After the modification to make the Joystick work with the Netduino the next step was to add some extra circuitry to support my next experiment. I wanted to control a servo or two with the joystick I also wanted some indication that the program was in control . So I added two 3 pin connectors for the servos and a LED. Here is an update to the schematic for the shield just incase someone want to critique it.

The biggest reason why AREF is not connected to 3.3V internally is because the SAM7X512 chip doesn't support that natively. The AVR chip on the Arduino has an "internal AREF" as an optional integrated feature.

The other reasons we didn't just wire 3.3V to AREF and skip the AREF pin: [a] we wanted people to be aware that the Netduino was a 3.3V device and to be careful not to put 5V into the analog pins when used in analog mode; [b] we wanted to maintain the chip's capability of having an AREF which varies from 2.7V to 3.3V...for our customers who are using Netduinos for commercial engineering prototypes.

That said, I've chatted with engineering about potentially adding an "internal AREF" option in hardware on a future Netduino board revision. It would be a cool feature to have, for sure. For now, connect the AREF pin header to the 3.3V pin header with a jumper wire when using analog inputs.

Chris

Personally, I like it the way it is. I was not confused by the AREF at all, my problem was that initially I did not pay attention to the fact that the shield had wired the pots to 5 vdc. Then in my haste to compensate I over drove the A/Ds by attaching AREF to 5V. Through this I learned a lot about the Netduino and its relationship to the Arduino. I won't make the same mistake again and hope that my original post will help others.
I conform strongly to the concept of modularity, therefore I feel that if the shield uses A/Ds then it is responsible for supplying the AREF. It may not matter much in the case of a connected shield, but having the A/D source supply the AREF is one sure way of insuring that the A/D's are reading accurately.
So my vote would be, If you are going to add "internal AREF" it should be done via a jumper on the Netduino and the jumper should be left off by default.
I plan to make all my projects supply the AREF for accuracy, so don't break my projects please.

Yes, and it's bedtime for sure

Chris

I noticed the spec's http://www.netduino....oplus/specs.htm say the microSD holds up to 2Gb. Is this because the Plus uses SPI to talk to the SD card or is it a software limit?

I have read in another thread that you need XP Mode: http://forums.netdui...indpost__p__283

I not sure that you actually need to use XP mode. I am doing all my work in Window7 Ultimate 64-bit native mode.
I didn't have to do anything special to make it work either.

They are apparently all gone. I can't find one anywhere today.

What is the best programming environment for you?
Ideas of what to specify:
-Music
-People around you (# of, type of)
-Food/Drinks
-Noise level (cars, people, etc...)
-Computer specs
-anything else

For me:
music - Metal as loud as I can stand it; maybe some dark metal like Cruxshadows, Without Tempation ...
People - Barnie my conure. She counts as a person doesn't she!
Food/Drinks - The days of Twinkies and Orange soda are way behind of me, I have to watch my weight so no food, Coffee or Diet Coke to drink
Noise level - I have no tolerance for that stuff thats why I have the music and over the ears headset.
Computer specs - Two 24" wide screens, one for code, one for design/spec/videos.

As I reported a while back, I killed one of my Netduinos. I recently successfully removed the dead chip, but now I can seem to find any available ( both Mouser and Digikey report out of stock and won't have any 'till after the first of the year). I believe that I have been able to verify that the board is still viable so I wanted to "glue" a new cpu chip on this guy to test my smd skills. Any one know where I can locate a at91sam7x512?

Hey,

I'm looking for male PCB mount connectors and their female counterparts (leads). I prefer the connectors have only one way to connect, so you can't switch poles by accident.

I've seen leads like these on LiPo batteries, but I can't seem to find anything useful on RS Online or Mouser when searching for "JST connector".

The PCB connector part looks something like the white connectors on this shield.

I'm EU based so I prefer a supplier like Mouser or RS Online that ships easily to Belgium. Any other EU based shop is good too!

Thanks a lot!

Niels R.

I think this is what you are looking for if the ones in your second picture will work. http://www.sparkfun....roducts_id=8232

klotz,

Sorry, that's a bug in the Netduino firmware. The AnalogInputs work great--but if you open more than one at a time there's a glitch which causes the Netduino to hang.

You can just erase the program on your Netduino (it takes about 10 seconds). See here:
http://forums.netdui...indpost__p__216

We have an update which fixes the AnalogInput bug scheduled for Monday (in 2 days).

Chris

Thanks for the reference on erase. I had no idea that it could be done that way. The only answer I could find was to totaly erase the board as I described. I will try that next time.

Well that means that at least one of my projects will be on hold til monday.
Is there a list of open items somewhere so I don't have to spend time finding them on my own?
If so, is there also a list of what is going to be fixed and when?
I

When I execute this snippet on the Netduino, it hangs on the xVar.Read(). After that, I can still see Neduino-neduino on in my devices list, but I am not able to access it from the debuger or MFDeploy.exe.

namespace Bug
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            // write your code here
            int xValue = 0;
            int yValue = 0;

            AnalogInput xvar = new AnalogInput(Pins.GPIO_PIN_A0);
            AnalogInput yvar = new AnalogInput(Pins.GPIO_PIN_A1);

            xvar.SetRange(0, 0xffff);
            yvar.SetRange(0, 0xFFFF);

            while (true)
            {
                yValue = yvar.Read();
                xValue = xvar.Read(); //Debugger hangs here and never recovers.
            }


        }

    }
}

So far the only remedial action I have found is to totally erase the Neduino and reflash it.

1. Am I doing something wrong in the code?

2. Is there a safer/better recovery than totally erasing the Netduino?

Help.