Chris Walker's Content

#60584 Netduino Mini 2 being designed?

Posted by Chris Walker on 30 October 2014 - 04:29 AM in Netduino Mini

Hi David,

Nothing to announce today. We do have a NETMF port for STM32F401 which we're using on some of our IoT maker gear, but it didn't quite meet our requirements for a "Netduino Mini" style MCU. We are keeping the little guy in mind though; Netduino Mini is pretty awesome for miniature projects.

Chris

#60595 Where is Chris Walker?

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 03:46 PM in General Discussion

Robert--please PM me if I can be of assistance

Chris

#60596 Serial only works when plugged into USB N+2

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 03:53 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi rickitytick,

If you plug in external power while also using USB power from your PC, does the Netduino app run fine?

If you reset that board while Visual Studio is not running, does the Netduino app run fine?

Plugging in external power should auto-switch from USB power. The thing I'm looking for here is to find out if it's a power issue, a timing issue, etc.

Chris

#60597 Netduino 2 com ports 2 and 4 die

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 03:54 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

Hi Pete,

Do you have a logic analyzer (to make sure that the data is actually flowing through)?

Also, did you happen to instantiate your SerialPort object in Main and then let it go out of scope by exiting the Main function? Or something that could cause the garbage collector to clean up the object and/or its DataReceived event?

Chris

#60598 Impossible to use System.Net

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:09 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

Hi Desable783094,

Are you using an Ethernet shield with your mainboard? Netduino 1 doesn't have System.Net or networking onboard...but we have some experimental Wiznet drivers if you want to use the System.Net classes with the Arduino Ethernet shields or compatible.

Chris

#60599 Help with recreating an Arduino project into Netduino

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:11 PM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

Hi Tinymacrocosm,

Pullups are disabled on OutputPorts and AnalogPorts automatically. Although OutputPorts do automatically drive their signal voltage high/low--so if you don't mean to do that then open everything as an InputPort (or TristatePort) with pullups disabled to start with.

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60600 Beta: Visual Studio 2013 support

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:13 PM in Visual Studio

Gert--yes, you can use Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop with the 4.3.1 R2 SDK beta installer from Microsoft.

Gert and KristijanCetina -- after you install the VS2013 support, be sure to run the "Netduino 4.3.1 SDK for VS2013" installer. That will add the appropriate templates to VS2013.

Chris

#60601 Netduino Mini Firmware v4.2.0 (Update 1)

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:16 PM in Netduino Mini

Hi beerygaz,

Did you flash the Netduino Mini with RS232 or TTL firmware? Also--the NETMF 4.3 SDK has some unique timing issues. If you can't get it to work at all, try uninstalling the 4.3 SDK and installing 4.2 instead.

Or go grab the special version of MFDeploy we made for changing deployment ports (which uses an earlier SDK's serial transport code):
http://forums.netdui...b-and-com1com2/

Chris

#60602 RS232 Communication

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:19 PM in Netduino Mini

Hi beerygaz,

Based on the serial dump, it looks like the Netduino Mini is booting properly. Since you are using RS232 for transport...is there any chance that your serial adapter is USB-TTL instead of USB-RS232? Or is using a non-compliant voltage swing? Or that the PC's TX pin isn't connected securely?

Chris

#60603 From Netduino prototype to an Industrial product

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:27 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi dileepkumars1,

Some of our users use Netduinos directly in their small-run projects. For projects with special requirements, high run projecst, etc. you can create a custom PCB. We supply the schematics for Netduinos on the downloads page.

And in case this is the answer to your question: the boards are well built

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60604 Production Netduino Plus 2

Posted by Chris Walker on 02 November 2014 - 04:29 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi mhardy511,

For orders of 100+ boards, we could ship you boards without the headers detached (which you could solder on upside down). We could also solder them on upside down for you as a special volume run...although that's not necessarily a standard offering.

I should ask the question: would a lot of people be interested in getting Netduinos with the headers unsoldered?

Chris

#60611 Production Netduino Plus 2

Posted by Chris Walker on 03 November 2014 - 03:12 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi mhardy511,

For orders of 100+ units, we can flip the headers around (and you also get a 20% discount off MSRP at this volume). We have had a handful of requests for headerless boards over the year, albeit in small quantities for prototyping.

Just let us know what you need and I'll see what we can do

And yes, as you surmised: those larger holes on Netduino are mounting holes.

Chris

#60612 Netduino 2 Plus - RTC and battery

Posted by Chris Walker on 03 November 2014 - 03:15 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi Dmitry,

The STM32's VBAT is not exposed on Netduino 2. You could add on an RTC externally and of course you could add RTC support on a custom board with some firmware tweaks.

Does that help get you started?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60625 Beta: Visual Studio 2013 support

Posted by Chris Walker on 05 November 2014 - 12:35 AM in Visual Studio

Spiked--very interesting. The SDK installer actually runs that same command-line argument to update the Visual Studio templates. I wonder if perhaps we're starting it as an asynchronous process and if loading Visual Studio before it's done causes the procedure to abort.

eugenhuber--the Netduino 4.3.1 SDK, even though it is marked as experimental, is basically release quality. We always like to test with the final VS bits before calling it "release"--but we're using it full-time with the NETMF 4.3.1 R2 SDK Beta today. If you want to be on VS2013, go ahead and upgrade. If you run into any VS2013-specific troubles, let us know, swap back to VS2012 and we'll work with Microsoft to resolve.

Chris

#60626 Problem Loading Firmware on Netduino Plus 1

Posted by Chris Walker on 05 November 2014 - 12:38 AM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi korgani,

After you erase your board, power it down and plug it back in via USB: does it appear as "AT91..." in Device Manager?

Chris

#60661 SerialPort.DataReceived

Posted by Chris Walker on 07 November 2014 - 08:32 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi MLA44,

Yes, the event is fired as soon as data starts arriving. With serial bytes, the framework doesn't know how much data you're going to get. And it queues up another event once more data arrives.

Because of that, and because you're checking for "more" received data in a loop, multiple fired events is a normal thing. Just exit the event handler if there's no data left and you should be good to go.

And if you're waiting for a specific amount of data then go ahead and store the data you get in an appropriately-scope byte array...and then process the data all at once when you've received everything you need. [Also...in case you got some data from the NEXT batch of data...go ahead and move that to the front of your buffer.]

Does that get you started?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60664 RS232 Advice

Posted by Chris Walker on 09 November 2014 - 01:02 AM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)

Hi home-ent,

...but the second error is

The type or namespace name 'SerialPort' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

why is the namespace not recognised?

Do you have Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware.SerialPort.dll added as an assembly reference in your project? We include this in the default Netduino templates--but if you created a project from scratch you'll want to pull this in if you're using SerialPorts.

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60665 .NET Micro Framework V4.3 SDK-R2-Beta

Posted by Chris Walker on 09 November 2014 - 01:07 AM in General Discussion

Hi CrossUp,

The Netduino 4.2 SDK requires an earlier version of Visual Studio. Grab the Netduino 4.3 SDK for VS2013 ("experimental") and you should be good to go.

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60669 Azure Veneziano

Posted by Chris Walker on 10 November 2014 - 12:19 AM in Project Showcase

Thanks for writing and sharing this, Mario

Chris

#60688 Network Config. Won't Save

Posted by Chris Walker on 11 November 2014 - 11:22 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi aahlbrandt,

Can you try erasing and reflashing your board with Netduino Update really quickly (which is included with the firmware update files...see sticky post at the top of the forum)?

And then change the network config?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60692 Guidance: using 5V signals with pull-ups/pull-downs

Posted by Chris Walker on 12 November 2014 - 05:31 AM in General Discussion

Hi Grant,

Is it only a problem if i enable the pullup on the specific pin with the 5v signal. As in,
If I use an internal pullup on a single pin that is attached to a 3.3v device.
Does this mean I can't attach a 5v device to a different pin and use an external pullup? Meaning that once the pull up is enabled on one pin, 5v is out for all other pins. Or is it just pin specific.

The guidance only applies to single pins. So you can safely use a 3.3V signal with internal pull-up on one pin while using 5V signals (with no pull-up) on another pin. The reason for this guidance is effectively because plugging a 5V signal into a 3.3V pull-up can cause voltage to effectively travel "backwards" into the 3.3V MCU power supply.

So as long as you're only using pull-ups/pull-downs on 3.3V pins you should be good to go. Feel free to mix in 5V logic on other pins.

Chris

#60715 Pin 15 - used?

Posted by Chris Walker on 14 November 2014 - 03:22 PM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi skyjam,

That pin is unused, in part to protect the board from legacy shields with 5V AREF. It is not connected.

Chris

#60722 After a few deployments, my Plus 2 ... bad things happen

Posted by Chris Walker on 16 November 2014 - 12:00 AM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)

Hi smrdd,

Try putting your board into bootloader mode (by pressing the button while plugging it into your PC). Then run Netduino Update, click on advanced options for your board, switch to the Tools tab and click "Erase App".

Then unplug and re-power your board. Does it show up now? If so then this may be an issue on the board side (possibly a lockup in lwIP).

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

#60747 Problem with Pete Brown's post

Posted by Chris Walker on 18 November 2014 - 07:40 PM in General Discussion

A quick update on this: we've submitted a trouble ticket with Invision Power and have asked them to diagnose the issue.

This happened once or two before over the last four years and when we tried the system's built-in "rebuild" function it didn't work. Actually, it didn't work *and* a lot of the cool profile Avatars were removed. We're going to try to avoid that this time

Pete--sorry that the system ate your post. Thanks for posting. We're on it.

Chris

#60768 Can debug but can't run 'stand-alone'

Posted by Chris Walker on 20 November 2014 - 08:35 PM in Visual Studio

Hi afox,

When you deploy code, it deploys to the board as expected. Visual Studio remote-debugs your application.

Can you try adding a 1-2 second pause when your application starts, for diagnostics purposes, using Thread.Sleep()? Or connect to your board (F5) from MFDeploy, reboot your board and then press Ping in MFDeploy; that should give you a data dump showing your app start, any Debug.Print statements that your app prints out, etc.

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris