Board Doesn't Turn On

Some times you may have issues getting to board to turn on. To fix this, just leave the board off for a bit (like 1 minute) and then turn the board on again. You just need to give it some time before turning the board on again. This problem happens because there is a capacitor that needs to completely discharge before the MSP430 can start up in the correct process to run your code. If your board is not turning on, make sure that you give it a minute before you try to turn it on again. Give the capacitor ample time to discharge before turning the board on again.

LEDs Don't Turn On Like I Tell Them To

The MSP430 seems to save the previous state that the LEDs were in. It is a good idea to turn all of the LEDs off inside of the setup() function. This way you know that when your board starts, that all of the LEDs are off. From there, make sure you go back through your code thoroughly to determine exactly what it is doing. Maybe write some comments to help you remember what each part is doing. Remember, computers are dumb, they can only do what you tell them to.

Com Port Errors

These are some of the most common errors when you are programming these boards. When you go to upload the program you may get a sport_open error or it may take forever and return saying that the upload failed. This is because you are connected to the wrong com port. To fix this, go up to the tools drop down box, go down to serial port, and select the correct serial port as shown in the image below. Energia also seems to have an issue if the correct Com Port is Com10 or above. If this is the case, you may have to disconnect some of your other devices. The steps to select the correct Com Port are shown below.

Can't Find a Com Port That Works

If after trying all of the Com Ports and none of them work, then you are most likely missing the Silicon Labs Driver that is required to communicate with the board. The required driver is located on the Frisbee Page under Installation Instructions. Once the driver is installed, then you will be able to communicate with the board correctly. Make sure that the board is unplugged when you install the driver as this may cause issues.

I Don't Have Access to the Com Ports

Sometimes, you may not have access to the Com Ports. These ports can be used to do a lot of things that the average user may not be able to do. In which case, you may have to run energia as an administrator or as root depending on your operating system. This is just a simple permissions issues that can quickly be fixed.

Windows Run as Administrator

1. On the Start menu, locate the program that you want to always run as an administrator.
2. Right-click the application's shortcut, and then click Properties.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Compatibility tab.
4. Do one of the following:
- To apply the setting to the currently logged-on user, select the Run This Program As An Adminstrator check box, and then click OK.
- To apply the setting to all users on the computer and regardless of which shortcut is used to start the application, click Change Setting For All Users to display the Properties dialog box for the application’s .exe file, select the Run This Program As An Administrator check box, and then click OK twice.

MacOS and Linux Run as Root

For Linux:
Run the program as root for example $sudo ./energia use the & to fork it to the background.

For MacOS:
You use sudo, just like Linux, but you must point it directly to the executable.
Ex: sudo /Path/To/Application/ApplicationName.app/Path/To/Executable
It will most likely be something like:
sudo /Applications/Energia.app/Contents/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub
You can use sudo -b to place the program in the background.

Incorrect Board Issue

Usually the first time you go to program in Energia, you need to select which board you want to program. We have made this version of Energia only have one board so you know which one to select and you don't select the wrong one. However, you still need to go to the drop down box and select the correct board. Go to Tools and down to Board and select the board. This is shown in the image below.

How to Program the Frisbee Board

The process to program the board is quite simple and is listed below.

Steps to Program the Board

1. Turn off your Frisbee
2. Connect a micro USB cable to the connector on the board.
3. Upload the program you wrote onto the Frisbee using Energia.
4. Unplug your board.
5. Wait around 30 secs before turning the Frisbee on.
6. Turn Frisbee on and repeat process for more programming fun!

-OR-

1. Turn Frisbee On.
2. Connect micro USB cable to the connector on the board.
3. Upload the progarm you wrote onto the Frisbee using Energia.
4. Unplug your board.

Syntax Errors

Syntax errors are errors that happen because of incorrect programming "punction" or use. Some of the most common are that something is spelled similar, but different from something else. If they are not spelled the same, they are different. Another issues is forgetting a semicolon ";". These need to be at the end of almost every line, the only exceptions are functions, if statements, for statements, etc (statements that use braces {} ). This can be tricky to find and resolve. Go through your code carefully looking for anything that is mispelled or missing a semicolon. Also, it is case-sensitive, meaning that HIGH and high are not the same. Make sure that everything is spelled exactly as it should be. One of the final errors is making sure the every time you have an open curly-bracket "{" or open parenthesis "(", you need to have a matching one ( "}" or ")" respectively). Remember, computers are dumb, they only do what you tell them to and will give you an error if they don't understand.

Are There Other Commands Available

There are a number of other functions that Energia has available. If you would like to know more, we suggest that you look at the Energia Language Reference found on their website.

Can't I Just Use Arduino

The answer is no. Without getting too in-depth, Arduino and Energia have different upload protocols for their devices. The MSP430 is incompatible with the protocols used by Arduino. Therefore, you must use Energia if you want to program the MSP430.