This chapter provides a review of the most important aspects of the hardware of the MSP430. It is a product of Texas Instruments, which I abbreviate to TI. The aim is to cover enough background for Chapter 4, where I tour through some simple programs that demonstrate the main functions. Individual peripherals are covered in detail later, as are some of the more intricate features of the CPU. The general plan follows roughly the layout of the data sheet. I concentrate on the original range of MSP430 devices, which can address 64 KB of memory. The extended MSP430X can address 1 MB but is otherwise similar. I point out the major differences but defer the details until Chapter 11.

I take as an example the MSP430F2013, or F2013 for short, which was introduced in 2005. It is one of the smallest MSP430s, with only 14 pins, but nevertheless contains a broad range of functions. It is also the target in TI's low-cost eZ430-F2013 development tool and its MSP430FG4618/F2013 Experimenter's Board. The F2003 is identical except for a smaller flash memory and a correspondingly lower price. The notation F20x3 refers to both the F2003 and F2013. It is common to find sets of devices that differ only in their memory; there are four variants of FG4616 FG4619, for instance. The F2003 and F2013 constitute one pair in a related set of devices (F2001, F2002, F2003, F2011, F2012, and F2013), known collectively as F20xx. The pairs differ mainly in their analog inputs.