7 replies to this topic

[Charles]

Nine months ago, I dropped my N+ in a drawer and forgot about it due to some fatal bugs/missing features that prevented me from being able to justify further development on the platform. Now I have pulled the board out and I'm trying to decide if I should continue my pursuits with the N+ or junk it and seek a more stable platform. In reference to the most recent firmware, could someone tell me if, given 9 months, any of the below features have been implemented or fatal flaws have been fixed? 1. If I unplug and plug back in the Ethernet cable while the N+ running, does it still lock up? 2. If the N+ is bombarded with in excess of 10kbps of broadcast traffic does the Ethernet port still stop working? 3. Can I use EEPROM that requires repeated start commands in the I2C bus yet? 4. Is there a few K of exposed Flash space available for use as on-chip permanent storage and accessible via managed code? 5. Is there any way to control/enable the on-chip watchdog timer to allow for automated recovery from crashes? Thanks!

[Chris Walker]

Hi Charles, Welcome back to the Netduino community. Good to see you around! You should be able to plug in your Ethernet cable while using your Netduino. Repeated start bits are supported on I2C (using the extended classes). There is a new feature in NETMF 4.2 for on-chip storage. There's no standardized interface for it, but once we get the bugs worked out of 4.2 (now in late beta) we'll implement a managed class to expose some storage space. [In the meantime, SD works fantastically.] No watchdog timer, although that's something that could be compiled into the firmware (or if we get enough requests...we'd be happy to expose a managed class). Assuming that the watchdog supports a long enough time that managed code could kick it often enough... Chris

[Charles]

Hello Chris! Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to see you're still right on top of the forum happenings. The Ethernet plug in/unplug lockup bug was a huge one for me. Glad to hear it's sorted out. What about the broadcast lockup problem? While it's not an issue on the bench, it's a serious show stopper for real-world deployment. Charles

[Chris Walker]

What about the broadcast lockup problem? While it's not an issue on the bench, it's a serious show stopper for real-world deployment.

There have been a number of changes in .NET MF 4.2 in regards to broadcast support and networking generally. The best way to find out is to test it. But remember...tiny micros can't necessarily handle a huge influx of network traffic. You could effectively DoS the device. In a corporate network, it might be wise to disable general broadcast traffic to small-MCU devices.

[You can also use a Wiznet module/shield with your Netduino Plus. It won't be as fast or awesome...but it may be able to filter out all the broadcast traffic off-board using its dedicated microcontroller.]

Chris

[Daxl-B]

...(or if we get enough requests...we'd be happy to expose a managed class)...

Chris;

This will be great, I just got some RTC with the DS3234 since I want to use N+ in production environment and be sure that if something goes wrong it will be always reset to resume normal operation (assuming something more critical didn't happen). Right now I am using TCP to provide some in-the-field configuration and after that I do a soft reset, but some times the N+ hangs after the reset.

Is there an official request page? if no, just count me in.

BTW, 4.2 will do a great Thanks Giving present, no pressure just saying

thanks
Daxl

[phantomtypist]

+1 for adding managed support for watchdog.

[Stavros Tekes]

thumbs up for the watchdog managed support

+1 for adding managed support for watchdog.

[rensky]

Ist der Watchdog  bereits implementiert? 

 

Falls nicht, [color=rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;]thumbs up for the [/color]watchdog.