A Mcu Based Eeprom Reader With Usb Connection - Work In Progress Options

[ldotsfan]

Since unicron1 released the PonyProg/SI-Prog based eeprom reader, some things have changed:

1. It's harder to find a PC with a serial port. It's much easier to find USB ports.
2. unicron's design makes some demands on the RS232 voltage levels which are not met on all serial ports. For details, search for obcd's posts on the topic.
3. MCU designs have become prevalent. Arduino for example became popular.

Some factors to consider when selecting a new eeprom reader design:

1. It must use an USB port and stay within USB limits.
2. It must use widely available components or is widely available from many distributors.
3. It must be cheap, ie less than $5.
4. It should be portable, support for Windows, Linux, OS X.
5. All the needed software should be freely available or open source.
6. It should be easy to use.

Texas Instruments MSP430 Launchpad (MSP-EXP430G2) is a MCU development kit used for the new eeprom reader. It cost less than $4.50 , comes with the mini-USB cable to connect to PC's USB and is available from major distributors (Mouser, Arrow, Digi-Key, Newark/Element14, AvnetExpress and TI themselves).
Software: CCS5 , IAR Embedded Workbench KickStart. But I am not using any of the 2 above. I prefer Energia which is portable on major OSes. Energia is an Arduino like IDE: https://github.com/energia/Energia/wiki/_pages.

I'm testing both Launchpad ver 1.5 and 1.0 with different MCUs (MSP430G2553IN20 and MSP430G2231IPN14).

Pinout of Launchpad:
Launchpad Signal Xbox
1. P1.6 SCL LPC Pin 13
2. P1.7 SDA. LPC Pin 14
Remove the jumper on P1.6.
Diagram from Energia Wiki: https://github.com/energia/Energia/wiki/Hardware

CODE

                                  +--\-/--+
                            VCC   1|       |20  GND
               (LED1) (A0)  P1.0  2|       |19  XIN
   *(TXD/RXD) (TA0.0) (A1)  P1.1  3|   M   |18  XOUT
   *(TXD/RXD) (TA0.1) (A2)  P1.2  4|   S   |17  TEST
                 (S2) (A3)  P1.3  5|   P   |16  RST#  (S1)
                      (A4)  P1.4  6|   4   |15  P1.7  (A7)         (SDA) (MISO) depends on chip
              (TA0.0) (A5)  P1.5  7|   3   |14  P1.6  (A6) (TA0.2) (SCL) (MOSI) (LED2)
                            P2.0  8|   0   |13  P2.5
                            P2.1  9|       |12  P2.4
                            P2.2 10|       |11  P2.3
                                   +-------+

*(TA0.2): Only flavors with a comparator have TA0.2 on PIN 6
*(TXD/RXD): TimerSerial: P3 = TXD, P4 = RXD; Hardware Serial: P3 = RXD, P4 = TXD
* RED_LED = LED1 = P1_0 = pin 2
* GREEN_LED = LED2 = P1_6 = pin 14
* PUSH2 = S2 = P1_3 = pin 5

Software needed:
1. Installation of drivers on major OSes: https://github.com/energia/Energia/wiki/Getting-Started
2. Download of Energia: http://energia.github.com/Energia/download/

I will complete the post in due time.

This post has been edited by ldotsfan: Aug 25 2012, 06:22 AM

[ldotsfan]

This post may be the magic bullet.

I hope to test this soon.

[w0dash]

Is there already a solution using an Arduino Uno ?

[ldotsfan]

Any Arduino should work too. Similiar code but different pinouts for I2C (SDA and SCL).