NP-41 Emulator (may be)

[Chris Chung]

(04-13-2016 02:06 PM)Harald Wrote:  Hi Chris,

I have built my NP41 and was going to flash it using a launchpad. Then I discovered that I only had GND, Vcc, TxD and RxD on the pinheader. So two pins are missing compared to the NP41S. Is the procedure different in that case? Or do I just connect those four lines? Do I have to cross RxD and Txd between launchpad and NP41?

Cheers,
Harald

Edit: And even more questions:

1) Which file do I have to use? I can only find NP41S and NP42 files. Am I correct in assuming it is the NP42 one and it is supposed to be called NP41?

2) I have an MSP-FET430UIF here, but that would appear to be JTAG only - so no use for me

3) Are we using the UART Bootstrap loader? I also have an MSP-EXP430GS launchpad (which appears to be the one you use for flashing the NP42S). Will that work? Or do I have to get the MSP-EXP430FR4133?

4) Will the mspdebug tool work?

Cheers,
Harald

Harald,

The 4 pin connector on the left are marked G, +, R, T. They represent Ground, V+, Reset and Test. Sorry for the confusion, the R and T are not Rx and Tx.

1) my bad, I had upload the latest firmware. NP41.hex is the hex file you should use via a SBW programmer.

2) I have never used the MSP-FET430UIF (expensive), if it supports SBW (spy-bi-wire) then it could be used.

3) no, the stock BSL is difficult to use as it requires extra lines like DTR etc. Common usb-serial adaptors will not work.

4) yes, I am using the same one (mspdebug). I do use it via a launchpad as programmer. I can use the FR4133, FR5969, FR6989 and F5529 launchpads. You just need to redirect the jumpers (remove jumper blocks and use female to female jumper wires) for the dual line header. Here is a photo of my current setup (using the F5529 as it is smaller).

   

Also the new firmware I just uploaded has the uart bootloader (my own creation, not the stock one). You can use the same procedure to try it out file is NP41.bin. The ROM download also works. But everything is kind of not mature (I just finished them this morning). You can see I temporarily attached (fiction fitted) a 4 pin right angle header beside the "ON" key for uart testing.
If I am making new PCBs, I will find a permanent place to put the uart Tx / Rx pins.