greg

Hi fxmaker,

One of the design goals with Netduino Go was to enable the micros on the modules to do the heavy lifting for native code. So that you can focus on command-and-control logic in your mainboard C# code. We also included a true MiniJTAG (Cortex Debug Port) connection on the mainboard so that you can mix native code into your firmware and debug using a super-inexpensive STLink/V2 JTAG debugger.

All that said, the STM32F405 micro on Netduino Go is several times faster than the 72MHz ARMv4 NXP chips. You will see quite a bit of overhead from the MSIL interpeter (running your C# code) but it should be quite a bit zippier. That chip is a monster. To be specific, 210 DMIPS plus it has a math co-proc on board.

Chris

Chris you and your STM's! Although I will agree the F4s are awesome.

BTW - a little off topic but I thought you were leaning towards the Atmel Cortex-M4, but you went with the ST? Not that I'm complaining, I really like the ST stuff.

-Greg

Do you have any other nice idea what could be realized with an Netduino?

I am not sure what you're getting at here. The Netduino and Fez are pretty much identical products - so whatever you can come up with you can accomplish. About the only drawback to either product is if you need absolute timing in your application. Since it's managed code you can't control that (i.e., GC will run, etc) but for 99.9% of ideas this won't be that important.

if you want your students to also read/learn from the firmware source...?

No !.
I only want to use a board like this for some simple tasks like:
- a DCF77 clock
- an electronic keylock using a matrix keyboard (3x4 keymatrix, LCD)
- a radio clock (MP3 player (VS1053B chip), radio (Silicon Labs chip), clock function, touchpanel)
- reformatting NMEA strings from a GPS receiver

Honestly either board will do that just fine. And they'll both do it in C# with Visual Studio. And the programs will both be almost identical, there will be just a couple of minor differences in how you access the board pins.

Hi Greg.
This CANBUS shield seems okay for the Netduino, since it uses the SPI.
I browsed quickly the datasheet, and it seems that there's no problems to interface.

Now, you answer me:

• why you must use CANBUS?
• why using Netduino over Fez?

Cheers

The whole point was to not have spend more than the netduino on a shield.

CANBus is required for some model railroad control bus communication.

As for Fez vs Netduino - I prefer the netduino - its open firmware vs closed.

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9607

Something like this?

Speaking as a network engineer for a Very Large Wireless Company chances are you won't find this in something that you can stick on a little kid. All the consumer grade electronics are going to be bulkier. Not to mention I don't think you want to stick a LiPo battery on your kid and if you want any kind of battery life LiPo is the way to go.

Cells use a LOT of juice - and since you want to be able to log into the device that means it's going to have to be always on with a data connection running. You'll save some power by using 2G (GPRS) vs 3G (UMTS) but it's still going to require a decent battery to get any kind of life out of it.

-Greg