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Netduino Plus 1 Firmware v4.1.1 BETA 1


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#1 Chris Walker

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Posted 26 March 2011 - 08:25 AM

Version: 4.1.1 BETA 1 (version 4.1.1.0 b1)

A BIG THANK YOU to the following community members:

    [*]KodeDaemon (David Stetz) who contributed SD card enhancements to support 4GB SDHC cards (8GB+ cards may work...but not tested).
    [*]CW2 who contributed his I2C "repeated start bit" enhancements.
    [/list]IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are using a "public beta" Netduino Plus, you will need to erase your Netduino Plus completely and reflash it with the "64KB" bootloader to upgrade to this pre-release firmware. The 64KB bootloader is included in the zip file for your convenience.

    With this firmware, you will have the following resources available for your code:
    64KB Flash
    28KB+ RAM

    This firmware includes the following updates:
    1. Early support for some 4GB+ MicroSD cards (courtesy of community member KodeDaemon)
    2. Early UsbClient support (requires deploy/debug via serial)
    3. Pushbutton (SW1) now returns true when pushed, false when not pushed

    This firmware also includes the following previous updates:
    1. DHCP support now works on more/all routers
    2. Network cable may now be plugged in at any time
    3. I2C internal address ("repeated start bit") support
    4. Bugfixes: SerialPort.DataReceived event should now fire properly
    5. Bugfixes: SerialPort.Read() timeout now implemented properly
    6. Bugfix: SD card support no longer interferes with digital pin 2
    7. Variable-bit SPI (9 to 15 bit) capabilities
    8. Enhanced Parallels, VMWare, and VirtualBox compatibility
    9. RS232 and TTL UART deployment now selectable via software tool
    10. Enhanced deployment reliability (software reset enhancements)
    11. SPI bugfixes

    To find the current version of your Netduino Plus firmware:
    1. Go to the Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft .NET Micro Framework 4.1 > Tools
    2. Run MFDeploy.exe. Be careful to run MFDeploy.exe and not MFDeploy.exe.config (as file extensions are hidden by default)
    3. Plug your Netduino Plus into your PC using a Micro USB cable.
    4. In the Device section at top, select USB instead of Serial. Your Netduino Plus should appear in the drop-down; if not, select it.
    5. Select the Target menu, Device Capabilities option.
    6. In the output box, find the "SolutionReleaseInfo.solutionVersion" value. This is your firmware version.

    Users of firmware version 4.1.0.5 or earlier may update to this new firmware using the MFDeploy tool:
    1. Download and unzip the attached file to a directory on your computer.
    2. Go to the Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft .NET Micro Framework 4.1 > Tools
    3. Run MFDeploy.exe. Be careful to run MFDeploy.exe and not MFDeploy.exe.config (as file extensions are hidden by default)
    4. Plug your Netduino Plus into your PC using a Micro USB cable. If your Netduino Plus does not connect successfully, try plugging the USB cable into your Netduino first...and then your PC.
    5. In the Device section at top, select USB instead of Serial. Your Netduino Plus should appear in the drop-down; if not, select it.
    6. Click "Browse..." and select the unzipped files from step #1 (ER_CONFIG and ER_FLASH).
    7. Press "Deploy". It will take a few minutes to update your Netduino Plus.
    8. Select the Target > Configuration > Networking menu. You will need to re-enter your IP address settings and MAC address. We will try to eliminate this step in the future.

    Please note that some VMs may lose their connection to the Netduino Plus when it reboots. If your VM loses its connection to the Netduino during deployment, it will give you an error that the debugger failed to connect. If this happens to you, please post your experience in this thread.

    Attached Files



#2 Chris Walker

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Posted 26 March 2011 - 08:26 AM

Notes on SDHC (4GB+ SD card) support
Community member KodeDaemon has graciously contributed enhancements to the SD implementation to support some MicroSDHC cards (4GB+). This feature is new and has not been extensively tested. Please post here with the make and model of your SDHC card if it works (or if it doesn't work). Please make sure it is formatted as FAT32.

Notes on new "variable bit SPI" feature:
We've created an "ExtendedSpiConfiguration" class. To use it:
1. Add the attached ExtendedSpiConfiguration.cs class to your project.
2. Instead of creating a SPI.Configuration instance, use ExtendedSpiConfiguration. It is a subclass of SPI.Configuration and can be used in its place.
3. In the ExtendedSpiConfiguration constructor, you can provide the number of bits per transfer (data bits) as the final paramter.

Notes on new "I2C internal address/repeated start bit" feature:
To use the enhanced I2C capabilities, we've posted a set of easy-to-use functions in another thread.

Please note that we will be including the final version of these new classes in the Netduino v4.1.1 SDK--so you will not need to add them manually. Also, we may change the names of classes, methods, etc.

If you use these new features, please post your experiences here...

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#3 Chris Walker

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Posted 26 March 2011 - 08:27 AM

We'll be cooking up a number of HID examples for the new UsbClient feature.

To start with, here's a "Netduino Virtual Keyboard" sample.

Parts required:
  • Serial cable for your Netduino (FTDI 3.3V USB-TTL or an RS232 shield)
  • 7.5V-12V AC/DC adapter for your Netduino. You can also power Netduino via the VIN or 5V headers.
  • Netduino and its MicroUSB cable

Switching from USB debugging to serial debugging:
  • Grab our enhanced version of MFDeploy.
  • Run the enhanced MFDeploy. Select USB transport, and make sure your Netduino is selected.
  • In MFDeploy, select the Target Menu > Configuration > Deployment Transport
  • Switch deployment from USB to COM1. You can switch back anytime (via serial).

Using the NetduinoVirtualKeyboard sample:
  • Load the NetduinoVirtualKeyboard solution into Visual Studio like normal, but select Serial for transport (project properties > .NET Micro Framework)
  • Plug your Netduino into external power and its serial cable into your computer.
  • Run the solution (F5).
  • Once the program starts, you'll see a message to reconnect your USB cable to a PC. [Disconnect it if it's already attached, first.]
  • Windows will automatically install the HID driver for the keyboard.
  • The sample program will then type "helloworld" in the current window.

Since the Netduino will be typing, I'd recommend either plugging it into a separate computer or opening up notepad before plugging the USB cable into your computer.

Enjoy!

Chris

Attached Files



#4 Chris Walker

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Posted 26 March 2011 - 08:28 AM

One more note:

Some Netduino Plus users may want to disable its Ethernet feature to free up codespace and RAM. You can now do this.

To convert your Netduino Plus into a "Netduino + SD card":
1. Erase your Netduino Plus
2. Use SAM-BA to flash the Netduino bootloader (TinyBooterDecompress.bin from the zip file, first post of its thread).
3. Deploy the Netduino firmware to your Netduino Plus
4. Add the SecretLabs.NETMF.IO.dll assembly to your project

Then, add the following line of code at the beginning of your Netduino app:
SecretLabs.NETMF.IO.StorageDevice.MountSD("SD", SPI.SPI_module.SPI2, (Cpu.Pin)21, (Cpu.Pin)57);
Your Netduino Plus will now automatically mount your MicroSD cards just like normal. Plus you'll have a full 128KB of codespace and 62+ KB of RAM.

Chris

#5 Spacetech

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Posted 18 April 2011 - 10:34 PM

I have a SanDisk 8GB Class 2 microSDHC card and writing on it works great.

I used this code to test it:
FileStream fs = new FileStream("\\SD\\netduino.txt", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None, 512);
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.WriteLine("it works!");
sw.Flush();
sw.Close();
fs.Close();


#6 ColinR

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Posted 21 April 2011 - 07:09 AM

I have a SanDisk 8GB Class 2 microSDHC card and writing on it works great.


Cool, I was contemplating buying all the stock of 2GB SD cards available :P

#7 sbosanquet

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 08:01 PM

Not sure if you are still interested but have a SanDisk 16GB Class 2 microSDHC working with Version: 4.1.1 BETA 1 (version 4.1.1.0 b1) firmware. Note: Hardest thing is finding something to format the card with when you don't have a memory card reader. The blackberry worked a treat in this instance.

#8 Chris Walker

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Posted 05 May 2011 - 02:26 AM

Not sure if you are still interested but have a SanDisk 16GB Class 2 microSDHC working with Version: 4.1.1 BETA 1 (version 4.1.1.0 b1) firmware.

Thanks, sbosanquet. And welcome to the Netduino community!

Chris

#9 teachop

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Posted 08 May 2011 - 10:42 PM

Hi Chris. Virtual Machine feedback was requested: I am finding about the same reliability as with prior versions. I actually used the 42K RAM version, if that matters. The setup here is Virtualbox 4.04 with the USB extensions, running on Ubuntu 11.04, with the Windows OS being XP SP3 fully patched up. The USB operations are spotty, it would seem. Sometimes things just lock up, sometimes the Netduino gets programmed and then VS locks up. Sometimes things work. Is the USB operation rock solid on a "real" windows (non-virtualized)? I was hoping for a better go this time, because with this version of VirtualBox, USB has been operating fine with odd devices such as programmers. If you have any particular tests you would like to run let me know! For now I will put FreeRTOS back on this little guy... hope we can get things worked out though, it would be fun to join the rest of the users on .NET C# and learn some of that too now...

#10 Chris Walker

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Posted 09 May 2011 - 09:10 AM

Hi teachop, If you reflash your device with the v4.1.0.6 production firmware do you see the same spotiness with USB connectivity? I'm guessing that it's a specific VM issue, as we've had rock solid performance here. Chris

#11 teachop

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Posted 09 May 2011 - 10:44 PM

If you reflash your device with the v4.1.0.6 production firmware do you see the same spotiness with USB connectivity?

V4.1.0.6 does work better, as does V4.1.1.0Beta1. VS terminated once on the first deploy with V4.1.0.6 and never saw that with V4.1.1.0Beta1, might have been coincidence. Jacking the USB is sometimes required to get deploy started, but with some fooling around it works.

The problems with VS locking tight seem specific to the 42KB_RAM version. Those crashes require sending the ol' CTL-ALT-DEL and killing VS. Didn't see that with the other versions. Does this make any sense?

For now I will use V4.1.1.0Beta1 for some .NET learning...

#12 Cinelli

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Posted 07 June 2011 - 05:02 PM

Hmm, I updated to this to fix the serial port issue. Now I get: A first chance exception of type 'System.Net.Sockets.SocketException' occurred in Microsoft.SPOT.Net.dll #### SocketException ErrorCode = 10060 #### SocketException ErrorCode = 10060

#13 Cinelli

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Posted 07 June 2011 - 05:08 PM

Where can I download previous firmware versions for easy deploy with MFDeploy? I am on: SolutionReleaseInfo.solutionVersion: 4.1.1.0 Want to revert to what I had before, which I believe was 4.0.0.6, to see if I get the above socket functionality back.

#14 Chris Walker

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Posted 08 June 2011 - 02:40 AM

Where can I download previous firmware versions for easy deploy with MFDeploy?
I am on: SolutionReleaseInfo.solutionVersion: 4.1.1.0
Want to revert to what I had before, which I believe was 4.0.0.6, to see if I get the above socket functionality back.

Here you go :)

http://forums.netdui...-v410-update-6/

Chris

#15 tibel

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Posted 20 June 2011 - 04:27 PM

Hi, when will 4.1.1 become final??? Or does it go directly to 4.2?

#16 Chris Walker

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Posted 20 June 2011 - 05:02 PM

Hi tibel,

when will 4.1.1 become final???

Or does it go directly to 4.2?

We're syncing 4.1.1 and 4.2. So they'll probably become "final" at the same time (most likely in 30-60 days), although we may ship 4.1.1 a bit earlier.

The difference between the two will be that 4.2 has new features (StringBuilder, RegEx, Visual Basic support, more bugfixes, etc.) Once 4.2 is released, the next releases will be 4.2.x (i.e. we won't update v4.1.1 unless there's a critical bugfix).

Chris

#17 cjc

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Posted 28 June 2011 - 02:41 PM

Hi tibel,

We're syncing 4.1.1 and 4.2. So they'll probably become "final" at the same time (most likely in 30-60 days), although we may ship 4.1.1 a bit earlier.

The difference between the two will be that 4.2 has new features (StringBuilder, RegEx, Visual Basic support, more bugfixes, etc.) Once 4.2 is released, the next releases will be 4.2.x (i.e. we won't update v4.1.1 unless there's a critical bugfix).

Chris


Currently I am using the 4.1.1 1-wire version of the firmware. On the 1-wire alpha thread it was stated that 4.1.2 was the target to merge those features into the trunk. Granted alot has happened since that statement (e.g. MF 4.2) so I was hoping to get a feeling for when the 1-wire code will become a main part of the firmware. I would love to have access to Stringbuilder and RegEx. and native 1-wire too!
I am hoping that the release of 4.2 in a month or two will include the 1-wire code, but haven't seen a clear statement of that intent yet...

Thanks,
Corey

P.S. as a new user I find it a little confusing with all the versions floating around (1-wire, 50% less network memory, 4.1.1 beta, 4.2 beta, mini, plus, standard, banana peeling version, etc.) a thread with all the various firmwares linked to (Secret Labs and user rolled) with the various proper caveats (e.g. this is a one-off, this is not supported, etc.) and a road-map of rough timelines and feature sets would be awesome to have and save on confusion...

#18 Chris Walker

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Posted 28 June 2011 - 04:39 PM

Hi cjc, Excellent feedback. When 4.2 is released, we'll still support 4.1.1 for a while but will encourage users to move to 4.2 going forward. Since .NET MF 4.2 is close to release, we moved a few features of 4.1.2 into 4.2 instead (and a few pushed to 4.2.1). We'll be sure to create a centralized official firmware page on the Wiki once these go gold, and link to it from the downloads page... With all the new features of 4.2, we may not be able to fit OneWire support on the Netduino Plus without giving up something else...the goal is to make features like that user-deployable using runtime interop in the future. At minimum, we'll create a special 4.2 build with OneWire once it goes RTM. Chris

#19 cjc

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Posted 28 June 2011 - 04:45 PM

Thanks Chris - sounds great. I am also realizing that since you release the source, if I get stuck between firmwares I could always roll my own - allowing me to make the tough decisions about features/memory tailored specifically to my needs. Cheers, Corey

#20 MLW

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Posted 14 October 2011 - 01:55 PM

Which is the best framework to use. Do I need to uninstall my ".NET Micro Framework SDK V4.1" and re-install a new framework? I am new to this forum.o please Help




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