5 replies to this topic

[Dave12]

Hello, I'm a newbie to the .NET Microframework world. I bought a Netduino back in September, 2010. I didn't go much more than flashing the leds but now I have a project in mind. Is it possible to hook it up to a small screen and also to a serial port? I want to get data from a device via serial and display it on a GUI. I had in mind these two devices FEZ Touch (http://www.ghielectr...log/product/262) FEZ RS232 Shield (http://www.ghielectr...log/product/182) I understand that these two parts are both compatible with Arduino and that the Neduino is compatible with Arduino. Unfortunately, I don't have enough basic knowledge to know what this means. How are Netduino and FEZ (from GHI Electronics) related to Arduino? Does compatible mean I just plug in and it works? Or is there sodering to be done? My background is in .NET/WPF on Windows. Given this, I was hoping to use WPF on the Netduino and display. Is this possible? Thanks for the help, Dave

[Chris Walker]

Hi Dave, That RS232 shield is from CuteDigi and is compatible with both Netduino and Arduino. You should be good to go there. The touchscreen attachment is not Arduino or Netduino compatible (without using a bunch of jumper wires). I'd recommend picking up one of the 4D Systems displays/shileds or other displays which have been tested with Arduino and Netduino. Terry Massey and Omar have done lots of work with displays, as has Fabien Royer. Perhaps one of them can pitch in with recommendations? Welcome to the Netduino community, Chris

[RichardE]

Hi Dave,

That RS232 shield is from CuteDigi and is compatible with both Netduino and Arduino. You should be good to go there.

The touchscreen attachment is not Arduino or Netduino compatible (without using a bunch of jumper wires). I'd recommend picking up one of the 4D Systems displays/shileds or other displays which have been tested with Arduino and Netduino.

Terry Massey and Omar have done lots of work with displays, as has Fabien Royer. Perhaps one of them can pitch in with recommendations?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

[RichardE]

I've been playing with a Gameduino shield connected to a Netduino. This allows you to connect a VGA monitor and stereo speakers (via an amplifier) and gives you a colour display with resolution of 400 x 300 pixels (although screen memory extends beyond the visible display to 512 x 512). It is a wonderful device but as others have said there are performance issues with the SPI link and you will have to do quite a lot of work to talk to it using C#. I was progressing quite well but now my Netduino won't talk to Visual Studio. Worth thinking about if you don't mind the effort. Alternatively (apologies if this is heresy) you could use it with an Arduino with the minimum of work.

[Dave12]

Chris,
Thanks for the reply, I'd certainly appreciate some recommendations from your or others on touchscreens or non-touch displays. I was hoping for something simple that didn't require rewiring/jumpers, etc. The FEZ Touch I mentioned simply hooks up to the FEZ Panda II (that's my understanding anyhow), I'm assumming that there are similar arrangements for the NetDuino. My understanding is that's one of the points of Arduino based systems. You just go out and buy a "shield" for your particular needs. I want to concentrate on the getting the data over serial port and plotting it (about 300 points and some warnings, buttons, etc.). I was hoping to use WPF.
Cheers,

Dave

Hi Dave,

That RS232 shield is from CuteDigi and is compatible with both Netduino and Arduino. You should be good to go there.

The touchscreen attachment is not Arduino or Netduino compatible (without using a bunch of jumper wires). I'd recommend picking up one of the 4D Systems displays/shileds or other displays which have been tested with Arduino and Netduino.

Terry Massey and Omar have done lots of work with displays, as has Fabien Royer. Perhaps one of them can pitch in with recommendations?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

[Dave12]

Thank you for the for the reply Richard. I think a monitor and speakers would be overkill for my application. I had in mind a 2" to 9" display, with 3 or 5" being ideal. I just wanted to plot a simple graph (300 points ) and show some buttons and warnings. I was hoping to use WPF.
Cheers,
Dave

I've been playing with a Gameduino shield connected to a Netduino. This allows you to connect a VGA monitor and stereo speakers (via an amplifier) and gives you a colour display with resolution of 400 x 300 pixels (although screen memory extends beyond the visible display to 512 x 512). It is a wonderful device but as others have said there are performance issues with the SPI link and you will have to do quite a lot of work to talk to it using C#. I was progressing quite well but now my Netduino won't talk to Visual Studio.

Worth thinking about if you don't mind the effort. Alternatively (apologies if this is heresy) you could use it with an Arduino with the minimum of work.