Gutworks

Hi eurobog and welcome to the Netduino community. Unfortunately I think your question is regarding the Arduino platform which uses a different programming language than the very powerful .Net Micro Framework used on the Netduino. The two platforms are very similar however the code is considerably different. Personally I find it much easier to develop and use the Netduino, but I am a bit biased.

Just to be clear, are you using an Arduino or Netduino? If you do have a Netduino I would be more than willing to give you hand with some simple DC motor controls and PWM samples. If you are indeed using an Arduino you may want to post your question on their forum found here: http://forum.arduino.cc/ 

Regardless of the platform you use, you're in for a lot of fun. 

Cheers,

Steve

Hi WillyBilly,

Like Mario has said, 300mA will be enough for general use, however for some power hungry projects you may want to use something larger. As far as power supplies go, your Netduino will only use as much current as it needs. So if you have a 1A power supply it will do no harm to your Netduino, unless of course your project uses more current than the board itself can handle.

I have posted some maximum current loads on the pinout I created a while ago. Hopefully it will help you with your project.

http://forums.netdui...ference-sheet/ 

Cheers,

Steve 

Sorry, I didn't see that Chris had posted while I was writing my response. To add to what Chris suggested:

You could also use little mechanical or optical trip sensors to trigger when the mice arrive.

I was thinking you could use a reed switch and place a small magnet on the mouse. A reed switch is activated when there's a presence of a magnetic field, which you can use as an indicator to stop the motor. 

Hi JohnBreeds,

First off welcome to the community! That sounds like a fun project. I love any project that provides smiles for kids.

Though small dc motors may be fairly easy to operate and cheap they do present some challenges for a simple project in that they really don't have any sort of feedback system. What I mean by that is the motor itself can't tell you how many rotations or the speed at which it's moving without some extra circuity or devices like wheel encoders or switches that let you know where your mouse is at any given point. 

To keep things reasonably simple and low cost, and assuming you are using a Netduino to control everything, I think a 360 degree full rotation servo would be ideal. These can be purchased for under $15 bucks at most electronics stores and give you the ability to know how many rotations have occurred and the position of the shaft. There are a few tutorials on the wiki and forums on how to use a servo, and I'd be glad to help with it if you need any additional help. 

Of course there are plenty of other solutions, but this may be the simplest. 

Cheers,

Steve

Hi gartal, 

It is unfortunate that you are having difficulty in getting things converted. Initially I had similar issues in getting some samples to work, but after a few tweaks most things were resolved. The folks at Netduino have also done a great job in making their SDK backwards compatible, however there were some code samples that used Microsoft classes that may need tweaking as NETMF has evolved and improved over time. As for SDK documentation, I agree it would be great to have a single place where people could easily find the few Netduino specific classes with examples. However I believe the majority of the NETMF SDK is well documented and can be found here: http://msdn.microsof.../bb417054.aspx  I have found some information to be incorrect and missing, but for the most part it's a fantastic resource. If you are looking for more specific Netduino examples I find the Forums to contain a wealth of information. In searching for examples, I generally prefer Google to search the forums with as the IP.Board's search capabilities have been limited (though this may have been improved with the latest upgrade). If you have any questions or difficulties in getting older samples to work, please post a question in the forum and generally the community is quick to respond. 

As for Linux support I highly suggest you look through the developments of the Mono team which can be found here: http://forums.netdui...forum/12-mono/  I personally have no need for a Linux toolchain so my knowledge in that area is limited. 

I do hope you consider keeping your Netduino as the community would certainly appreciate your enthusiasm and passion.

Cheers,

Steve