Yes, there is a reason. When the light shines just right you can see the surface roughness. The Da Vinci business model has also received a lot of criticism for the chipped, proprietary filament cartridge. I wish I could afford a Form1 printer. The Da Vinci is cheap enough to play with, but I think I would be disappointed with its results. Thanks for the information about your service.

 

Mine has sat unused in its box since I excitedly bought one when it first came out. I expect it to stay there.

Mine also 

Look under:

C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft .NET Micro Framework\v4.2\Tools\MFDeploy.exe

Open MFDeploy --> Menu:Target --> Configuration --> Network --> Network Configuration --> fill in the blanks 

This has been frustrating for me also. Maybe it is both an IE11 and a Forum problem. If I login with Chrome, pasting this this message from Notepad into a  Reply box works just fine.

Not VS 2013, but Using C# 2010 Express, MF4.2 and pushing the button on a Plus 2, yields nearly instantaneous debug output and led blink.

--> Button interrupt caught.

There's  easyEDA,

http://easyeda.com/

It was free when I signed up, but I haven't used it much. Also, LTspice IV,

http://www.linear.co...tools/software/

I was using this with an ESP8266 AT command set driver (since abandonded in favor of the Lua firmware). Just instantiate the port without an event handler and then receive serial in a wait loop.

Public Sub New(ByVal ComPort As String, _
                   Optional ByVal baud As Integer = 9600)
        Port = New SerialPort(ComPort, baud, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One)

        With Port 'note no event handler
            .Handshake = Handshake.None
            .WriteTimeout = 200
            .ReadTimeout = 200
            .Open()
        End With
        InputString = String.Empty
        'need to change if not 9600
        If (baud <> _DefaultBaud) Then '9600 is default baud rate of ESP8266 firmware (0.9.2.2)
            _Baud = baud
        End If
    End Sub

---------------

Public Function GetFromESP(Eot As String) As String
        'this is the main reader for ESP responses. It will wait for the expected Eot or
        'a socket exception will be thrown if the response contains, ERROR or Unlink

        Dim n As Integer = 0
        Dim response As String = String.Empty
        InputString = String.Empty
        While (True)
            If (Port.BytesToRead > 0) Then
                Dim buff = New Byte(Port.BytesToRead - 1) {}
                n = Port.Read(buff, 0, Port.BytesToRead)
                Thread.Sleep(200)
                InputString &= New String(Encoding.UTF8.GetChars(buff))
                'Debug.Print("Inputstring: " & InputString)

                If (Contains(InputString, Eot)) Then 'expected return
                    Exit While
                    'Trap for socket connect to inactive server
                ElseIf (Contains(InputString, "CIPSTART") And _
                       (Contains(InputString, "ERROR") _
                        Or Contains(InputString, "Unlink"))) Then
                    response = InputString
                    InputString = String.Empty
                    Throw (New ESPexception("Socket can't connect: GetFomESP returned ERROR Unlink"))
                End If
                Thread.Sleep(50) 'need this delay (maybe more)
            End If
        End While
        response = InputString
        InputString = String.Empty
        Return response
    End Function

You need to add,

using System.IO.Ports;

See post #8,
http://forums.netdui...uino-unique-id/

I have been using the BPI-216N/L Serial Text LCD for years. The COM port interface is about as simple as you can get.
http://www.seetron.com/products.html
It's a bit pricey and you can get something better with a serial interface for about the same price (look under Intelligent Display modules),
http://www.4dsystems.com.au/products
http://www.4dsystems...brief_R_1_1.pdf

I have the older version of this module and it is a very readable display.

You can also use,

byte B = 0xac;
String S = B.ToString("X2");
Debug.Print(S); //--> AC

Don't know much about it, but may be useful with a Plus 1 or 2.

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/B00E00C70C
http://slickdeals.ne...free-on-amazon?