On Sep 3, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Kim Toms wrote: > I'm attempting to use mspgcc on an OS X (Snow Leopard) system. I have a > MSP-FET430UIF USB based programmer for the target board. [...] > Back on OS X (Snow Leopard) mspdebug seems to be suggesting that I need some > sort of serial port.
I went through getting mspdebug working on my Snow Leopard system just last night. Mspdebug talks directly to the eZ430-RF2500 (but still may need a "codeless" kernel extension to keep the kernel from trying to use the device for its own purposes), but a serial port driver is needed for the MSP-FET430UIF and the eZ430-MSP430F2013 dongle. I found links to both the pre-compiled driver and its source code here: http://e2e.ti.com/support/interface/digital_interface/f/130/t/55982.aspx I downloaded both, but the pre-compiled binaries worked for me. The binaries are here: http://e2e.ti.com/support/interface/digital_interface/m/videos__files/198722.aspx You'll need to copy the .kext file in the binary package into /System/Library/Extensions, then change its ownership and permissions like this: sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/TIVCPSerial.kext sudo chmod 755 /System/Library/Extensions/TIVCPSerial.kext You'll also need to modify the Info.plist file in the .kext package so that the MSP-FET430UIF will be recognized (it's probably easier to do this before copying it into the Extensions folder and changing its ownership and permissions. The documentation at the above link suggests that the change needs to be made in the source code, but it can be done on the pre-compiled kernel extension. Open up that Info.plist file in the Property List Editor (double-clicking the .plist file should do that), find the IOKitPersonalities section, copy one of the existing entries with "3410" in their name under there, then change the copy as follows: * Rename the entry to something like "MSP-FET430UIF" * Optionally, change IOTTYBase Name to something like "MSP-FET430UIF" * Change bcdDevice to 257 * Change idProduct to 62512 After doing all of this stuff, you can load the kernel extension like this: sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/TIVCPSerial.kext If all goes well, then when you plug in the UIF, a pair of device nodes for it should show up under /dev, looking something like these: /dev/cu.MSP-FET430UIF640 /dev/tty.MSP-FET430UIF640 A dialog box may also pop up asking you to configure a new network interface. You can cancel it each time, or you can go into Preferences and deactivate the device entry that got created for the UIF. Depending on how comfortable you already are editing plist files and installing kernel extensions under OS X, I may or may not have left out important details... so feel free to ask more questions if what I wrote above doesn't get you all the way there. I also typed most of this from memory, so mistakes could have snuck in. Note that I've verified that my MSP-FET430UIF is recognized by my Mac, but I haven't used it with mspdebug yet. I did successfully use mspdebug with my eZ430-MSP430F2013 dongle (which appears to use the same driver as the UIF) and my eZ430-RF2500 last night. Good luck! -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <[email protected]> Web page: http://www.nf6x.net/ GnuPG public key available from my web page.
