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Netduino Firmware v4.1.1 ALPHA 3


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#1 Chris Walker

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Posted 25 November 2010 - 04:03 AM

Version: 4.1.1 ALPHA 3 (version 4.1.1.0 a3)

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 v4.1.0.5 bootloader using Atmel SAM-BA tools (on a 32-bit Windows installation) and the production v4.1.0.5 firmware using MFDeploy.

With that warning out of the way, we've added the first two new features to the Netduino: SD/FAT16/FAT32 support and variable bit SPI. We have also added some debugger enhancements to help with debugger reconnections during deployment.

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

This firmware includes the following updates:
1. Variable-bit SPI (9 to 15 bit) capabilities
2. Enhanced Parallels, VMWare, and VirtualBox compatibility

This firmware also includes the following previous updates:
1. RS232 and TTL UART deployment now selectable via software tool
2. Exception thrown when mounting incompatible/non-existent SD card
3. Reduced memory usage for SD card access
4. Faster mounting and communication with SD cards
5. Garbage collection 'status messages' updated
6. SD card support using SPI
7. Visual Studio debugger should connect to Netduino easier during deployment (on non-virtual machines)

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 4.1 > 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 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.
5. In the Device section at top, select USB instead of Serial. Your Netduino 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.

ASSEMBLY NOTE: 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.

Please let us know if this:
[a] works with your SD card
[b] reduces/eliminates any "could not reboot Netduino" messages in Visual Studio
[c] causes any other errors

Also, please note that some VMs may lose their connection to the Netduino 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.

Chris

#2 Chris Walker

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Posted 25 November 2010 - 04:04 AM

Notes on this release: As with the "alpha 2 release", alpha 3 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(...); The Unmount() feature is fully implemented. The MountSD() feature currently ignores all parameters except for the PATH varaible. In an upcoming release, we'll be enabling more of the MountSD() function's features (e.g. chip select and card detect lines). Chris

#3 Chris Walker

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Posted 25 November 2010 - 04:11 AM

To enable the new "variable SPI" feature, we've created an "ExtendedSpiConfiguration" class. To use this new feature: 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. Please note that we will be including this class in the Netduino v4.1.1 SDK--so you will not need to add it manually. We may put it in the SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.dll assembly. We may also rename it. Those issues should all be sorted out by the time we make it to "beta". If you use this new feature, please post your experiences here... Chris

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#4 fisu

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Posted 29 November 2010 - 09:04 AM

Something went wrong. I always get stuck in "The debugging target is not in initialized state; rebooting...". I tried to use MFdeploy again but that did not work either. It can ping the device but deploy does not work. The blinking led example is still running on the board which I tried before upgrading the firmware. Where can I get the original firmware (and some instructions for SAM-BA would be helpful too)? edit: i found the sam-ba instructions...

#5 fisu

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Posted 30 November 2010 - 08:58 AM

I have reseted my board couple of times now. If I deploy the release firmware on the board then everything goes fine but with alpha release the MFDeploy always gets stuck on "Executing application"

#6 Chris Walker

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Posted 30 November 2010 - 09:06 AM

fisu, If you switch to the v4.1.0.6 (beta 1) firmware, does reboot/deployment work for you there? If so, would you mind testing a few custom builds really quick to see if we can narrow down the problem and get a solution built into v4.1.1 for you? Chris

#7 Hauk

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Posted 16 December 2010 - 11:24 PM

Any new update to the firmware on the horizon?

#8 Chris Walker

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Posted 17 December 2010 - 12:06 AM

Any new update to the firmware on the horizon?


Hi Hauk,

We're working on a fairly big update. Perhaps we should break out some smaller pieces over the holidays? We don't want to bombard people with lots of beta releases--but perhaps a new beta release every few weeks is a good schedule...

Chris

#9 Hauk

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Posted 17 December 2010 - 06:57 AM

Cool, very exciting! Multiple, smaller beta releases would be good. And I know this has been said before, but are you considering putting up the source for the firmware on something like github? Thanks! /Hakan

#10 Chris Walker

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Posted 17 December 2010 - 07:55 AM

Cool, very exciting! Multiple, smaller beta releases would be good. And I know this has been said before, but are you considering putting up the source for the firmware on something like github?

Thanks!
/Hakan


Hi Hakan,

Okay, let me see if we can get an interim release out during the holidays.

We're putting it up on CodePlex. You'll be able to use Mercurial to download the source.

We're starting with the production firmware, but we'll be creating branches for various beta releases as well (and community members will be able to branch the firmware so that they can create special branches--which we can then incorporate back into the main trunk as appropriate).

Chris

#11 Hauk

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Posted 20 December 2010 - 07:55 PM

Hi Hakan,

Okay, let me see if we can get an interim release out during the holidays.

We're putting it up on CodePlex. You'll be able to use Mercurial to download the source.

We're starting with the production firmware, but we'll be creating branches for various beta releases as well (and community members will be able to branch the firmware so that they can create special branches--which we can then incorporate back into the main trunk as appropriate).

Chris


Ah, excellent! I've started to really like GIT (github) for open source projects though, but CodePlex works great. I'll check out Mercurial, but I assume SVN will still work.

Exciting times, take care and thanks for all hard work!




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