6 replies to this topic

[steveoll]

Hi,

 

I am new to the Netduino (Plus 2) but have used various flavours of Arduino for several years and I find that learning how to do simple things like read analog voltages or set digital I/O ports with the netduino incredibly frustrating/difficult as there are apparently different ways of doing it depending on what hardware is being used, etc. 

 

I know that there are two or three examples on the netduino website which are helpful, but it seems that there is little in the way of guides out there apart from a few blogs where these same examples are repackaged and I know that there is a book, but that is directed at older hardware and so is programmed differently.

 

Perhaps I'm used to being spoon-fed with the Arduino, but their website does have a handy reference section with examples of how to use the hardware. Is it possible for even a simple reference section to be added to the website to help new users?

[Chris Walker]

Hi steveoll, What kind of resources would you like to see us (as Secret Labs, or as a community) put together? We're very interested in helping new users get up and running, build cool stuff, etc. Commercial customers have been very successful with Netduino--and lots of hobby and education users are building cool projects--but we want to help drive the learning curve as close to zero as we can for everyone. Welcome to the community, Chris

[steveoll]

Hi Chris,

 

Thank you for the speedy reply. As a new user it would be great if Secret Labs and/or the community could put something together on a dedicated page of your website as a user reference to list concise, verified working examples of fundamental functions such as PWM, defining/setting Digital I/O, reading Analog Inputs, etc.

 

I realise that the forums here do provide assistance for many issues but I personally feel that a reference section would go along way in helping people who are new, especially if they have outgrown Arduino or have come to the Netduino because of its impressive specs.

 

Thanks for the welcome.

[lifanek]

You mean something like this: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage ? I think this can be done by creating new category on forum where people can post working code examples (something like project showcase but much simplier, veryfied and maintained)

[steveoll]

A Netduino version of this is exactly the sort of thing that I'm looking for!

[wendo]

The problem with something community driven is it needs to be kept up to date.

 

This is especially relevant as NETMF versions change, and was one of the things I had trouble with when trying out examples I found on the web. Someone posts some code that worked on 4.1 but not 4.2, but they don't mention the version they are using because it's the latest at the time. I come along with a 4.2 N+2 not knowing anything about NETMF versions and spend a couple of hours in google working it all out. 

 

That's good knowledge to have but for those 2 hours I was beginning to think this was just a little too hard. The same can be said for the wiki, which doesn't mention the hardware being used in many places because when the article wa swritten only the N1 existed. I know it's a wiki but it's also a good example of how user generated content isn't kept up to date

 

My most recent example was the SPI pins on the N2 and N+2. They aren't the same as the N1/N+1, you need to look at the pin functions and decode the MOSI/MISO and map them to the N2/N+2. Every example blog post etc I found on google was using the N1/N+1 board, so even google doesn't help you out of that one

 

Not overly difficult, but for a beginner probably pretty tricky when they are still trying to get to grips with SPI itself.

 

Updating the firmware is another place where confusion reins in regards to N1 vs N2 boards. Plenty of people with N2 boards end up with the Atmel tools installed and find they don't work. Then ask or keep googling until they find the ST tools

 

All that I think would be useful in any documentation. Some of it perhaps in a FAQ listed at the top of the page with home/hardware/projects etc. Perhaps the best idea is to look over all the sticky posts in the forums and evaluate them for inclusion in a FAQ.

[gismo]

Is it possible for keyboard F1(help) to be made more context sensitive such that when you re working on a netduino project that f1 would direct you to the netduino/netmf documentation wiki? (As opposed to the msdn help) this would encourage usage of the wiki Further, I think a community driven wiki would be cool to have and even each page could have a discussion/comments section to discuss the topic.