The MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad Development Kit is an easy-to-use microcontroller development board for the low-power and low-cost MSP430G2x MCUs. It has on-board emulation for programming and debugging and features a 14/20-pin DIP socket, on-board buttons and LEDs & BoosterPack Plug-in Module pinouts that support a wide range of modules for added functionality such as wireless, displays & more.
The MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad also comes with 2 MSP430 devices, with up to 16kB Flash, 512B RAM, 16MHz CPU speed and integrated peripherals such as 8ch 10-bit ADC, timers, serial communication (UART, I2C & SPI) & more!
You can browse all documentation online with TI Resource Explorer and start development with the online CCS Cloud IDE. Other professional development environments are also available, such as TI’s Eclipse-based Code Composer Studio and IAR Embedded Workbench.
Here is a picture of the board I will be using
Here is the pinout
Features
The LaunchPad development board features:
o 14-/20-pin DIP (N) socket
o Built-in flash emulation for debugging and programming
o 2 programmable LEDs
o 1 power LED
o 1 programmable button
o 1 reset button
There are a couple of development options available including Code Composer and the Energia development platform. Fans of the Arduino IDE will like the Energia option as its based heavily on that, it in fact looks very similar to one of the older versions of teh Arduino IDE but this does mean it doesn’t have some of the newer features.