Good news first. I will be presenting a clinic on The LanuchPad for Model Railroading at the Streetsville Junction NMRA Convention in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada April 26th and 27th. I am scheduled to present Friday evening and Saturday morning. In the 1 hour presentation I will attempt to outline the whys and the hows of using LaunchPads as part of your model railroad empire. If all goes well, I will have a traveling display of LaunchPads animating things like crossing flashers, traffic lights, 3-color signaling, and a back-and-forth shuttle. There will be a CD handout and a door prize of a free LaunchPad at each session.
The Convention will be held April 26, 27 and 28th at:
Four Points by Sheraton Mississauga Meadowvale
2501 Argentia Rd.
Mississauga, ON
L5N 4G8
Here's a link to the convention homepage:
http://streetsvillejunction.com/
Now for the not so good news. I was asked by the organizers of the convention to show them where they could purchase some LaunchPads to have in stock at the Credit Valley hobby shop for the convention. I went to TI's site for the LaunchPad and the LaunchPads were out of stock with a four week expected delivery. That's not too unusual. What was news is that TI's price is now $5. I was wondering how TI could produce the LaunchPad for $4.30, so the price increase is not surprising.
Credit Valley Railroad Company will have LaunchPads in stock for the convention. Which is convenient for Canadians as you will not have to deal with exchange, customs and shipping.
If, however, you live in the US and you want to snag some LaunchPads at something like the old price, Newark and Mouser have them in stock.
As of yesterday, Newark Electronics has 347 in stock at $4.35 ea.
http://www.newark.com/texas-instruments/msp-exp430g2/msp430g2xx-launchpad-flash-emulation/dp/77R3863
Mouser Electronics has 6281 in stock at $4.60 each:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/MSP-EXP430G2/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMv1ORdfpzTN%252bMwZ3%252b5KGk2B
Mouser is actually cheaper if you select US Postal service for shipping. I ordered another dozen for myself (and to populate the display I intend to build). While I hate to see the price go up because the $4.30 price was so unbelievable; I'll chalk it up to the devaluation of the US dollar.
Will you make the presentation available on-line? Or in some other way for those of us who live far too far away to attend?
ReplyDeleteI don't see why not.
DeleteThanks for that Terry!
DeleteMy 10 units have arrived from Newark and will be stored for later use. The relays ex HK are enroute too!
ReplyDeleteI just listened to the Model RailCast show podcast. Very interesting podcast!! Thanks for the alert on these development boards. However - checking the two distributors - their prices are now: Newark $10.00 & Mouser $12.80. Am I in the wrong place?
ReplyDeleteBob:
DeleteUnfortunately, Newark and Mouser seem to have caught up with TI's price increase and done them one better. Probably best to buy from TI from now on, at least the shipping is free! (or it was, who knows now?).
Terry
Terry,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the informative podcast on the Launchpad. I was wondering what I need to purchase to "familiarize" myself with programming the MSP430. I would just be looking to flash an on board LED, change the frequency and such.
It seems the software is free. But is this all I would need besides that ? http://www.newark.com/texas-instruments/msp-exp430g2/msp430g2xx-launchpad-flash-emulation/dp/77R3863
Also is Grace free? Seems to be a GUI dev tool.
All you will need is Code Composer Studio; and, yes, it is free. When you load CCS, Grace is loaded with it. Grace does not crate user interfaces, unfortunately. It is a graphical user interface used to set up some of the more esoteric functions of the LaunchPad.
DeleteI see that TI has now raised the price of the LaunchPad to $9.99. I don't believe that they actually shipped any at the $5 price, they went straight to $10
I feel bad now incidentally promoting the LaunchPad and TI raises the price!
Terry
No big deal Terry. TI is just jacking it up because it is taking off and demand is high.
Delete