Savvkin

@Chris, but from those types of storage only BLOCKTYPE_FILESYSTEM is intended to store own data and available to managed code. We can't (or have to avoid) write our data directly to BLOCKTYPE_CONFIG or BLOCKTYPE_DEPLOYMENT.

SPI/I2C based flash is also available to managed code, but we have to solve same memory access and organization problems, plus we loose speed and RAM.

I'm not sure about BlockStorage WearLeveling driver. I will try to implement basic wear leveling in FileSystem driver. It's more reusable this way (will work with any BlockStorage drivers).

@Cuno, I saw this project, but it's just a managed extensions for managed SPI driver. And I was looking for native (FileSystem HAL) implementation.

Thanks, Chris.

I understand what BlockStorage is used for, but it's kinda strange there is no managed wrapper out-of-box. Anyway, I decided not to write native wrapper for BlockStorage + managed wrapper for native wrapper to organize direct-block-access and decided to go standard NETMF way (well, from the sources it looks to me like it's a standard way).

I'm implementing own very simple filesystem driver, like the Keil EFS one. I believe it's the best way. No need to write two wrappers, include custom libs, write storage logic in managed part. Just use File/Directory/FileStream. My external flash is just for internal use (store config, logs, sensor data, etc) and not planned to be exposed via USB (at least directly), it's not required to support common full-featured FS like FAT16 (which has lower limit of 4.1 MB, a lot of overhead and not made with low random access time and wear leveling in mind).

So, what do you think about that?

Is there any existing native implementations of simple flash-oriented FS  for NETMF?

I've added FileSystem feature firmware and configured volumes/filesystems in FS_config.cpp.

Now GetFileSystems() and GetVolumes() are working.

But I don't actually need filesystem, using low-level BlockStorage would be enough for me.

What is the best approach?

Implement driver in C#? But I' afraid loosing performance.

Using Intetop? But how can I call BlockStorage (Or SimpleStorage, or my driver) directly from C#? Or I can't do this without additional cpp wrapper?

I think after funding $1M+ to Secret Labs there will be no alternatives to STM32 in NETMF

According to UK Mouser cheapest ST MCU can run NETMF is STM32F103RET6. I'm currently playing with this one.

But it's better to take STM32F205RET6, since F2/F4 series are widely supported by community.

What is electronic manufacturer you think is going to do for you? If you want complete custom board prototype (design, schematics, board, assembly) get ready to pay 5k+ USD. But if you already have complete project ready to manufacture, the cheapest way it to post buying request on Alibaba.com.