Controlling MSP430 with computer (USB?)

Question

I'm looking to control a bunch of LEDs from my computer, with a TI MSP430 or similar.
My computer is a Macbook Air, and so it looks like the only port I can communicate with is USB. The MSP430 has a USB port, but I can't find any information about using the USB port for anything besides programming the chip. Is there a way around this, to use USB to communicate with the board?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you are using one of the processors with built in USB hardware then you should look at this Texas Instruments Page which describes the capabilities of the MSP USB. It includes links to the USB software stack that you will need to implement an HID class device.

Answer 2

I see two more options here. You can also use:

a) USB <-> LPT adapter to control the LEDs directly — in this case the schematics are extremely simple. See how it's done;

b) USB <-> COM or USB <-> RS232 adapter to communicate with the controller via RS232 — in this case you'll have to implement some simple protocol for communication with the controller, but the whole solution would still be much simpler than the one with USB.

Answer 3

The MSP430 Series 5 and Series 6 micro controllers (i.e. MSP430x6xx and MSP430x5xx) have built in USB modules that allow communication from PC and could be used to control the MSP430 via USB. Download the MSP430 USB Developers package here: http://www.ti.com/tool/msp430usbdevpack and use the USB CDC or HID API stacks to develop an application as per your requirements. In case you are using CDC(COM port) you may use a Terminal program to send the commands to control LEDs or if you use the HID stack, you may use the hidDemo PC software included in the Developers package to send/receive commands.