BerkeleyX: EE40LX Electronic Interfaces Module 1

I just started the Berkley edX course on Electronic Interfaces.  The ultimate goal is to build a small robot and they give you latitude along the way on how to build it.  At the end of Module 1 (just before the quiz) you put together a voltage regulator to power the MSP430G2 from a battery.  Here is mine, running the hello world sketch:

Their design calls for a 9V battery and a LM1086 3.3V voltage regulator.  I'm using a LD1117AV33 and a 4xAA switched battery pack because that is what I happen to have on hand.  I made 100 on the quiz.  So far, so good...

Stripped down Stand-alone M430G2553

It is amazing how easy and inexpensive it is to program a MSP430G2553 (or any number of other chips in the value line series) and then run it as a stand-alone microcontroller.  The photo below shows a MSP430G2553 being programmed with a MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad.  The LaunchPad costs $9.99 at Mouser.  The MSP430G2553 costs $2.80 as a single, $2.25 if you buy in lots of 10. 

This is a minimal setup to program the chip.  Once it is programmed, you can remove the TEST and RST jumpers.

Thanks to Kerry Wong for his write-up here that I used to get started.  I've simplified his set-up by leaving off RXD and TXD, and taking the pins directly to the LaunchPad.  I took off the jumpers on the LaunchPad and hooked-up to the pins on the LaunchPad the same as Kerry.

Here it is blinking "hello world" from a battery pack.