Thomas Mason

Hello All,
I have a group at my work and we are working on a lighting display for our office. we are looking at different ways to control up to 32 channels of 120v lights, that will be synced with some music. For this project I am looking to use a laptop to control the lights via some controller. I have looked at just using usb relay boards, but since I already have a Netduino I want to use it and a relay sheild such as this one because it would be cheaper (plus Netduino is much funner right). My question is basically that I am looking for advice as to what would be the best way to communicate with the Netduino in order to send commands. I need to control 32 channels so I will be using some shift registers to accomplish this but how could I send command to the Netduino. Can I do it via USB or does some one have a better way (this is a standard Netduino not the plus).

If any one has some advice on this ... or any other part of the project I would appreciate it.

To be more specific i have read post such as these speaking of serial ports on the device. The question I have is how do I attach to these IE: can i just use a serial cable or is there something special I should know. I am pretty sure I can handle the .net side I am just worried about the physical hookup.

I am trying to wire a 74HC595 shift register to my netduino. I have seen that there are numerous post on this forum discussing the software side (and even showing wiring diagrams), but i was windering if I could get some basic help for a total novice. C# I know ICs i do not. 1. this may be totaly basic but how do I know which is pin one ? 2.once I know that would it be possible for some one to show me a simple diagram of how to hook up a single 74HC595 to my netduino. I would like to get one working before I move on to cascading them. All I want to do for know is control 8 led and for now just be able to turn them on seperatly on demand. Any help would be greatly appreciated.