So for example if I am interested in this: STM32F051R8T6 ARM Cortex-M0 32-bit microcontroller with 64KB of Flash memory 1) it is not enought to run netmf 2) if I want to develop on that cortex-m0 my only option is to buy expensive compiler suite + ide, for example Keil has the free limited to only 32kb. The first option is the "basic" @ 2000euros correct? so with netmf I spend a little more on CPU (Cortex M4 is 7$ for 1000pcs), but I save huge on IDE+tools?

Thanks everybody for the answers, now I have a clearer view. How is the market situation of the so called "shields"? I think I would need an LCD display, some leds and relais, and a wireless module (wifi/bluetooth/zigbee , but I bet more on wifi). Do you have successful experiences with these? If I use wifi do I use the same stack of ethernet or something is different?

Hello, I am a new user. I have the following general questions: 1. Where is the advantage of using netmf over C for microcontrollers? Given that micro-controllers are very small and "simple", it's not so hard to develop firmware with various IDE (keil and eclipse are my favourite). I think visual studio is superior, some IDE are really obsolete (expecially in the 8-bit microcontroller's world), but overall I can see that developing in C is not that hard-for-nerds-only, even on bare-metal with "superloop" architecture (that is "while(1) + interrupts") or with small real time OS (freeRtos). People are often frightened by struct, enum, bit-aritmetic, but it is really easy. So where are the advantages of netmf? considered that netfm eats up significant resources (ram + flash space + cpu cicles) off an alreay limited device. 2. What is the impact of not being realtime? Even is the system is not real time, I see it is capable of responding to ethernet frames, while controlling led and buttons, etc... The problem arise in scenarios like "priorities": if a device is responsible for 3 "tasks" (display, buttons, and ethernet replies), and ethernet reply is the most important (=has the max priority and has the right to interrupt everything else when a frame arrives), how can I cope this with netmf?? 3. Software architecture: is superloop my only choice with netmf? Is it possibile to have a "task layer" that switches task, even if no realtime will be garantied? The superloop is easy for simple programs, but is a failure for more complex projects. Don't you think it's better to organize code in "tasks" (each of which is a while(1)) that netmf switches automatically every 20ms? 4. Last question is: is netmf installable only on netduino series? If I have a Cortex M4 without FPU, will it work? Or a cortex M3? Cortex M0 should be too low I think (no ram/flash) and my only choice would be plain C over the metal + superloop thanks