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Digital Dust - A further Journey into Nano Computing?
This week I have been working on various MSP430 projects including a prototype board based on the MSP430FR2433.This is a very small chip in a 4mm square package - which doesn't make it really easy to...
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Building WiNode 5 - Part 4
WiNode Lives!After a weekend of hard graft, I have some samples of the WiNode 5 board in various states of build - with three of them up and running code.I also built up one of my FT812 "EVITA" video...
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Experimenting with New Devices - Part 3
In this short series of posts, I have looked at alternative processors to the ATmega1284 for my "Neo-Retro" Computing platform - based on my WiNode 5 and EVITA board stack.WiNode 5 - shown below, has a...
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Bootloading Blues
A previously unpublished posting from February 9th that has launched me on a wonderful voyage of discovery of the MSP430 series of microcontrollers. As Kennedy said in September 1962...We choose to go...
View ArticleThe March of MSP430 Progress
Mad as a March Hardware EngineerWe are almost 3 weeks into March, and already it has been a very busy month in terms of both hardware and software developments.To give some context to my recent posts,...
View ArticleBeware the Ides of March
This is the second summary post for my weekly MSP430 activities.I am at that age where if I don't write something down, I will forget it... and if I do write something down, I will forget it in about 2...
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ChipStick - An Small Scale Experimental Forth Machine
Last week, I wrote about the $5 Forth Computer, and showed an early breadboard version using an MSP430FR2433 mounted on a prototyping adaptor and plugged into a breadboard.Well, I am pleased to report...
View ArticleChipStick - Applications
IntroductionChipStick is a tiny 16 bit microcomputer attached to a PC via a USB cable. It comes with up to 256K bytes of non-volatile memory - uniquely using ferro-electric memory.It has up to 16...
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Venturing Forth - Part 1
Has our coding efficiency evolved much in 70 years?When Charles H. Moore began developing a set of tools to allow him to write programs more efficiently in the 1960s, computers were rare beasts, and...
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Building ChipStick - A Construction Guide
Nobody is expecting you to build a ChipStick from scratch - unless you are very keen.The ability to work with tiny SMT parts is not one everyone possesses, but it can quite easily be learned, and with...
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The Great MSP430 Bootloader Swindle - Part 2
Just over a month ago I talked about the MSP430 bootloader - commonly known as BSL - or bootstrap-loader.Almost every MSP430 has the facility to load code via this ROM based bootloader - and when first...
View ArticleThanks for the Memories
I have spent the weekend, on and off, sorting out some memory test functions for a small computer I am developing. These test functions are written in pidgin-C (my own special dialect) and although...
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Graphical Distractions - Using Low Cost Hardware to Enhance the User Experience
IntroThese days, when you can buy a 7" tablet for $50, there is all the more reason for makers and hackers to want to become more engaged with up to the minute 7" touchscreen technology for their...
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ChipStick - I/O Magic!
Project UpdateFirst a few words about the current status of the ChipStick project.This week, the first of the prototype ChipSticks have been sent out to the "Early Adopters" - those with the skills and...
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ChipStick - Initial Orders
When the team at Cambridge got the EDSAC digital stored program computer to first run on May 6th 1949 - it was a major leap forward for the fledgling British computer scientists.The "Initial Orders"...
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ChipStick - A Small Scale Experimental Forth Machine - First Forth!
Two weeks ago, I introduced a new project, ChipStick - a small dev-board based on the MSP430FR2433 16-bit microcontroller.The aim of ChipStick is to provide interactive programmable Smart hardware to...
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Adventures in Forth Land
This week, Matthias Koch sent me the files for his Mecrisp Forth MSP430 - ported specially across to the MSP430FR2433 which is used on ChipStick.In this post - something of a tutorial, we look at the...
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More Distractions of the Mind - Building Retro Computers - Part 1
I2C Hex Keypad & 8 digit Display - about $2.50Early computers traditionally had rows of indicator lamps to show the state of their registers. This allowed the service engineer at a glance to check...
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The Windmills of Your Mind...... Part 1
Occasionally, moving within the open hardware circles, you stumble across a really neat bit of technology, affordable, well thought out and well implemented, and you think, yeah - wouldn't it be cool...
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New Infrastructure
Creating a new Universal Expansion Board "UXB-101"For some months I have been creating new designs using a 50mm x 50mm standard shield format - which adds an extra 8 pins to the familiar Arduino...
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