Using an Tiva-C Launchpad With Energia (Ardunio IDE for ARM)

If your'e a daily Hackaday reader you should've seen this post a week or so ago. It links to this ARM forum topic: some guy found a 25$ multi-use coupon and shared it with the community.  He and many others bought two tiva-c launchpads for a total of .98$ with the coupon (you can buy anything ya wanted but might as well get some MCUs). I was lucky enough to catch this before the coupon was discontinued and got my two launchpads and then went and searched on how to use them  There is of course the official TI C/C++ compilers or programs, but i wanted to go with something I already knew: Arduino. I remembered the Energia project from a while back that does exactly what I wanted: it uses the familiar Arduino "Wired" code and a similar IDE.

1. Download the latest Energia program from here and install.
2. Get the Stellaris ICDI drivers from TI here and extract them somewhere.
3. Get your Tiva-C and hold it so that the text at the bottom right side up.
4. Flip the switch at the top left of the bored to the right.
5. Plug in the micro usb cable into the connector on the top of the bored (left side one is for usb devices etc)
6. Windows will, of course, not find drivers; search for Device Manager in the start menu
7. Look for Unidentified ICDI device with a yellow exclamation point next to it.
8. Right click, Update Driver, click Search from my computer and browse for the folder from step 2
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until all unidentified ICDI devices are gone. You should also see a Stellaris Virtual Serial Port show up at some point.
10. Open Energia. Go to Tools>Boards> LaunchPad (Tiva C) w/ tm4c123 (80mhz)
11. Go to Tools>Serial Port and select the one of your Tiva-C.
12. Open the Blink Example in File>Examples>Basic>Blink
13. In the new window, press the right arrow button that is next to the check mark. The black console window should say SUCCESS! in a few seconds and only the red LED of the RGB LED on the bored should blink
14. Now, go make some awesome programs that can use 80mhz. Yea!!! I must also note that not everything is supported, for example, Energia does not yet allow us to make it a HID device and emulate mouses or keyboards over it's device USB port (one on the left side)


Note: Im not sure what you Linux / Mac guys will use for drivers. Not sure if TI provides ICDI in those OS's. I know Energia does, but those drivers didnt work on my Tiva-

Note or step 11: An easy way to do this is to unplug your Tiva-C, close Energia, reopen it and see what ports are there. Then close it, plug in your Tiva-C, reopen Energia and see what new port is there: thats the one you want.

Note: but a bit of tape over that RGB LED: it is very bright and annoying if you're trying to program.