152 replies to this topic

[Chris Walker]

Version: 4.2.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE (version 4.2.0.0 RC4)

This firmware requires use of the .NET Micro Framework v4.2 RTM SDK. Users must completely erase and reflash their Netduinos to use this firmware.

WARNING: This firmware is pre-release firmware. It may temporarily cause your Netduino to cease functioning properly. If this firmware does not work for you, you will likely need to erase your Netduino completely and re-flash the production v4.1.0.6 bootloader using Atmel SAM-BA tools and the production v4.1.0.6 firmware using MFDeploy.

NOTE: This beta firmware must be used with the production version of the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework SDK.

If you're an early adopter and would like to help us test and refine these new features, this beta release may be for you.

If you experience any blue screens or crashes with this release, please try out the new .NET MF beta drivers.

NETDUINO PLUS: This update reduces the amount of available code storage to the original 48KB. We may be able to increase this for production, but we're currently allocating this room to allow enough room for bugfixes and new features in .NET MF 4.2.

NETDUINO MINI: Netduino Mini firmware is not available for this release. We will make this available in a future release.

This firmware includes the following updates:
1. Networking bugfixes: DHCP and link status
2. Floating point bugfixes
3. .NET MF 4.2 RTM and post-RTM bugfixes
4. For Netduino Plus, 38KB+ RAM (10KB+ more than before)
5. Visual Basic support (including Visual Basic Express 2010)
6. StringBuilder support
7. Regular Expressions
8. IP broadcast support
9. Extension method support

The following features are planned for the v4.2 release:
1. More feature-rich, core ADC and PWM classes
2. Etc.

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

Before deploying the attached firmware, you should erase your board completely and flash the v4.2 RC4 bootloader (included in the attached ZIP file).

You may update to this pre-release 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 4.2 > Tools
3. Run MFDeploy.exe. Be careful to run MFDeploy.exe and not MFDeploy.exe.config (as file extensions are hidden by default)
4a. For Netduino and Netduino Plus: Plug your Netduino into your PC using a Micro USB cable. If your Netduino does not connect successfully, try plugging the USB cable into your Netduino first...and then your PC.
4b. For Netduino Mini: Plug your Netduino Mini into your PC using an RS232 or TTL UART cable.
5a. For Netduino and Netduino Plus: In the Device section at top, select USB instead of Serial. Your Netduino should appear in the drop-down; if not, select it.
5b. For Netduino Mini: In the Device section at top, select Serial. Select the serial port assigned to your RS232 or TTL UART cable.
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.
8. For Netduino Plus: 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.

Chris

Attached Files

•  Firmware_Netduino_4.2.0.0_RC4.zip   359.76KB   403 downloads
•  Firmware_NetduinoPlus_4.2.0.0_RC4.zip   445.17KB   909 downloads

[Chris Walker]

Notes on new SD card support (for Netduino and Netduino Mini)
This firmware includes support for SD cards and System.IO filesystem support.

It includes two functions in the new SecretLabs.NETMF.IO namespace:
StorageDevice.MountSD(...);
StorageDevice.Unmount(...);

Both the MountSD(...) and Unmount(...) features are fully implemented.

You will need to manually add the SecretLabs.NETMF.IO assembly as a reference in your project to use the SD feature. You will also need to add the System.IO assembly.

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 a future version of the Netduino 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...

Attached Files

•  ExtendedSpiConfiguration.cs   4.48KB   89 downloads

[Chris Walker]

If you experience bugs with the .NET MF 4.2 RC4 firmware, please post about it in this thread.

[Lennie]

Hello Chris. Have this version support for Onewire?

[Valkyrie-MT]

Version: 4.2.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE (version 4.2.0.0 RC4)

Sweet.

-Valkyrie-MT

[Chris Walker]

Hi Lennie,

Hello Chris.

Have this version support for Onewire?

No, but we will build a special version which includes OneWire support once we ship the release version of the firmware.

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

[viktor]

I'm getting a little confused... So there's the .net microframework sdk, firmware for netduino and netduino sdk, right? So is netduino sdk still in progress? or do you not have any plans to update it for 4.2? I'm just wondering because I see that vb.net is supported now but no project templates that I can see. Thanks for your hard work. Viktor.

[Stefan]

I'm getting a little confused... So there's the .net microframework sdk, firmware for netduino and netduino sdk, right? So is netduino sdk still in progress? or do you not have any plans to update it for 4.2?

You should install this one:

This firmware requires use of the .NET Micro Framework v4.2 RTM SDK.

[Magpie]

Hi
On 4.2 RC4 , (Netduino Plus) have a problem with

StorageDevice.MountSD("SD", SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10);

which gives me a System.NotSupportedException on all cards.

If I call

StorageDevice.Unmount("SD");

before mount I get a System.ArgumentException

How/When should I call these commands?

After looking in to it
This is almost certainly because I am using an old SecretLabs.NETMF.IO.dll

Where can I get another one?
I looked on codeplex but the only versions of software I found there were dated last year.

p.s. I looked around for the latest sdks and installed those over the top too.
Thanks

[Chris Walker]

Hi Magpie,

Hi
On 4.2 RC4 , (Netduino Plus) have a problem with

StorageDevice.MountSD("SD", SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10);

which gives me a System.NotSupportedException on all cards.

Only one SD card at a time is supported, so this won't work on Netduino Plus. If you reflash your Netduino Plus with the "regular Netduino" firmware you'll be able to use this feature with an external SD card.

Chris

[Magpie]

Only one SD card at a time is supported, so this won't work on Netduino Plus. If you reflash your Netduino Plus with the "regular Netduino" firmware you'll be able to use this feature with an external SD card.

Sorry, I missed that.

[coder64]

If you experience bugs with the .NET MF 4.2 RC4 firmware, please post about it in this thread.

mfdeploy consistently gives me "Error: Unable to deploy to device" when I try
to install this FW. It leaves the device with LED on and no usable firmware.
I am able to re-install v4.1.1.0_Betal though.

Attached Files

•  Capture.PNG   128.99KB   197 downloads

[coder64]

mfdeploy consistently gives me "Error: Unable to deploy to device" when I try
to install this FW. It leaves the device with LED on and no usable firmware.
I am able to re-install v4.1.1.0_Betal though.

oops- operator error, turns out I had to reflash the bootloader with the atmel tool first.
All is well now

[Chris Walker]

oops- operator error, turns out I had to reflash the bootloader with the atmel tool first.
All is well now

Thanks for posting this update. Glad that it's working for you!

To confirm: with the 4.2 beta firmware, it is critical to erase your Netduino and reflash both the bootloader (using SAM-BA) and the NETMF runtime (using MFDeploy). Otherwise, they'll have the flash layout mixed up (leading to what you just saw).

Chris

[George Antoniadis]

Just in case people forget these two things. 1) You MUST install the new bootloader http://wiki.netduino....ashx?HL=sam,ba 2) You MUST use the MFDeploy from 4.2 framework, 4.1 MFDeploy WILL cause you problems. - Chris thanks for this RC, it has been long awaited for and the bugs fixed will save lots of asses!

[ColinR]

Extra 10KB of RAM is great. No issues on my side - looking good. Have an uptime of 16hrs so far. Thanks for the release! Edit: uptime on 3 days

[Robert L.]

If you experience bugs with the .NET MF 4.2 RC4 firmware, please post about it in this thread.

I installed the RC4 this morning, the SAM-BA and MF-Deploy steps went fine. I then installed my managed code, which worked on version RC3. I got a new error:


A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.IOException' occurred in Microsoft.SPOT.IO.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.IOException' occurred in System.IO.dll
An unhandled exception of type 'System.IO.IOException' occurred in System.IO.dll

The break occurred at the second line below:

string path = @"\SD\sensors.txt";
StreamReader num = new StreamReader(path);

Is there something different about the SD card support on the N+ RC3 vs. RC4?

[Stefan]

I just did some tests with a few SD-cards. I found out SDHC isn't implemented in 4.2RC4. I asked Chris and he confirms this. But with Sandisk 1GB and 2GB SD cards it works just fine. If you're experiencing problems, could you please post which SD card has been used?

[Robert L.]

I just did some tests with a few SD-cards. I found out SDHC isn't implemented in 4.2RC4. I asked Chris and he confirms this.
But with Sandisk 1GB and 2GB SD cards it works just fine.

If you're experiencing problems, could you please post which SD card has been used?

Oops, sorry, please disregard. The SD card was not inserted. All better now.

[Stefan]

I am using a SanDisk 1 GB Micro SD.

That is so strange! I actually tested with SanDisk cards
Could you please share your code? Then I'm going to reproduce with your code.