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Mattster's Content

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#39763 Seeduino GPRS / GSM shield

Posted by Mattster on 20 November 2012 - 09:23 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

So I'm messing around with the Seeed GPRS shield and I'm curious what insights anyone can give on network access - whose SIM are you using and what do they charge you for it? I got no joy when I called AT&T and asked about a data plan for GPRS devices. After a while they found a "supervisor" that wanted to sell me a $50/month data plan. T-Mobile also wants $30-50/month for GPRS service. Isn't there some way to get maybe like $10/month? Or better yet, how about a prepay SIM with a finite amount of kbytes in it. This thing uses less bandwidth than an old Motorola pager ...



#39762 Seeduino GPRS / GSM shield

Posted by Mattster on 20 November 2012 - 09:21 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

So I'm messing around with the Seeed GPRS shield and I'm curious what insights anyone can give on network access - whose SIM are you using and what do they charge you for it? I got no joy when I called AT&T and asked about a data plan for GPRS devices. After a while they found a "supervisor" that wanted to sell me a $50/month data plan. T-Mobile also wants $30-50/month for GPRS service. Isn't there some way to get maybe like $10/month? Or better yet, how about a prepay SIM with a finite amount of kbytes in it. This thing uses less bandwidth than an old Motorola pager ...



#39255 Netduino Plus 2 Pinout Reference Sheet

Posted by Mattster on 13 November 2012 - 02:04 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Yes, they were waiting patiently for me to get home on Sunday (had to go to Boca Raton on Saturday). Started playing with the last night.
Chuck


Went to Boca Raton and didn't bother to stop by for a beer?



#38428 Program in assembly language?

Posted by Mattster on 03 November 2012 - 12:53 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

IMO, assembler is a good thing. Anyone who wants to be a great programmer needs to learn how to assemble. I find it hard to believe that the educational system turns out degreed software engineers that have never touched an assembler. It's fine that C# and Ruby and Python and others provide high productivity and protect programmers from doing stupid things in their code, but if you don't understand how it actually works, how can you fix it when it is really broken? Oh, I forgot, that's why there will always be job opportunities for consultants that know how to assemble.



#38350 Nwazet Go Pro Kit

Posted by Mattster on 01 November 2012 - 07:30 PM in Netduino Go

Got my Go Pro plates kit yesterday, had it all assembled in less than an hour. Very nice, great quality, looks very professional. My only comment is about the knob - it's a little loose on the shaft so it resulted in a slightly lop-sided motion when turned. I solved this by wrapping two turns of scotch tape around the shaft before sliding the knob onto it - it then lines up nicely and turns smoothly without the slight off-center wobble.



#37453 Dynamic programming

Posted by Mattster on 20 October 2012 - 12:14 AM in Netduino Go

Hi Mattster,


Check out the MonoBootloader in the Mono forum. It loads assemblies from an SD card.

Chris


Kewl, thanks!



#37449 Dynamic programming

Posted by Mattster on 19 October 2012 - 11:19 PM in Netduino Go

I have run code from both RAM and flash without any problems. I also believe the code executes from flash a little bit faster than from RAM, because of the dedicated I-Bus and prefetch buffers (when running from RAM, "...the instruction hast to be fetched using the system bus, which incurs and extra wait state" [1]), but I have not performed any measurements. If the number of internal flash rewrite cycles is an issue, you might want to consider using and external memory (100 k cycles and more) , STM32F4 micros have external memory bus interface .

[1] The Insider's Guide To The STM32 ARM Based Microcontroller

CW2: thanks for the insights, and yes, the number of rewrites is an issue. Can you point me at any additional references on the use of external memory? Also, what can you tell me about the performance of external memories?

Thanks!



#37448 Dynamic programming

Posted by Mattster on 19 October 2012 - 11:18 PM in Netduino Go

Hi Mattster,


Your code should run with about the same efficiency from flash or RAM. If you're pulling in code on the fly, I'd recommend running it from RAM.

STM32F4's flash is rated for a minimum of 10,000 flash cycles.

Chris

P.S. Here's an article talking about Flash vs. RAM execution speed on STM32F4.
Both flash and RAM execution are high-performance.
http://www.futurlec....F4_Series.shtml


Chris:

Thanks for the confirmation of my understanding on the flash re-write limitations. I seem to recall reading somewhere here (maybe in the N+ forum?) about runtime loading of executable modules - do you know where I might have seen this?

Thanks,
Mattster



#37431 Dynamic programming

Posted by Mattster on 19 October 2012 - 02:59 PM in Netduino Go

I understand that the STM32F4 is supposed to execute code faster from flash than it can from RAM. But I have a concern that flash has a limited number of write cycles (ten thousand maybe?) before it will fail. I'm working on a system that has to be reprogrammable most every time it runs, receiving its code from another part of the system. I'm thinking that the code will have to go into RAM if I don't want to limit the lifespan of the device. Can anyone comment about dynamically loading code into RAM or flash and executing it at run-time? Thanks!



#36592 Introducing Netduino Go

Posted by Mattster on 05 October 2012 - 07:12 PM in Netduino Go

Thanks Chris. We're playing around with some ideas for distributed processing. Is there any faster interconnect available for the NGo?



#36517 Introducing Netduino Go

Posted by Mattster on 04 October 2012 - 12:24 PM in Netduino Go

Hi Mattster,


Netduino Go can exchange data with GoBus modules using a SPI transport speed of up to 21 megabits/sec.

Simpler modules (like an RGB LED) will communicate at a slower speed, but more sophisticated modules (like the Ethernet module or Shield Base) can exchange data at speeds near or equal to the maximum.

BTW, communication is full duplex. So that's 21mbps simultaneously in each direction. ACKs are included in frame headers, so there is no waiting for dedicated ACK frames.

Chris


So I should be able to plug to NGo main boards together with a GoBus cable and get 21 mbits between them?



#36397 Introducing Netduino Go

Posted by Mattster on 02 October 2012 - 01:34 AM in Netduino Go

Can anyone comment on the theoretical maximum speed of the SPI bus?



#30642 N+ Virtual Memory?

Posted by Mattster on 13 June 2012 - 10:01 PM in General Discussion

Seems to me that an alternative would be to hack the NetMF itself and remove any unused code sections that can be identified as a way to free up memory. I was thinking of writing a code coverage tool for this purpose, but I've been sort of distracted by this thing called Netduino Go and learning new families of processors ...



#30641 Oscilloscope

Posted by Mattster on 13 June 2012 - 09:57 PM in General Discussion

I went through this same step of the learning curve about 6 months ago. In the end, I settled for a "toy" scope, the Oscium iMSO. It was expensive for a toy but I bought it because I already owned the iPad and iPhone so the idea of a tiny portable scope with 4 channels of logic analyzer was attractive even at the price. And for a first scope it is fine. So my opinion is that if you've never owned a scope before and you're not currently working with 50+ MHz signals, a cheap toy can be fine for learning. Then with your experience in mind you can better shop for a higher-end scope. While shopping I found the Quant Asylum QA-100, a USB unit that has some pretty nice specs - 2 Analog inputs and 12 channels of 10-bit resolution Digital logic input. At $350 it's not cheap, but for a portable device it looks pretty good. I think it's going to be my next one. In the meantime, if you look at the QA-100 web page (http://www.quantasyl...ucts/QA100.aspx), there's an excellent feature comparison chart with most of the low-end to medium scopes compared.



#30640 Netduino Version Compatibility

Posted by Mattster on 13 June 2012 - 09:39 PM in General Discussion

There's a selection of Starter Kits over at MakerShed.com



#28824 [nwazet Power Supply Module

Posted by Mattster on 11 May 2012 - 02:36 PM in Netduino Go

the '65 Peugot (Model 404?) is kewl but I want power ...



#28632 Slider module

Posted by Mattster on 07 May 2012 - 12:11 PM in Netduino Go

Price and availability?



#28181 GO! Module wishlist

Posted by Mattster on 27 April 2012 - 03:04 AM in Netduino Go

Rapid switching between the modules is fine but I'm sort of hankering for using the intelligence on the module as a dispatchable task engine that runs as an independent coprocessor. Dunno that the 8S has the horsepower for that, but some of the boards have stronger CPUs. Like the Nwazet display module.



#28085 Powering the Netduino Go! with a Lipo

Posted by Mattster on 25 April 2012 - 03:39 PM in Netduino Go

drilling was the easiest solution



#28084 Need a good intro to hardware book

Posted by Mattster on 25 April 2012 - 11:50 AM in General Discussion

"Electrical Engineering 101" by Darren Ashby. I found it on Sparkfun. An excellent and complete education on what to do with electrons. And very readable too



#27815 Netduino Go! RGB Umbrella

Posted by Mattster on 21 April 2012 - 01:08 PM in Project Showcase

Nice! How many LEDs did you use?



#27424 Building custom go!bus modules for Netduino Go

Posted by Mattster on 17 April 2012 - 01:29 AM in Netduino Go



Having a shrouded header for JTAG would be cool though...would make it hard to plug in the cable backwards.

Chris


I got the unshrouded one from Mouser but was thinking that my Very Cool Black Limited Edition NG0 deserved a shrouded one in a contrasting color.



#27390 Building custom go!bus modules for Netduino Go

Posted by Mattster on 16 April 2012 - 06:47 PM in Netduino Go


Would it help if we bought a few thousand of each and bundled them in 10-packs for $9.95?

Chris


I would buy a ten-pack for $9.95. Mouser only sells the thru-holes in quantity 990 at $.55.

This would be for populating the JTAG



#26681 Hardware Details: Shield Base

Posted by Mattster on 07 April 2012 - 02:06 PM in Netduino Go

Hmm, very nice. But it seems to me that rather than limiting the future Shield Bases you might wish to offer both versions. Some folks would be willing to pay a premium for the higher capacity.



#26638 Hardware Details: Netduino Go (mainboard)

Posted by Mattster on 06 April 2012 - 02:20 PM in Netduino Go

Thanks Stefan, I found to 20pin-10pin adapter on Mouser as p/n TI MDL-ADA2 for $17




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