Hello World

The ez430 based hardware including the MSP430 LaunchPad and the Stellaris LaunchPad have a USB interface that incorporates an in-circuit debugger as well as a serial interface. This creates a virtual COM port to attach to the target board. This is useful for outputting debug information to see what is happening. In these examples, this hardware UART is used as a debug console. For this example you'll need a terminal program like Microsoft HyperTerm, or TeraTerm (my recommendation) or CoolTerm for OSX.

The first step is to determine which COM port the target board is using. In the Open: text box, enter devmgmt.msc Then hit the Enter key or click on the OK button to launch the Device Manager.
 * On Windows XP, Click on Start and then Run.
 * On Windows 7, Click on Start, then All Programs : Accessories : Run.

In the Device Manager, click on the + sign next to "Ports (COM & LPT)" to see which COM port is used for the development board.
 * If using an MSP430 based development board then it will be labeled "MSP430 Application UART (COM8)" or similar
 * If using a Stellaris based development board then it will be labeled "Stellaris Virtual COM Port (COM26)" or similar

Use this as the COM port in the terminal program. Note: To ensure that the hardware uses the same COM port, always plug the board into the same USB port. I label all my ports as to which hardware goes in which to make life easier.

Now open up the terminal program, select the COM port from above (e.g. COM8) and configure the serial port as:
 * Port: COM8
 * Baud Rate: 9600 if using MSP430, 115200 if using Stellaris (9600 is the maximum that the MSP430 LaunchPad can handle)
 * Data: 8 Bit
 * Parity: None
 * Stop: 1 bit
 * Flow Control: none

The Hello World example will output to this console.

Download and start the Hello World example. For more information on how to download and start the debugger, see the Button Interrupt example page.

You should now see the LED blink and the text "Hello world" output to the console. If you don't see the text displayed then check your console software configuration.



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