OT: Arduino or TI Launchpad

Opry99er · April 29, 2015

There are different flavors of each, but for the comparably priced units, the Launchpad seems to out-perform the Arduino.

Both are used by the "Make" community, both are capable of prototyping chips for use in electronics projects...

Arduino has a much larger user base...

Both have IDEs, and Energia is a cross-platform IDE that services both (with minor pinout mods in programming for the Launchpad).

Gonna get one of these in a week or two... While the Launchpad comes with multiple chips and at a much lower cost, I don't know if that offsets the ground-game the Arduino has.

Just thinking out loud here.

UKRetrogamer · April 29, 2015

This is a little like comparing a Raspberry Pi to a BeagleBone (which, incidentally, also uses a Ti chipset).

What really matters is the user-base and support network. I went along the Pi/Arduino route; even going as far as buying Arduino shields (or hats?) for my Pi so I could compile Arduino sketches on the Pi and then upload them directly to an Arduino sat directly on top.

Before the advent of the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, the BeagleBone (among others) had an edge on performance but this all fell by the wayside if I had a problem - the Pi community is so large with users putting their Pis into so many diverse projects, there is a high chance someone had stumbled across the same issues or problems before.

While I've tried a number of these types of boards (I have Arduino Uno, Leonardo, Mega, MegaSDK, An Udoo, Intel Galileo, BeagleBone and Espruino), I always fall back to using Pi and Arduino. Granted, I've not yet researched the Launchpad so I need to look more closely before I can give an informed opinion but I'm sticking with Pi/Arduino.

Edited April 29, 2015 by UKRetrogamer

Opry99er · April 29, 2015

Thanks for your input. It seems that is the general consensus amongst enthusiasts of those systems... Something to be said for loyalty.

Tursi · April 30, 2015

It boils down to "what do you want to do?" Arduino seems to be one of the easiest to learn, though, which is a good point for starting there. But you're never locked in, next project you can choose again!

Dexter · April 30, 2015

There are different flavors of each, but for the comparably priced units, the Launchpad seems to out-perform the Arduino.

Artikle:

http://makezine.com/magazine/make-36-boards/which-board-is-right-for-me/

Although the TI LAUNCHPAD MSP430 might be interesting, Arduino has a vast community and a superior support, the AVR’s and it’s hardware structure are practically common knowledge.

I started out with Arduino, without ever having bought an actual Arduino board. The basic Arduino Uno can be made in a matter of minutes on a breadboard, you can prototype on a circuit till it has proven it selves, and assemble it on perfboard, starting a new project on the breadboard. The fun with Arduino is, you don’t have to invent the wheel, a lot of imaginable things like buttons, LEDS, displays, analog in / out’s, and much more has been done, and has its own library. There’s also an online reference guide with examples.

By the time you’re going to feel restraint in choosing a different AVR or programming freedom, you can download ATMEL-Studio, from there you can program any AVR in C or assembly language. Then, you also need an ATMEL brand programming device, cheapest: http://www.atmel.com/tools/avrispmkii.aspx for about $40.00. Don’t buy a clone, because it’s not going to work on the ATMEL software.

This is a major step, but gives you a lot of freedom.

If you’re like me, someone who’d like to *KNOW HOW* things work, it would be a good idea to make your own Arduino.

To buy the right equipment (major parts) from the beginning, you’d need:

AVRISP mkII programmer http://www.atmel.com/tools/avrispmkii.aspx

ATMega328P-PU, with bootloader http://www.ebay.com/itm/140810128013

(not necessarily, because you have a programmer to put the bootloader onto the chip, from there on you can use the USB to TTL UART converter)

I got caught up and gathered the most needed items from the same seller:

ATMega328P-PU without bootloader http://www.ebay.com/itm/281555324715

16 MHz crystal http://www.ebay.com/itm/251678040489

22pF capacitors http://www.ebay.com/itm/261283992081

100nF capacitors http://www.ebay.com/itm/251607945675

USB to TTL UART converter http://www.ebay.com/itm/381101592840