/wake)
    Onboard Stellaris® In-Circuit Debug Interface (ICDI)
    Available I/O brought out to headers on a 0.1" grid
    Switch-selectable power sources:
        ICDI
        USB device
    Reset switch
    Preloaded RGB quickstart application
    Supported by StellarisWare® software, including the USB library and the peripheral driver library
    Stellaris® LM4F120 LaunchPad BoosterPack XL interface, with stackable headers to expand the capabilities of the Stellaris® LaunchPad development platform

The EK-LM4F120XL works with StellarisWare, as well as several different software tool chains, including:
    Keil
    Sourcery CodeBench
    IAR Tools
    CodeComposer Studio

Logged
Old_but_Alive
Senior Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 328

Thank You
-Given: 699
-Receive: 118


« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2012, 07:10:23 19:10 »

just bought 2 for $9.98  including shipping to the UK.

thank you
Logged

I fought Ohm's Law ...  and the law won
I only use Mosfets because I have a Bipolar mental disorder :-)
CocaCola
Senior Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 482

Thank You
-Given: 169
-Receive: 232



« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2012, 07:47:38 19:47 »

Seems like a no brainier, if you are looking for (or have interest in) a small ARM developer board...  For $5 a pop, I will certainly snag a couple...
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2012, 08:09:15 20:09 »

just bought 2 for $9.98  including shipping to the UK.

thank you

Yeah, I forgot to say it even includes shipping (at least to the UK). A real bargain!
Logged
Parmin
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 582

Thank You
-Given: 494
-Receive: 133


Very Wise (and grouchy) Old Man


« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2012, 12:17:42 00:17 »

I wish I could get more,
They are great for those little projects, you can later modify to suit.
Logged

If I have said something that offends you, please let me know, so I can say it again later.
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2012, 08:25:12 08:25 »

It might be limited just during the initial release period, to make sure that TI has enough for everyone. Other boards that I have bought from them at around that price are still available at the same price and don't show an order limit any more.

I'll be keeping an eye open for more myself.
Logged
aplank
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 111

Thank You
-Given: 137
-Receive: 193


« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2012, 10:32:36 10:32 »

That is an amazing price. Two off including delivery charges to the UK for less than £6.50!

I've never looked at Stellaris, but at that price ... why not  Smiley
Logged
str67
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 26

Thank You
-Given: 29
-Receive: 23


« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2012, 11:42:12 11:42 »

I just ordered two of the boards, and there is no price adder for shipment to Germany as well!
Logged
GunMage
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 65

Thank You
-Given: 11
-Receive: 35



« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2012, 07:54:01 19:54 »

I as well followed suit and ordered 2 . Now I just need to figure out what to do with them... Seriously!
The deal was just too good to pass up. I am certain they will get used for something cool.
Logged
Kombinator
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 82

Thank You
-Given: 38
-Receive: 32



« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2012, 06:37:45 06:37 »

 Shocked Shocked Shocked http://www.ti.com/lit/er/spmz611c/spmz611c.pdf Shocked Shocked Shocked
impressive ... I would not have enjoyed in my projects
Logged
solutions
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 1823

Thank You
-Given: 655
-Receive: 900



« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2012, 07:04:24 07:04 »

The MSP430 boards seem like a good deal as well.

I wish the motor controller eval boards were priced like these, though. $300 is too rich for me.
Logged
CocaCola
Senior Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 482

Thank You
-Given: 169
-Receive: 232



« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2012, 07:38:30 07:38 »

Shocked Shocked Shocked http://www.ti.com/lit/er/spmz611c/spmz611c.pdf Shocked Shocked Shocked
impressive ... I would not have enjoyed in my projects

To be fair, it's clearly listed as a "preview" chip and the samples of the subset chips is listed as an "experimental silicon" and thus should never be implemented or used in anything but testing and evaluation purposes...  A new revision came out in August with lots of fixes, and I'm guessing the boards will have the new version on them...

http://www.ti.com/product/lm4f120h5qr
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2012, 08:31:30 08:31 »

The MSP430 boards seem like a good deal as well.

I wish the motor controller eval boards were priced like these, though. $300 is too rich for me.

I have a couple of those MSP430 LaunchPad boards. They are a good, and amazingly cheap, way to learn the MSP430 and TI's code Composer Studio.

It's the DSP boards I wish they would do a cheap version of.
Logged
Langley
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 23

Thank You
-Given: 73
-Receive: 62


« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2012, 10:11:58 10:11 »

To be fair, it's clearly listed as a "preview" chip and the samples of the subset chips is listed as an "experimental silicon" and thus should never be implemented or used in anything but testing and evaluation purposes...  A new revision came out in August with lots of fixes, and I'm guessing the boards will have the new version on them...
I recently received an email advising me the two boards I ordered 3 Sept now had an estimated ship date of 16 Nov.
I’m hoping this does actually suggest they’ll be the newer mask. Also, looks like Rev D data sheet was released 6 Sep.

TI Store page now says “Orders placed after 25-Sept will be shipped within 8 to 10 weeks.” Has anyone received theirs yet?
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2012, 11:30:46 11:30 »

I've had a similar email. I don't mind waiting longer for the 'improved' version and I imagine that is what TI will send, otherwise they'll just get people complaining.

The user manual for the board wasn't available when I first found it, but is now: http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/spmu289/spmu289.pdf

TI have made the expansion headers compatible with add-on boards for the MSP430 kit. Not that I have any, but it's a good idea on TI's part.
Logged
visn
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 51

Thank You
-Given: 582
-Receive: 97


« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2012, 12:04:51 12:04 »

What is great is the 10 youtube videos and the accompanying tutorial book - the Stellaris EK-LM4F120XL LaunchPad Workshop . Although it does uses the Code Composer studio for the workshop examples, you can still go with Keil, IAR or other.

The Youtube videos and book has made its way to my tablet PC and I will surely find a lot of odd moments to educate myself.
Logged
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #16 on: October 02, 2012, 12:34:47 12:34 »

You can just order them from Farnell, they have 503 in stock (Farnell Export, for EU). Also Mouser has 57 in stock.  Cheesy
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #17 on: October 02, 2012, 12:48:46 12:48 »

Lol - you're right! £3.76. It even says the are UK stock, so no 'one off import fee'.

http://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/ek-lm4f120xl/eval-stellaris-launchpad/dp/2192061?Ntt=LM4F120

Maybe that's why we haven't got ours yet - they've sold them all to the distributors!
Logged
Old_but_Alive
Senior Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 328

Thank You
-Given: 699
-Receive: 118


« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2012, 05:25:17 05:25 »

I bought 4 from Farnel, what a steal !!

Logged

I fought Ohm's Law ...  and the law won
I only use Mosfets because I have a Bipolar mental disorder :-)
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #19 on: October 10, 2012, 12:16:50 12:16 »

Has anyone tried to use this board as an external stellaris programmer?

I mean connect the programming pins (they are broken out with 2.54 spacing on the board) to a Stellaris on another board and program it. I we will have to either power down the processor only, or cut the traces to the on-board Stellaris. But at that price, no worries!!

If this can be done, we will have a 5$ programmer for any Stellaris board! Smiley

I will try it once I have the time... Sad
Logged
Parmin
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 582

Thank You
-Given: 494
-Receive: 133


Very Wise (and grouchy) Old Man


« Reply #20 on: October 10, 2012, 11:09:27 23:09 »

Just got mine yesterday.. have not had time to play with them yet.
Logged

If I have said something that offends you, please let me know, so I can say it again later.
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #21 on: October 11, 2012, 12:07:22 12:07 »

farnell inventory was 288 when I looked at it yesterday morning, today when I went to order them from farnell distributor, the inventory was 211, at the moment I wrote this it was 199!!!
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #22 on: October 11, 2012, 01:19:02 13:19 »

I noticed it dropping - popular little things! It's a bit poor of TI to keep us waiting, but such is life, lol.

It would be great if they can be used as a programmer for other chips. I don't see why not given that the board is claimed to work with the standard software tools, unless the onboard ICDI firmware is crippled. I bet it works.
Logged
Mega32
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 179

Thank You
-Given: 181
-Receive: 37


« Reply #23 on: October 22, 2012, 09:17:16 21:17 »

Early debugging tools released (OpenSource)

http://hackaday.com/2012/10/21/debugging-the-stellaris-with-openocd/

Mega32
Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #24 on: October 23, 2012, 11:15:30 11:15 »

I have first hand experience of bringing a stellaris (post TI takeover) product to market and it wasn't a pleasant experience!

It took us nearly 9 months to get a production quantity of silicon, partly based on the fact that we had to keep signing waivers and such like because of all the bugs in the silicon and partly because when they released a new version of silicon it automatically cancelled the order for the previous revision of silicon.

When we eventually got some silicon, the revision we ended up with had issues with its core voltage supply that required you to bypass it and supply an external 1.8V rail - so we had to build this fix into the design.

Further revisions of silicon fixed this problem, but I think the one after that had a horrific errata on USB (iirc).   Our distributor was offering us silicon and we were having to to cherry pick which versions of silicon we could use because they all had a variety of really nasty errata, you just had to pick the best of the bunch of what was available.

The stellaris software (stellarisware) was pretty good, I fixed a couple of USB issues which were fed back into the stack, but it still makes me shudder all the problems we had with silicon.

I've never had seen an ARM microcontroller with so many issues!

Needless to say, it was the only stellaris project we did.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #25 on: October 23, 2012, 11:24:18 11:24 »

Do you mean that the controller put in this kit is buggy?
Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #26 on: October 23, 2012, 11:40:34 11:40 »

Do you mean that the controller put in this kit is buggy?

Almost certainly!

For example, here's the errata for the silicon of the current shipping revision of the controller we used in our design:

http://www.ti.com/lit/er/spmz639a/spmz639a.pdf

This controller is now marked as "ACTIVE", it's no longer in preview and the list of faults and problems in it are just staggering!

From experience the one thing you can guarantee is that they'll fix those problems in a new revision and at the same time break stuff that was previously working fine!

For a hobbyist, I'd say you can't complain at the price of that board!  But don't be surprised to spend hours trying to figure out why something is not behaving properly only to find out that it's a bug in the silicon.

In a professional scenario, avoid!!!!
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #27 on: October 23, 2012, 02:01:46 14:01 »

you make me feel they just gave away these chips because they are buggy. Even as a hobbyist, I can complain, not because of the price, but because of wasting my time, when I receive them, I will simply throw them away.
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #28 on: October 23, 2012, 02:23:53 14:23 »

Hmm... I'm regretting spotting this now. I thought I was helping people  Sad

My order with TI is still showing 'processing' and payment has not been taken.

There is no 'cancel' option that I can find (that would be too easy) but it might be worth anyone emailing TI to cancel their order if they don't want to risk the dodgy chips.

I'm thinking of doing so myself... not decided yet. They are still cheap, but my time is valuable to me.

Another thought though - it's still a cheap programmer if it can be used as such...
« Last Edit: October 23, 2012, 02:40:34 14:40 by foxyrick » Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #29 on: October 23, 2012, 06:33:42 18:33 »

I wish I knew this sooner, I could have cancelled farnell order at least.. any way, what do you want to program with it?
Logged
Magnox
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 249

Thank You
-Given: 976
-Receive: 279


Oink!


« Reply #30 on: October 23, 2012, 07:31:38 19:31 »

Hopefully other stellaris boards, using the debug interface built into the launchpad. If the chips are still as bad as sn00p says though, that might not be worth the effort.
Logged
Gallymimu
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 704

Thank You
-Given: 151
-Receive: 214


« Reply #31 on: October 23, 2012, 07:40:23 19:40 »

I dunno, it doesn't look like any longer list of errata for a new processor than anything I've used in the past.

Just as an example here's a PIC32 errata from one of their early parts in the MIPS architecture.

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/80440J.pdf (to this day only a handful of them have even been fixed after 3 years!)  GEEZ.

What processor lines do you guys like that have a very low introduction errata rate?  My experience has been anything new from Microchip has a nice chunk of silicon and documentation errors.

At this point I always worry about switching to new architectures due to the "devil you know" vs "devil you don't know" gotcha.
Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #32 on: October 23, 2012, 08:14:40 20:14 »

True, the Sam7 was pretty good on the errata front from day one, nothing particularly bad.

Energy micro probably takes the award for best bug with a non functional trace port.

If it wasn't for the fact that the atmel line of processors (arm) became stagnant then I think we'd still be using those.
Logged
Gallymimu
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 704

Thank You
-Given: 151
-Receive: 214


« Reply #33 on: October 23, 2012, 09:07:49 21:07 »

True, the Sam7 was pretty good on the errata front from day one, nothing particularly bad.

Energy micro probably takes the award for best bug with a non functional trace port.

If it wasn't for the fact that the atmel line of processors (arm) became stagnant then I think we'd still be using those.

Interesting.  I've considered moving toward some ARM architechtures but I understand that opens a whole set of challenges in itself.  You are unhappy with the Atmel ARM offerings?  I'm actually interested in the TI Hercules series, but only because of medical device development.
Logged
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #34 on: October 24, 2012, 12:18:19 00:18 »

sn00p I believe that you were quite unlucky, we work only with TI processors (MSP430, Stellaris) and we are able to work with them with no problems, at a professional level. The only real problem we encountered was with a buggy RTC on an MSP430 model. USB are quite problematic from reading the errata also.

For most hobbyists, they won't even notice the problems mentioned in the errata... That is just my opinion of course! I am just saying that you make it sound as if TI processors are crap, and I think you are scaring people much more than they should be scared. You had a bad experience and I can understand your frustration, but I think that what the Launchpad is used for (and at 5$), you get 10 times more than it is worth, without running into any problems.

BTW, I don't work for TI or anything... Smiley
Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #35 on: October 24, 2012, 08:05:36 08:05 »

sn00p I believe that you were quite unlucky, we work only with TI processors (MSP430, Stellaris) and we are able to work with them with no problems, at a professional level. The only real problem we encountered was with a buggy RTC on an MSP430 model. USB are quite problematic from reading the errata also.

For most hobbyists, they won't even notice the problems mentioned in the errata... That is just my opinion of course! I am just saying that you make it sound as if TI processors are crap, and I think you are scaring people much more than they should be scared. You had a bad experience and I can understand your frustration, but I think that what the Launchpad is used for (and at 5$), you get 10 times more than it is worth, without running into any problems.

BTW, I don't work for TI or anything... Smiley

I do agree, hence why I did say that I don't think you can complain at the price of the board! 

However, with my professional cap on you'd still have to work hard to convince me to use another Stellaris in a product again, we just had too many issues with not just the devices, but the supply chain too (and I mean much more than the normal supply chain problems).

I will say that TIs support is for the most part excellent although they do have a habit of slipping into "politician" mode if you try asking detailed questions about specific issues.  Atmels support on the other hand was dire.

With regards to the Atmel product line, when we saw the SAM3 we were moderately impressed especially that they offered a migration path on some of the parts from the SAM7, they were pin compatible!  Fantastic!  Then we started reading the datasheets for them, the chips were far better in every respect apart from one.  They'd cut the amount of RAM from 64KB to 48KB.

We were left purplexed why you'd make a pin compatible chip to replace an older generation and then cut the amount of ram in it.  It was game over, we do a lot of signal processing and in one particular product had just a few hundred bytes of RAM remaining, the vast chunk of it taken up by our FFT requirements.  Incidentally, they do actually show some 64KB variants in their 3S family, but they appear to either very new or vapourware!

For those that have bought the launchpad, don't panic, I'm sure it'll do everything you want - just make sure you read the errata first to mitigate any potential issues you may come across.  Stellarisware is a very good set of libraries and is something I made great use of with the product we use the stellaris in.

Logged
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #36 on: October 24, 2012, 01:51:27 13:51 »

I think you are one level further compared to us, I would say we are developing products/solutions <1000 pieces range. In that scale, TI has a lot of info / libraries / etc, compared to others. Maybe as you go higher in volume production designs, things turn around!

We agree on the Launchpad, the reason I replied was because I saw that 5-10 posts after your comment everyone wanted to either cancel the order or throw the Launchpad away!  Huh
Logged
visn
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 51

Thank You
-Given: 582
-Receive: 97


« Reply #37 on: November 03, 2012, 12:57:59 12:57 »

Got my two boards in yesterday. Looking at the toolchain, would you suggest the CCS (1.3GB) download, or should I go IAR or Keil with sonsivri spice? Integration of the Stellarisware libraries are supported by TI for these alternatives.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #38 on: November 03, 2012, 09:13:45 21:13 »

This page should be helpful: http://tinyurl.com/bj2k9wg

I received mein today. I am thinking about downloading CCS, but it is too big. StellarisWare appears to support the compilers on that page.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2012, 09:17:04 21:17 by metal » Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #39 on: November 05, 2012, 09:49:13 09:49 »

I've used stellarisware with GNU compilers without a problem, although I generally build my own set of libraries, out of the box stellarisware is built for the lowest common denominator - it's possible to rebuild it so that it's more optimised for your target processor.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #40 on: November 05, 2012, 10:12:05 10:12 »

I downloaded CCS and stellarisware, and I am also watching tutorials on youtube, Getting Started with the Stellaris® LaunchPad: Chapter 1, and there is the main page for all videos, they are good to start with, thu a bit boring and you can't clearly see what he is doing on the IDE while explaining, but you can pick the steps while he is talking. I also found interesting project: LED Frequency Display Demonstration. The real main reference that every owner should look at is TI's page, the wiki is nicely written!
« Last Edit: November 05, 2012, 10:14:06 10:14 by metal » Logged
Langley
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 23

Thank You
-Given: 73
-Receive: 62


« Reply #41 on: November 06, 2012, 04:16:58 04:16 »

Looks like the $5 promo is about over. Price on TI store and Digikey is now $12.99 and Mouser is $9.65. Only Newark still shows $5.49, but none have any stock.

Still not a bad deal if that's the part you want to use, but the $15 STM32F4DISCOVERY board with 3-axis accelerometer, MEMS digital mic, and DAC w/ speaker driver has a lot more bang/buck. As Metal and others have noted, though, the TI Launchpads are MUCH better documented and supported. STM makes some nifty stuff, but documentation and support are not their strong suit in my experience. I did get my Discovery board going under Keil running a modified ver of their USB host mode demo with little problem, though, and nobody comes close to that price.
Logged
Parmin
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 582

Thank You
-Given: 494
-Receive: 133


Very Wise (and grouchy) Old Man


« Reply #42 on: November 06, 2012, 10:17:21 22:17 »

the $15 STM32F4DISCOVERY board with 3-axis accelerometer, MEMS digital mic, and DAC w/ speaker driver has a lot more bang/buck.

Well now, thats a nice board for nice price! I'll be ordering today.
The closest on this I think is C&K Mongoose (running arduino) for $99
Logged

If I have said something that offends you, please let me know, so I can say it again later.
visn
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 51

Thank You
-Given: 582
-Receive: 97


« Reply #43 on: November 11, 2012, 08:24:01 08:24 »

Hi, anyone experience any problems with the virtual uart? I installed CCS in a virtual machine and was able to download and run the demo examples, there was no problems programming the firmware. The Virtual uart shows up in device manager and I can open Hyperterminal or Putty. The program seems to be running but nothing shows up in in terminal.

I installed the drivers outside the virtual machine into the Win7 host and Putty communicates with it some of the time (fresh boot), if I fire up the virtual machine I can do nothing in the terminal, and it also fails thereafter in the host when I shut down the VM. (Programmer/ debugger always works fine)

It could be me though, but I never experienced any problems with VM's previously.
Logged
dcsmrgun
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Thank You
-Given: 13
-Receive: 11


« Reply #44 on: November 15, 2012, 10:45:48 22:45 »

Looks like the $5 promo is about over. Price on TI store and Digikey is now $12.99 and Mouser is $9.65. Only Newark still shows $5.49, but none have any stock.

Newark's price just jumped up too. I had four in my basket at the $5 price but decided to back down to two to play with. They'll have stock on 11/19 again so here's hoping everything works out.

I have two more on order from TI that I put in just under the gun when they still had their $5 price, but they're not scheduled to ship until late December Sad


As someone just getting into embedded development coming from traditional desktop programming, I found the Stellaris' documentation impeccable and StellarisWare is definitely making it easy to grasp concepts. I'm hoping to hit the ground running when my TI boards come in.

I also have an STM32F3Discovery which works really well, but I didn't find much that I liked about ST's documentation. It's not terrible or anything, but I think TI just blew everyone away.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2012, 10:48:05 22:48 by dcsmrgun » Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #45 on: November 15, 2012, 11:31:34 23:31 »

I also have an STM32F3Discovery which works really well, but I didn't find much that I liked about ST's documentation. It's not terrible or anything, but I think TI just blew everyone away.
I felt the same way!
Logged
dcsmrgun
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Thank You
-Given: 13
-Receive: 11


« Reply #46 on: November 15, 2012, 11:41:19 23:41 »

I don't know if this is a fair comparison, but I attended an ST lecture/demo for the STM32F3Discovery board last week and it was a nightmare. Granted I got a free board and a copy of IAR on a USB stick, but the entire day was the lecturer reading his notes in a monotone while clicking buttons on his laptop to compile example code. The TI lectures that are available on their development wiki feel much more in-depth and were much more enjoyable to follow along with.

So I guess to contrast:

I walked away from the TI workshop (online) enlightened
I walked away from the ST workshop (somewhat) confused.

Maybe it was different for people who were already well versed in the materials. Who knows.
Logged
sn00p
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 15

Thank You
-Given: 0
-Receive: 1


« Reply #47 on: November 16, 2012, 03:33:20 15:33 »

Hi, anyone experience any problems with the virtual uart? I installed CCS in a virtual machine and was able to download and run the demo examples, there was no problems programming the firmware. The Virtual uart shows up in device manager and I can open Hyperterminal or Putty. The program seems to be running but nothing shows up in in terminal.

I installed the drivers outside the virtual machine into the Win7 host and Putty communicates with it some of the time (fresh boot), if I fire up the virtual machine I can do nothing in the terminal, and it also fails thereafter in the host when I shut down the VM. (Programmer/ debugger always works fine)

It could be me though, but I never experienced any problems with VM's previously.

Is the "virtual uart" a CDC device provided by the demo firmware?

If so, theres a few things you probably need to be aware of. 

Under Windows (All versions) there are a lot of bugs with the microsoft CDC driver (usbser.sys).

Namely, if the bulk-in endpoint gets transmission failures, the usbser driver will stop polling the bulk in endpoint.  End result is that although your device appears to receive data quite happily from windows, you can't send data back to windows.  Only fix for this is to re-enumerate the device.

Also unplugging and replugging a CDC device while the "port" is open results in a "dead" device, that is to say that the device  looks like it's working but you cannot communicate with it.

Not saying that these are your issues, but it's helpful to be aware of these.

And finally (not really related) the fact that to use the CLASS driver you have to supply an .inf file.  Nice little earner for Microsoft if you want to avoid the unsigned driver errors (although they'll always work because the actual sys file is signed).

All these points have resulted in us dropping CDC in favour of using a HID device, max rate is 64KB/s but it's driverless and doesn't have these horrible bugs.
Logged
Gallymimu
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 704

Thank You
-Given: 151
-Receive: 214


« Reply #48 on: November 16, 2012, 04:26:46 16:26 »

Is the "virtual uart" a CDC device provided by the demo firmware?

If so, theres a few things you probably need to be aware of. 

Under Windows (All versions) there are a lot of bugs with the microsoft CDC driver (usbser.sys).

Namely, if the bulk-in endpoint gets transmission failures, the usbser driver will stop polling the bulk in endpoint.  End result is that although your device appears to receive data quite happily from windows, you can't send data back to windows.  Only fix for this is to re-enumerate the device.

Also unplugging and replugging a CDC device while the "port" is open results in a "dead" device, that is to say that the device  looks like it's working but you cannot communicate with it.

Not saying that these are your issues, but it's helpful to be aware of these.

And finally (not really related) the fact that to use the CLASS driver you have to supply an .inf file.  Nice little earner for Microsoft if you want to avoid the unsigned driver errors (although they'll always work because the actual sys file is signed).

All these points have resulted in us dropping CDC in favour of using a HID device, max rate is 64KB/s but it's driverless and doesn't have these horrible bugs.

I've seen these issue too.  Took forever to figure out that the stupid drivers were the problem and not my UART!  Your driver problem is honestly why we go with FTDI 230XS chips.  I understand that not all designs can tolerate the added cost but for small to medium volume it's nice because the drivers are ubiquitous and the chip is pretty cost effective (less than $2 at qty 100)
Logged
dcsmrgun
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Thank You
-Given: 13
-Receive: 11


« Reply #49 on: November 17, 2012, 07:36:05 19:36 »

Ugh, Newark just updated their expected in-stock dates and they've been pushed a month back. Is TI not making these in volume or what?
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #50 on: November 17, 2012, 08:05:23 20:05 »

The demand is extremely high, but look at MSP430 similar boards, they are still cheap. Away from the fact that the chip has bugs, most of us will not collide with them; the tutorials available alone with StellarisWare are seriously powerful tools to get started with good knowledge and understanding. Don't keep worrying about the price, even if it gets higher, it won't be truly high to worry about it..
Logged
dcsmrgun
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Thank You
-Given: 13
-Receive: 11


« Reply #51 on: November 18, 2012, 02:33:52 02:33 »

Oh not worried about price at all. The material is great and I'm working on working knowledge, there's just no substitute for getting your hands on the material Smiley
Logged
sarah90
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 111

Thank You
-Given: 7
-Receive: 11



« Reply #52 on: November 18, 2012, 06:19:24 18:19 »

I ordered and received 4 of these boards. Now I must figure out what to do with them. Did you notice that the boards contain two lm4f120 chips. One as the main chip, the other "just" for debugging. Seems to be overkill to me.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #53 on: November 18, 2012, 08:55:58 20:55 »

I am planning to build something similar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwq0-ocWkYk
Logged
sarah90
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 111

Thank You
-Given: 7
-Receive: 11



« Reply #54 on: November 18, 2012, 10:00:22 22:00 »

Yeah. I saw that video and think it is awesome. May be with an higher resolution and oled graphics display or something. The dsp functionality of the stellaris might be its main asset.

Posted on: November 18, 2012, 10:47:30 22:47 - Automerged

I just noticed that there is a color lcd booster pack available for the stellaris. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZVqXJTCjU That may be cool with the audio spectrum analyser.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #55 on: November 19, 2012, 05:00:32 05:00 »

This is a boosterpack, may someone would share it.
Logged
sarah90
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 111

Thank You
-Given: 7
-Receive: 11



« Reply #56 on: November 19, 2012, 03:41:27 15:41 »

I found this: http://e2e.ti.com/group/microcontrollerprojects/m/msp430microcontrollerprojects/664354.aspx

It was made for the msp430 and will work on stellaris. Don't know where to buy it as it is not an official ti booster pack.
Logged
metal
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2420

Thank You
-Given: 862
-Receive: 678


Top Topic Starter


« Reply #57 on: November 19, 2012, 08:09:21 20:09 »

I think the author's site is listed below that image. BTW, AVR Studio 6 is heading on the same track, there is a gallery for plugins that are free at the moment, but later on as the gallery matures, things will cost money.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2012, 08:11:25 20:11 by metal » Logged
xp338
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 36

Thank You
-Given: 249
-Receive: 47


« Reply #58 on: December 14, 2012, 09:33:39 21:33 »

Hi,
energia-0101E0009 is out.
Download from here:
https://github.com/energia/Energia/downloads

An Arduino like IDE, now support  Stellaris LM4F120 LaunchPad.
Logged
technovm
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 101

Thank You
-Given: 70
-Receive: 110



« Reply #59 on: March 06, 2013, 05:07:14 05:07 »

As alexisnik said, the stellaris launchpad ek-lm4f120xl has 2.54mm pitch pins with JTAG signals, can this be used to debug and program another board? If it can be used to program another board, will it work with lm4f120 series or can it program all stellaris controllers?

Has anyone tried it? I got the launchpad and would like to use stellaris controllers for my projects.

Thanks.
Logged
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #60 on: March 06, 2013, 12:34:40 12:34 »

YES, it can be used to program any Stellaris MCU (M3 and M4). I have programmed a LM3S9B92 I think.

The instructions are somewhere in the TI wiki, I don't have them handy...
Logged
chinninitin
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 142

Thank You
-Given: 152
-Receive: 38



« Reply #61 on: March 06, 2013, 02:53:09 14:53 »

EK-LM4F120XL board,
error programming

No ICDI device with USB VID:PID 1cbe:00fd found!
Failed!

I have CCS installed and licensed, LM flash programer working properly, but failed through energia, I am using win 7

any help?

chinni
« Last Edit: March 06, 2013, 03:16:38 15:16 by chinninitin » Logged
bigtoy
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 238

Thank You
-Given: 320
-Receive: 297


« Reply #62 on: March 07, 2013, 04:44:42 04:44 »

http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/stellaris_arm/f/901.aspx
Logged
technovm
Active Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 101

Thank You
-Given: 70
-Receive: 110



« Reply #63 on: March 07, 2013, 05:17:02 05:17 »

YES, it can be used to program any Stellaris MCU (M3 and M4). I have programmed a LM3S9B92 I think.

The instructions are somewhere in the TI wiki, I don't have them handy...

alexisnik can up please help out, what do I need to do to program another board from launchpad, should I cut the Jtag signals going to on board stellaris or just take the signals to another board. Which software did you use? Is debug possible on another board?

If you can give me the wiki link it would be great.

Thanks.

Posted on: March 07, 2013, 09:37:02 09:37 - Automerged

EK-LM4F120XL board,
error programming

No ICDI device with USB VID:PID 1cbe:00fd found!
Failed!

I have CCS installed and licensed, LM flash programer working properly, but failed through energia, I am using win 7

any help?

chinni

did you install ICDI drivers? You must install ICDI drivers first. Make sure there are not unknown devices in device manager. I have tested the launch pad with CCS Version: 5.2.1.00018 in win 7 pro, and the sample code from

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Getting_Started_with_the_Stellaris_EK-LM4F120XL_LaunchPad_Workshop

I tried launchpad with 3.5"QVGA LCD Display BoosterPack, downloaded and debugged sample code.
Logged
alexisnik
Junior Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 58

Thank You
-Given: 25
-Receive: 6


« Reply #64 on: March 08, 2013, 12:15:22 12:15 »

I believe it is this link:

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Stellaris_LM4F120_LaunchPad_Debug_How_To

It's been some time since I tried it...

I should work with any compiler (CCS / IAR at least...)
Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 [All]
Print
Jump to:  


DISCLAIMER
WE DONT HOST ANY ILLEGAL FILES ON THE SERVER
USE CONTACT US TO REPORT ILLEGAL FILES
ADMINISTRATORS CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR USERS POSTS AND LINKS

... Copyright © 2003-2999 Sonsivri.to ...
Powered by SMF 1.1.18 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC | HarzeM Dilber MC