Two Good Things

Two Good Things have happened!

1. MSP430 development board for $4.30
Texas Instruments have a new value line of MSP430 processors that seem to be targetting PIC users. They're 16-bit, pretty cheap, and available in DIP packages. Best of all, they're doing "LaunchPad" development boards for a ridiculous $4.30. It includes two of new the MSP430 chips, and they're currently doing free shipping as well. Sadly mspgcc doesn't support them yet, but both TI's Code Composer Studio and IAR's Embedded Workbench have free editions available that are effectively unlimited for the value line chips (they impose a maximum program size, but it's larger than the ROM available on these chips anyway).

The only down-side is that they appear to be on quite a long back order. I ordered mine a couple of weeks ago and was told that they were currently out of stock. No news since, so I think I'll be waiting quite a long time. For about £3, I'm not complaining.

2. A new free PCB design tool
RS Components have released a free PCB design tool called DesignSpark. I've had real problems finding good free PCB design tools, but from the brief play around I've had this one looks excellent for hobbyist use. The user interface in particular seems simple and clean, especially compared to some of the other tools I've tried (Target 3000! comes to mind...) Definitely worth a look.