This is the fourth entry of a five-part series to help you learn more about our robust MSP430 tool chain. Don’t miss Parts 1, 2 and 3 on this blog from past weeks, because this week we focus on the MSP430 flasher.
MSP430 Flasher is an open-source, shell-based interface for programming any of our MSP430 microcontrollers through an MSP Debug Stack and provides the most common functions on the command line. It provides the user with easy access to MSP430 MCUs through a FET via JTAG or Spy-Bi-Wire (SBW).
The benefit of using the MSP430 Flasher is that you can download binary files (.txt/.hex) directly to the MSP430 MCU’s memory without the need of an integrated development environment (IDE) like TI’s Code Composer Studio v6 (CCS) or IAR’s Embedded Workbench. It can also be used to extract firmware directly from a device, set hardware breakpoints and lock JTAG access permanently.
The MSP430 MCU Flasher runs from an executable file called MSP430Flasher.exe. Here is an example to show how to upload the firmware with MSP430 Flasher.
- Get free MSP430 Flasher. Once the download is complete, run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Generate the .txt/.hex version of the firmware that you intend to upload, for instance “Firmware.txt”. Copy the firmware into the folder where the flasher is installed. By default it’s “C:\ti\MSP430Flasher_1.3.3”.
- Open a new command prompt window and navigate to the folder. Run the following command and hit “enter” to execute the uploading.
MSP430Flasher.exe -n Unknown -w "Firmware.txt" -v -g -z [VCC]
If the firmware is uploaded successfully, you should see a result similar to the one in the screenshot below. This process is easy to execute and should take only a few minutes to update your firmware.
The MSP430 Flasher can run from any directory location. This makes it easy to provide an update option for new firmware. The MSP430 Flasher officially supports the following operating systems:
- Windows 7 32/64 bit
- Windows 8 32/64 bit
- Windows XP 32/64 bit
- Ubuntu 12.04 32 bit
MSP430 Flasher is not a debug tool. Its main purpose is to serve as a light-weight alternative to using IDEs for simple target code programming or reading operations.
Get your free MSP430 Flasher and try it today.