Congrats! Great pic too. I'm looking into doing something like this - Eventually..

According to the manual (page 12) for the em406a (compatable with the Adafruit GPS shield), altitude is reported, but I've never seen it in action. http://www.usglobals...6/em406a_ug.pdf I've doing some flying myself and looking at a similar project...

Love it! I was thinking a few weeks ago how it would be nice to create a PCB with a programmed chip on it. I was thinking of programming a ATmega328 and putting it on. No more! This fits the bill perfectly! What I'm eventually looking at doing is bringing up some sensors whenever I go flying so I can load it on the PC when I get home.

I've been going through the "Complete Beginners Guide to the Arduino" from Earthshine Electonics. It's for the Arduino, so I've had to convert the code from C to C#, but I've had a lot of fun! http://www.earthshin.../6-starter-kits http://www.earthshin...KManualRev4.pdf I've also found Sparkfun's Arduino Inventor's Kit Manual very good... http://www.sparkfun....oducts_id=10057 Little Bird Electronics here in Australia sells the kits without the Anduino - perfect for my situation, but in the end I just went to my local electronics shop and bought the parts as described in both guides...

You can also get the eBook version for US $27.99.

Thanks mate!!

Thanks David for the reference to the Make: Electronics book. Exactly what I'm after!! (now to find someone in Australia that sells them!)....

I have another video already shot, it's just that I keep forgetting to upload it.

In the mean time, I am waiting for my 4th GPS in a row. Been very unhappy with the performance of all the modules up to this point.

Let us know which one you settle with - I'l be very interested to know.

Thanks and Cheers,
Matt.

This is perfect. I was just thinking last week it would be great to be able to make a circut board and solder on a programmed chip that's Netduino compatable. This is one step better!

Looking forward to whatever the annoucement is.

Whatever it is, I'll be getting it... (unless it's Netduino controlled car - haven't got that much money!)

Welcome Asymptot, Some great "getting started" stuff is also in this thread... http://forums.netdui...d-with-netduino Cheers, Matt.

Nice!!! I thinking I could use something like this communicating using SOAP for a future project.... hmmm

Thanks for the code! I was just reading a blog about the I2CBus the other day...

Let us know how you go. You ask a great question.

Welcome Naga!
Regading your question about the number LED, yes you can!

Here's one I hooked up. For more info, see CIRC-05 in the Sparkfun Anduino tutorial. Links to that tutorial in my post in the topic Eric Burdo refers to...



After I wired up the LED's and got it working, I hooked up the number LED..

... and here's the code! There's 3 examples on playing with the shift register.

using System;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.SPOT;
using Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware;
using SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware;
using SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.Netduino;

namespace Sparkfun___project_15
{
    public class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// This is an example program in the use of Shift Registers 
        /// and the digit display
        /// </summary>
        public static void Main()
        {
            OutputPort LatchPort, ClockPort, DataPort;


            // this is how I wired it, doesn't really matter, 
            // as long as your code here matches your wiring 
            LatchPort = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D8,false);
            ClockPort = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D12, false);
            DataPort = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D11, false);

            
            while (true)
            {
                /*
                //  Example 1: Up and down each number to the 
                // power of 2 (light test/Knight Rider if you're 
                // not using the digit display but seperate leds!)
                if(t >= 7 && direction == 1) direction = -1;
                if(t <= 0 && direction == -1) direction = 1;
                 
                t+= direction;

                    LatchPort.Write(false);
                    ShiftOut((int)System.Math.Pow(2, t), ClockPort, DataPort);                    
                    LatchPort.Write(true);
                 
                    // Compare which light goes on to match the associated number..
                    // this can be useful in figuring out the diagram in the 3rd example.
                    // ie matching which light matches which number
                    Debug.Print(System.Math.Pow(2, t).ToString());
                    Thread.Sleep(3000);
                */
                

                /*
                // Example 2: Cover every combination (Just for the fun of it)...
                for (byte i = 0; i <= 255; i++) 
                {
                    LatchPort.Write(false);
                    ShiftOut(i, ClockPort, DataPort);
                    LatchPort.Write(true);
                    Thread.Sleep(20);
                }
                 * */

                /* 
                 // 
                 * Example 3:  Count 0 - 9 and . representations, based on my wiring.
                 *      
                 *  The numbers in the below diagram can also be figured out
                 *  using the Example 1 code...
                 *  
                 *       32
                 *      ___
                 *  64 |   | 16
                 *      ---   <--128
                 *   8 |   | 2
                 *      ___  . 1
                 *       4
                */
                
                // Do the math and make it "look" simple
                //byte[] Numbers = {126, 18, 188, 182, 210, 230, 238, 50, 254, 242 };
                
                // Or add each light to turn on.  Easier to follow...
                byte[] Numbers = { 32 + 64 + 16 + 8 + 2 + 4, // Digit 0 = 126
                                     2+16, // Digit 1 = 18, etc
                                     32+16+128+8+4, // Digit 2
                                     32+16+128+2+4, // Digit 3
                                     64+16+128+2, // Digit 4
                                     32+64+128+2+4, // Digit 5
                                     64+8+4+2+128, // Digit 6
                                     32+16+2, // Digit 7
                                     32+16+64+128+8+2+4, //Digit 8
                                     32+16+64+128+2 // Digit 9 
                                     };
                
                for (int iCurrentNumber = 0; iCurrentNumber <= 9; iCurrentNumber++)
                {
                    LatchPort.Write(false);
                    ShiftOut(Numbers[iCurrentNumber], ClockPort, DataPort);
                    LatchPort.Write(true);
                    Thread.Sleep(100);
                }

                // make the dot blink a few times....
                for (int iCurrentNumber = 0; iCurrentNumber <= 9; iCurrentNumber++)
                {
                    LatchPort.Write(false);
                    ShiftOut(1, ClockPort, DataPort);
                    LatchPort.Write(true);
                    Thread.Sleep(50);
                    LatchPort.Write(false);
                    ShiftOut(0, ClockPort, DataPort);
                    LatchPort.Write(true);
                    Thread.Sleep(100);
                }
                
            }
        }

        private static void ShiftOut(int DataOut, OutputPort ClockPort, OutputPort DataPort)
        {
            // clear shift register read for sending data
            DataPort.Write(false);
            ClockPort.Write(false);

            // For each bit in dataout, send out a bit
            for (byte i = 0; i <= 7; i++)
            {
                // set clickpin to low prior to sending bit
                ClockPort.Write(false);               
                DataPort.Write((DataOut & (1 << i)) != 0);
                ClockPort.Write(true);
            }
            ClockPort.Write(false);
        }

    }
}

Hi Shane and welcome! The Debug.Print will appear in the Output window within Visual Studio or Express. Cheers, Matt.

[snip!]
I was wondering if there is a way to see how busy the CPU is. In the normal world, if you wrote a programme that had While(true){} and waited inside it for an event, you'd be shot (in most cases).
[/snip!]

Good question. You would think a while(true) loop would mean 100% CPU utilitzation and therefore higher power usage. Is that the case?

Ahh - gotcha. You can get the basic logic from anduino code, but you are right - it can be quiet different.

I wouldn't say the arduino stuff seems to be completely unrelated. I've learnt a lot from reading the arduino tutorials and code and using similar circut layouts and converting the code to C#, even though I've never touched one. There's some great tutorials (from Sparkfun and Earthshine Electronics, for example) that takes you though many projects. Using their tutorials, I was able to figure out how to get shift registers working, blinking lights, button inputs, etc. Now I'm taking myself though the "Make - Electronics" book to get some more solid grounding before I start building serious stuff...

Welcome mate! Check out this topic, it may help: http://forums.netdui...t-read-problems Cheers, Matt.

Also don't forget to compare the development environments. You can download both of them without a purchase of any hardware. Not putting down the incredible work and result of the Arduino environment, but I personally prefer the Netduino environment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can't do step by step debugging with the Arduino, but you can with the Netduino ...

I had the same problem. Check this topic about AREF and check the wiring picture for AREF. That's what fixed it for me. http://forums.netdui...rch__1#entry192 Have fun!

Great idea! It looks like a Pharos GPS-500 III, using a SiRFstarIII chip ... http://www.compuviso...ver-for-pc.html Love to know how you go!