Re: Req: (Free) Embedded Platforms for Education

On Jul 17, 5:24 am, gouaich <goua...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

considered as hot topics to be though at universities. I will be in
charge of managing a complete course for graduate students on embedded
system with a focus on software engineering and operating systems for
embedded platforms.

There are literally millions of possibilities, and most of them are
supported by free software. The choice really comes down to what
you're trying to teach.

I'd suggest you look at the TI ez430, which is a USB-based debugger
for the MSP430F2xxx series micros. It is the size of a USB memory
stick and includes a removable target board with the micro on it.

The reasons I recommend this are:

- Works on legacy-free PCs
- MSP430 is a very easy architecture to learn. von Neumann
architecture, very orthogonal instruction set.
- The micro includes timers, ADCs, PWM generators and all sorts of
goodies.
- Includes debugger, assembler and C compiler which is, for all
practical purposes, unlimited in functionality.
- $19.95 retail price (frequently available free at TI seminars). I'm
sure TI would give you an educational discount.
- TI also sells additional target boards containing the micro, debug
header, one LED, and all micro pins wired out to pads, Three boards
for $9.95.
- Most of the micros in the series are also available in DIP package
if your students want to breadboard or hand-build something.

This kit is adequate to teach realtime control and sensing
applications in C, C++ (yes!) or assembler. There are even RTOSes
ported to this micro, although that's really pushing the envelope.

.

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