Spiked's Content

#59198 Netduino 2 Plus, New Home

Posted by Spiked on 13 July 2014 - 10:07 PM in Project Showcase

re intermatic: lol, yes I'm a bit handicapped, and just plain lazy. I've had this or X10, for like 15 years, I don't know how people live without them. And, I'm shocked the idea has never caught on enough to bring prices down.

I'm trying not to spend my all of this months retirement check, so I can get the Seeed LIDAR, the holes are there My overall goal for this project is to learn SLAM, and be able to task level autonomously navigate. I got the last robot to that point but, the Roboard-110 made too much RF noise for the GPS to ever get a fix, so I gave up on it being intelligent. I could task level tell it to move, but without encoders or GPS, I couldn't tell it where. Since I'm a little more handicapped now, I also knew that I should start thinking more indoor than outdoor, thus this bot.

#59191 Netduino 2 Plus, New Home

Posted by Spiked on 13 July 2014 - 11:30 AM in Project Showcase

Wiring comes next.

full story;

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=530

and

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=338

#60502 Netduino 2 Plus, New Home

Posted by Spiked on 22 October 2014 - 06:03 AM in Project Showcase

A walkthrough of the User Interface

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=1221

#60026 Using NETMF SerialPort in NET 4.5 Application

Posted by Spiked on 07 September 2014 - 08:04 PM in Visual Studio

keep the serial port out of the common code or

surround it with #if MF_FRAMEWORK_VERSION_V4_3 #else

I thought serial port would be in System.IO?

In any case, writing common code for a serial port between two different hosts may be pushing it, but I guess it could be done. I have mixed feelings on the utility of this. I would tend to write more robust code where resources are not constrained (error handling, longer messages, bigger buffers), but I have no idea as to your reasons to not want to do that.

#59220 Server to Client Communication

Posted by Spiked on 14 July 2014 - 08:18 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

You will not, by definition, be able to achieve a server to client communication without action by the client. So I will assume you meant something slightly different.

MQTT is a subscribe / publish protocol. A client subscribes to messages via a broker. A server publishes messages via the same broker. In my case, the broker runs on the PC, but both the PC and Netduino act as clients AND servers. The PC publishes a request to do something, the Netduino listens for that and acts accordingly. And the Netduino publishes sensor telemetry, and the PC listens for that.

Since MQTT is ethernet based, your broker would need to be internet facing in order to send messages from WAN (assuming that means internet). The broker to Netduino connection would not need to be internet facing.

I have used

http://code.msdn.mic...ibrary-ac6d3858

https://m2mqtt.codeplex.com/

http://knolleary.net...lient-for-mqtt/ (arduino)

and for a broker

http://mosquitto.org/

All have been very easy to use.

#61166 Non-Voliatile Storage - NVRAM

Posted by Spiked on 05 January 2015 - 04:54 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Well, it is possible to build the firmware with GCC, I have been doing that for years, and so were others.

Yeah, that's the thing. I did it once for a quad flight controller. Step1 reformat your computer and install old Windows XP stuff. Step 2 track down old out of date products, if you can find them.

The fact that you can do it, is not the same as saying it is easy. In fact it is somewhat intentionally misleading.

In your case you are saying something new allows it happen. That is far more preferable. Can I assume it runs with the current version of the OS that has nearly 90% of the market?

Still waiting on detailed notes .......

The spirit of open source is to allow people to make changes and re-share them. Many are capitalizing on the open source momentum by claiming open source, when using in this way is impractical. There is a Visual Studio plugin for the Arduino which talks about how great it is to be open source. What they don't tell you is the useful part of the project is not open (Visual Micro). My other favourites are the ones that sell current versions, only the older buggy broken versions are free (XCeed). I know, its easy to make money on gullible people, but I am going to call them out when I see it. Open source has a place. It is helpful to many people. It is in spirit a good idea. It is the marketing vultures that are ruining it.

And now that I am soapbox mode: What the heck do you think will happen when a company who only sells software starts giving it away? How serious do you think they can be? Indeed Open Source MF COULD drive OEMs, and commercial licenses would be the business model. But for consumers - no way.

#60933 Non-Voliatile Storage - NVRAM

Posted by Spiked on 10 December 2014 - 01:32 AM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

You sure have my curiosity peaked. I want see easy peeking and poking of memory in a managed application and/or I want to see anyone build the firmware without a $6000 tool chain. Be sure to take notes and share.

#61173 Non-Voliatile Storage - NVRAM

Posted by Spiked on 05 January 2015 - 08:22 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

CW2, thanks for that. I believe you are in the true spirit of open source.

I had looked at, ran into the 'it wont work because of ...' problems, asked on this forum, and received no replies a while back (maybe before March because I do remember searching the wiki). What is published there is certainly enough for a someone brave to attempt - although I'd bet it is more like a weeks effort, than a few hours, unless you do it every other day. Just tracking down all the 'updates' is more than several hours. How much reading must someone do to understand the Cortex-M Thumb code linker switches?

My point remains about the process being more sophisticated than the average consumer could probably accomplish. But, I do recognize 99.999% of open source users could not modify any code, but are all hyped up about Open Source anyhow, that's what marketing departments are depending on.

edit: I just went and looked at the wiki again, and I still can not find anything other than the 4.2.2 yargo stuff, with a bunch of "it wont work because of" comments, and nothing updated since 20113. Perhaps it is displaying incorrectly in my browser.

#60047 USB power vs. input power

Posted by Spiked on 09 September 2014 - 12:28 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Putting a Netduino into production and calling wall warts cheap china crap is pretty much an as far from a success story as you can get. Good luck. Where do you think all the parts on your Netduino are made?

#58599 More learning / sample code

Posted by Spiked on 06 June 2014 - 05:23 PM in Project Showcase

Just kidding That is me, and my quad copter, but not this board.

I run a flight controller called a Naze32 on it. It is a stm32 like the netduino, with IMU components. I did not write the code.

http://www.multiroto...cro-naze32.html

There is no noticeable latency with the netduino attached to a pc, even with mqtt brokering, although I am sure it adds a tiny bit. Again, the video does not look as good as it really is, because of editing problems.

#58591 More learning / sample code

Posted by Spiked on 06 June 2014 - 07:48 AM in Project Showcase

SPARKFUN 9DOF IMU STICK ACCELEROMETER AND GYRO RAW DATA TO WPF VIA MQTT

So, still learning, but I seem to be getting along ok, solving a few problems I see others encountering - so if the code helps anyone, great.

If nothing else it shows off WPF simplicity a little for those of you unfamiliar with with it. WPF was the intended replacement for UI on windows. It has been made 'legacy' at this point, but the follow-up - WIndows Store apps are very similar.

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=438

direct links;

http://www.spiked3.c...2014/06/imu.zip

The video shows some 'unaligned' response. I assure you this was a video alignment problem. In actuality the response is very fast and aligned. Next time I will do the screen capture differently as I think frame rate differences messed with me.

#58604 More learning / sample code

Posted by Spiked on 06 June 2014 - 08:18 PM in Project Showcase

Yes. I am actually pretty advanced in the FPV quad hobby.

The quad in the picture has a 5.8g video transmitter. The one in the video has a 1.3g video transmitter that goes to a 1.3 receiver, that retransmits to 5.8 - so I can wear the same wireless 5.8 fat sharks for both. 1.3 has better foliage penetration, but 5.8 has more frequencies channel choices - so it depends on if you are flying with friends or behind trees.

my meetup group

http://www.meetup.com/wa-fpv/

That is the best US source I know of for the board. They just sell fast (for obvious reasons). Keep checking.

#58968 More learning / sample code

Posted by Spiked on 01 July 2014 - 09:04 PM in Project Showcase

Way excited - this is cool stuff I've never seen done with a netduino

#60967 DTMF with netduino plus 2

Posted by Spiked on 13 December 2014 - 08:56 PM in Project Showcase

My 'I have never done it' guess would be you need to use a FFT to get the frequency of the tones.

http://www.arduinoos...-transform-fft/

has 11 pages explaining how to do it on an Arduino. I don't even know if the Managed Netduino is capable.

Give it a quick look, then go get a chip previously mentioned

#61144 Shield Module speed and HC-SR04

Posted by Spiked on 04 January 2015 - 03:31 PM in Netduino Go

...

#59773 Netduino Plus 1 and Pins class

Posted by Spiked on 18 August 2014 - 08:38 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

You have to watch how names of pins get passed around.

I define a variable like such

RegulatedMotor M0 = new RegulatedMotor( PWMChannels.PWM_PIN_D5, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D9, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10 );

but the function is defined

public RegulatedMotor(Cpu.PWMChannel pwmPin, Cpu.Pin encA, Cpu.Pin encB) { ... }

#59676 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 12 August 2014 - 06:37 AM in General Discussion

Take a look at Seattle Robotics, aka SRS; http://www.seattlerobotics.org/

There is a large maker / IoT community there, also at JigSaw Renaissance, Metrix, and other places around here.

http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/

http://www.metrixcreatespace.com/

http://www.makerhaus.com/

Not that I'm steering you away, I just think they will have more resources at the moment than I do in those areas.

#59257 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 16 July 2014 - 05:10 PM in General Discussion

Hey guys and gals, after my previous hobby became marked as terrorism by the FAA (Flying FPV), I have moved back into robotics. Some of you have seen my posts concerning a personal robot project.

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=530

Anyhow, I started a meetup group in Seattle, the first meeting is this weekend. 24 members in the first week, not bad, and I am hoping it continues to grow. The group will be very much software focused, as the last thing I want to do is be another Arduino/3D printing group. Sure we will talk hardware, but usually only in context of what software it is running and why. I personally find the existing robotics groups barely touch on software.

Location is downtown Seattle, and all flavors are welcome.

http://www.meetup.co...-City-Robotics/

#59270 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 16 July 2014 - 11:46 PM in General Discussion

Lot's of potential Ideas Nathan. I actually have come to know the local black magic camera and internet streaming company, from the adobe premiere meetup group I am a member of. They use

http://new.livestream.com/

So yes, it is possible (and has been done recently ) Let's see how things go.

http://new.livestrea...585199/archives

In the meantime, I do have a name reserved www.ec-robotics.org if there is a need, as well as my own mostly robot site www.spiked3.com where I will post any material I get.

#59325 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 21 July 2014 - 06:27 AM in General Discussion

Well, I have to be honest (its my nature and probably why I didn't do so well on the death star), but the weekend and this meetup didn't really go anywhere like I had hoped.

First on Saturday (at Seattle robotics) I was told I didn't know anything about RC (I think some of you know that is probably not the case), by a person who didn't even have their tires on correctly.

Then my meetup, I was told anything but an Arduino was a poor choice, and my Windows robot with a Netduino was the wrong way to do it. And that C++11 doesn't exist. I was confused on how code gets transformed into bytes to run on a computer (of which an Arduino is really the only true one). avr-gcc isn't a compiler Damn, I wasted the last 35 years as an operating systems programmer I guess. Actually the person arguing this eventually apologized, but it got a little heated in the process. I tried tactfully to indicate I was not asking if it could be done, but if anyone had done it (C++11 on an arduino), and the argument I was getting was it could not be done (which I knew was incorrect, http://stackoverflow...ram-the-arduino). I quit being tactful after a while.

Oh and over half no shows.

Sigh, at the moment, I give up. Maybe I'll recover (my spirits) in a week or 2, but for the moment, seriously thinking of switching to knitting.

#59658 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 11 August 2014 - 09:33 AM in General Discussion

Excellent! The group is getting lots of members, but no one is signed up for the current meeting.

I am hoping that is just a matter of it being nice weather, and people have better things to do.

Hopefully attendance will pick up up as Seattle weather moves in.

So, what kind of learning event would interest you? I would like it to be a step beyond,in a robotics direction, what you can get at the many existing Arduino(Netduino) / make groups.

BTW this month I am presenting my robot, as it is so far. I had a small breakthrough tonight, so it might actually be moving on its own by the meeting.

Nice nickname by the way

#59268 New Robot Meetup Group, Seattle

Posted by Spiked on 16 July 2014 - 11:08 PM in General Discussion

Oh man, this is pretty cool. I visit Seattle every few months...do you accept out-of-towners in your club?

I could bring Petri (my Pleo) with me? As long as you promise not to disassemble Petri.

Chris

Call me silly, but I have a feeling you would be a guest speaker. Other than that, of course you and anyone else are welcome any time. The meeting room I generally use holds 15-20 comfortably, so I state attendance to 12 + guests, but if need be we have some larger rooms here as well, I can only hope we grow into them. Send me an email, and let me know your schedule next visit to town. (spiked3 at gmail).

#60759 DateTime in NativeEventHandler()

Posted by Spiked on 19 November 2014 - 04:53 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

I remember finding it somewhere and it was 3�s . I don't remember where, or I could be remembering it completely wrong, so take it with a grain of salt.

#61133 Just discover Netduino!

Posted by Spiked on 03 January 2015 - 06:58 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

The Plus does have the advantage of ethernet, but it is not a full working stack, and has some long outstanding bugs. Many have been able to get quite a bit working with it though e.g. web servers. I use it all the time for MQTT to a host PC, but I am starting to look into moving away from that. I will stick with MQTT, but find a way to do it over serial (and no not MQTT-SN, that is geared for wireless as far as I can tell).

To be honest, I remain very disappointed in MF as a long term strategy. I waited years for anything, then what I heard was "big announcements are coming", then what I got was an announcement for 'we are going open source' - which to me is very bad thing. And still no significant updates (like ethernet bug fixes). Now that it is open source, what I expect to finally get is a NON QA'd product, with a ton of bugs. And no end user usable toolchain to be able to even fix them myself. I'm looking elsewhere (and probably going back to Arduino).

As far as sensors, It all boils down to electricity - any and all sensors could work, if there is not some physical restriction. However you may not be able to get the timing resolution on a managed framework (.Net) that you would get from raw code on an Arduino. In most cases you can get close enough, but there are a few (e.g.frequency measurement) where you will not, but this is rare case.

#61159 Just discover Netduino!

Posted by Spiked on 05 January 2015 - 09:05 AM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Don't forget to remind everyone they have been shipping soon for 4 years now. Sorry, but reality has to sink in at some point.

Sorry Chris, I hate to go negative. I personally have had pretty good luck with the Netduino, as I have said, But watching others experience, and Microsofts ridiculous pace, I have got to move on. The netduino/gadgeteer/MF remain a great prototyping platform as far as I am concerned. As a hobbyist maker tool, not so much.

And frankly nothing unique about your situation, this is what happens to most open source projects, and why I avoid them when I can. That was what I was trying to do when I went with MF over Arduino in the first place. Now that they are both open source, all advantages are lost.

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