The Netduino forums have been replaced by new forums at community.wildernesslabs.co.
This site has been preserved for archival purposes only
and the ability to make new accounts or posts has been turned off.
What was and what's to come — A look back through 2012 and some thoughts on what's to come in 2013
First off, I wanted to say thanks to Chris Walker, the Secret Labs crew, and the countless hobbyists and volunteers who have made 2012 one of the most exciting years for the .Net Micro Framework and the Netduino platform. What an amazing and accomplished year we had. Here's a quick look at few of the big highlights of 2012.
In February of 2012 the Netduino community and all makers and electronics enthusiasts are treated with the Getting Started With Netduino book, by Chris Walker and published by O'Reilly. This book opened the doors to many beginners and was what really got me involved with Netduino after reading it. Not only did it provide a concise and easy to follow instructions on how to use you Netduino, but it also provides even a seasoned user some useful tips and projects.
April 4, 2012 we see the emergence of a new and exciting Netduino product - the Netduino Go. With a much anticipated and cryptic reveal date, the Netduino Go ushered in a new era for the Netduino platform, with a focus on simplifying the electronics world and making it more accessible to masses, without skimping on power and capability.
On the announcement of the Netduino Go we see an initial release of three modules, the RGB, Button, and Potentiometer from Secret Labs, and the Relay module from [nwazet. However the most exciting release was the [nwazet Touch Display and Shield Base modules. The sleek and bright resistive touchscreen module showed up in many users projects and the Shield Base (beta version) provided hackers the ability to use their Arduino form factor shields, and electronics enthusiasts to create custom hardware taking advantage of the Netduino Go revolutionary virtualization technology.
Soon after the release of the Netduino Go we see some new community module builders. Variable Labs released the handy Protomodule, which should be in every module builders tool box. It And Komodex released the beautiful Seven Segment Display module with a full suite of features and must for any Go user. In addition Komodox also released the indispensable Breakout module which helps program and debug STM8 based modules.
In May we are powered up by the [nwazet Power Supply Module and in July our ears are tuned in to the melodic sounds of the Piezo Buzzer module by Secret Labs.
The Maker Faires this year really showcased some of the great projects and possibilities of the Netduino platform. Nwazet released a video of the Seattle Mini Maker Faire with a plethora of awesome Netduino projects. At the NYC Maker Faire we catch a glimpse of a few new and upcoming modules like Ethernet, SD, and Gadgeteer Adapter modules.
In the Fall we also see a few more great things from [nwazet. With the release of Nutshell, a free visual screen designer and C# code generator, anyone can create complex designs without the tedious chore of manually creating user interfaces in code. And the release of the Data Acquisition Module brought the Netduino Go a solid module that combines not only a multitude of GPIOs, PWM, UART, I2C, but also adds a Real Time Clock (RTC), SDHC storage, all in one module.
Netduino Plus 2 made a major splash in the microcontroller world late this year. This feature pack board really showcases the power of the .Net Micro Framework and the endless possibilities of a Netduino. It quickly became a smash hit, reaching the top selling Mother Board on Amazon in its first week, and also featured on Engadget in a rav review. And just recently, and in only 2 months, became the 5th bestselling item at Maker for the entire year of 2012.
The .Net Micro Framework Toolbox has been a major asset to the Netduino and NETMF community. This year we saw several new devices and lots of code enhancements in December we see a major structural change to the Toolbox with the addition of an installer making it even easier to incorporate the Toolbox in any of our projects.
And finally, this year we saw an explosion of new users and tons of fantastic projects. It's the close knit and active community that really makes the Netduino platform such a joy to be a part of. We boast over 13000 active users in our forums, and many more unregistered creators that are tinkering away on the projects at home or as a part of a commercial product. This is a vibrant community that is bustling with knowledge with users who are eager to share it, and it's something we should all be proud to be a part of.
So with 2012 in the books, what does the future hold for Netduino? I don't know about you, but I think we're in for an exciting year, and 2012 was just the tip of the ice berg. We should expect to see the much anticipated Ethernet and SD modules this year, as well as the Gadgeteer Adapter and GoBus Hub. But we should also see the release of the Ambient Light, RS-232, and my favourite, the XBee module. And that's just for starters as I'm sure we're going to be treated with plenty more surprises, so stay tuned!
I would love to hear what were some of the highlights for you this past year, and what you wish to see in the new year. Please feel free to add or correct anything that I've missed.
So I wish you all a Happy New Year and buckle up, as I'm sure we're in for a ride for 2013!
Good recap of the year. If you could throw in a few free items you may be able to get a job in politics. But with your honesty I am not sure you could get into our Democrat or Republican parties.
Happy New Year, I look forward to more great things to come.
So with 2012 in the books, what does the future hold for Netduino? I don't know about you, but I think we're in for an exciting year, and 2012 was just the tip of the ice berg. We should expect to see the much anticipated Ethernet and SD modules this year, as well as the Gadgeteer Adapter and GoBus Hub. But we should also see the release of the Ambient Light, RS-232, and my favourite, the XBee module. And that's just for starters as I'm sure we're going to be treated with plenty more surprises, so stay tuned!
I would love to hear what were some of the highlights for you this past year, and what you wish to see in the new year. Please feel free to add or correct anything that I've missed.
Nice write-up. 2012 was indeed a busy year. And part of that was getting new hardware ready to ship in 2013.
We have a lot of new Netduino accessories in design, in production, or getting ready to ship. Plus a complementary new product line. 2013 will be a lot of fun
For me, 2012 was particularly exciting and challenging (in a good way). After about a 14 year hiatus from Electrical Engineering, I dusted off my lab and started a new venture. The "Challenge" was catching up on 14 years of changes... everything from CAD programs to the whole board making process. The "Excitement" was seeing how much Microcontrollers have change since the days when I was developing Digital Photo Booths, Pre-Paid Phone Card Vending Machines and Horoscope Vending Machines running on 8051s and Assembler Code.
Learning that my 12 years of .NET experience could be used to program a Microcontroller like the Netduino Plus was an exciting prospect. The possibilites were numerous. With the release of the Netduino Plus 2, the possibilites are endless.
I can't wait to see all the new products that make the market in 2013 and hope I can add a few of my own.
Big thanks to Chris and Secret Labs as well as everyone on the Netduino Forums for their help throughout 2012!
Firstly, I post this with a heavy heart. I'm a great fan of the Netduino products and I try to be realistic about expectations of new products.
What I really want to see this year is better pre-release testing.
This year we saw two major product releases. The Go! and the N+2. The Shieldbase was always marketed as a beta product and I have no problem with that, The N+2 was sold as a working release product. If it was intended to be such then it missed the mark. Early adopters expect problems but not on the scale that I saw with the N+2.
I2c - didn't work
SPI - Worked but only in certain circumstances
PWM - frequency bugs
I love these products, the hardware is great and I wish I could say the same for the software. I think the hardware is miles ahead of Arduino and the GHI products but the software needs to keep up and recently it has not.
Hi Nevyn,
Thank you for your post. I too am a bit bummed that there were so many bugs to fix in the first 60 days of Netduino Plus 2's life. The I2C issue in particular is embarrassing, since we validated it during development--but did not test it very thoroughly again before launch.
Hopefully the testing that went into 4.2.2 (including testing by community members such as Gutworks) helps make it up to you a little bit. The 4.2.2 firmware and SDK should address 99% of all issues that the earliest adopters experienced.
We're listening. Thank you for being a member of the community, and thank you for helping us meet your expectations.
Chris
Just a though, which is *my* viewpoint (you may trash it any time).
The Netduino Plus 2 relies on the MF, then on the STM porting made by the Mountaineer group (afaik). I put my hands on the new N+2 since less than a month and, yes, I found some issue.
What I noticed, though, is that there are issues/limitations in the original MF and there aren't still addressed. I don't know the reasons of the MF team on choosing this or that issue to patch, but I myself I would get more robust the very basic things, before adding new features. Again, that's *my* viewpoints.
So, if I were in Chris, I would feel like a piece of iron between the hammer and the anvil. The users want a better product, but the source can't be touched.
I would suggest to we, users, to analyze better the limitations of the original framework, then joining the forces for a better origin.
Just a though, which is *my* viewpoint (you may trash it any time).
The Netduino Plus 2 relies on the MF, then on the STM porting made by the Mountaineer group (afaik). I put my hands on the new N+2 since less than a month and, yes, I found some issue.
What I noticed, though, is that there are issues/limitations in the original MF and there aren't still addressed. I don't know the reasons of the MF team on choosing this or that issue to patch, but I myself I would get more robust the very basic things, before adding new features. Again, that's *my* viewpoints.
So, if I were in Chris, I would feel like a piece of iron between the hammer and the anvil. The users want a better product, but the source can't be touched.
I would suggest to we, users, to analyze better the limitations of the original framework, then joining the forces for a better origin.
Hope that's clear enough.
Cheers
I couldn't agree more. With the SD Card for instance... I wanted to have full functionality of Read/Write of files and folders as well as formatting the SD and deleting of all files and folders. After extensive testing with 6 different brands of SD cards I can pretty much say that only the ability to Create Folders, Create Files and Write to Files works. Deleting folders and files often corrupts the card and all other functionality is pretty much useless. I don't imagine this is a hardware issue and this functionality doesn't work on the ND+ or +2.
I wish there was a way to get all bugs and short-falls fixed but it may never happen. If we push as a group maybe we can get things to change. We just need to figure out how to do this as a group.
