.NET Gadgeteer availibility

I'd definitely be up for a shield, despite there being nothing to connect it to yet! The Gadgeteer spec seems to be primarily the connections (physically and electrically). I was just wondering what Secret Labs' plans were (unless they're... you know... secret). A shield for the Mini would be cool. Or is there plans for a new Netduino Gadgeteer board?

I was just wondering what Secret Labs' plans were (unless they're... you know... secret).

We told Microsoft that if they open sourced .NET Gadgeteer, we'd support it. It just went open source, so now we're in design phase on potential hardware. We have some ideas, but we're building this for the community...so we appreciate any/all feedback!



Chris

We told Microsoft that if they open sourced .NET Gadgeteer, we'd support it. It just went open source, so now we're in design phase on potential hardware. We have some ideas, but we're building this for the community...so we appreciate any/all feedback!

Cool!, so this is why you have been so busy lately?

Chris, please count me in for the Gadgeteer shield!

+1 Gadgeteer for a gadget guy

Sneak peek inside the lab... When we build new products, we usually spend about 6-9 months: design, parts sourcing, testing, building test jigs, etc. To make Gadgeteer affordable, we needed to make our own plastic sockets for Gadgeteer accessories. [These sockets are drop-in replacements for the normal, more expensive sockets. You'll also be able to make your own boards and accessories...all open source.] We just received the first batch of sockets, so I took a photo of a handful of them. Now we'll do temperature testing (to make sure they survive the industrial reflow oven) and hand-assemble a few prototype boards. BTW, a big thank you to the MSR team in Cambridge for their work on Gadgeteer (past, present and future). Chris Disclaimer: We haven't officially announced a Gadgeteer product lineup... We do sometimes cancel projects. But I thought I'd share a sneak peek update since you have shared your enthusiasm about Gadgeteer

I hope it's not too late to call in for one or two of those shields.

Count me in !!!!!!

Btw. Any news already, you might want to share ... please !!!!

I'm already on the wait since that video on channel 9 showed up ....

Hi piwi, thanks for your enthusiasm! We're working on it. Nothing to announce quite yet. There are a few software enhancements that we're working on with the Gadgeteer team at MSR. We all want to make sure we deliver a good solution...and we want to support Gadgeteer as a long-term strategy. Chris

Hi piwi, thanks for your enthusiasm!

We're working on it. Nothing to announce quite yet.

There are a few software enhancements that we're working on with the Gadgeteer team at MSR. We all want to make sure we deliver a good solution...and we want to support Gadgeteer as a long-term strategy.

Chris

Wow, am I late to this party! Count me in for a Gadgeteer shield!

-Valkyrie-MT

I had a chance to sit down with the UK-based Gadgeteer research team here at OSCON today. They were publicly demoing some Gadgeteer-compliant prototype accessories made by SeeedStudio, GHI, and Microsoft Research. Some of the accessories were cross-platform (like pushbuttons and light sensors) although many of them were proprietary (i.e. closed-source and/or designed to work specifically with a manufacturer's Gadgeteer board). It looks like there will be some closed-source Gadgeteer mainboards and accessories shown off at MakerFaire Detroit this weekend, which should be fun to see. We're still working out a few usability issues and code size issues in conjunction with the Gadgeteer research team (thanks Gadgeteer team!), but we're hoping to help make "100% open source, low cost, cross-platform" Gadgeteer hardware a reality in the near future. Should be fun. Anyway, I thought you folks might enjoy the update. I expect the first Gadgeteer-style hardware to ship by third parties this fall. Chris

Hi Chris,

you might already have caught this but there is a new kid on the block (actually a spider)

It can be pre-ordered @ the GHI site ....

It can be found on the Microframe site @ MS ... I'm realy tempted .... but I just lost it, couldn't wait and now working my way through building wireless sensors and the internet of things ...

... and than again ... were is the fun when one can just sticking thing together that almost work instantly ... I'm more of a builder then a user anyway ...

Maybe you guys over there are already to busy figuring things out about the FEZ spider

Keep up the good things ....

Peter.

Hi Piwi, Thanks for the post. We've been working with Microsoft Research on open-sourcing Gadgeteer for about 14 months. The first piece of that happened a few months ago (a small amount of code and some of the specs). We're hoping to complete that process with Microsoft Research in the next few months...and bring a low cost, fully open source version of Gadgeteer to market. I was hoping to get it all ready before Gadgeteer v1.0 came out of beta, but the guys at Microsoft Research are very busy and working hard on all sorts of things. Hopefully not too much longer. Chris

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't .NET Gadgeteer supposed to be programmable on its own? What would be the advantage of making a Netduino shield that allows connections with .NET Gadgeteer modules? Is it just for the cost (I saw the "spider" main board available now costs 120USD instead of the 35USD of Netduino) or is there something more? Thx Simone

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't .NET Gadgeteer supposed to be programmable on its own?
What would be the advantage of making a Netduino shield that allows connections with .NET Gadgeteer modules?
Is it just for the cost (I saw the "spider" main board available now costs 120USD instead of the 35USD of Netduino) or is there something more?

Thx

Simone

Hi Simone,

I think the shield will just provide a lot of sockets. Actually the Gadgeteer system is quite simple; it's all about one generic socket. The netduino lacks that socket. Offcause you could just add some wires, but a shield is more a plug-and-play solution, and that's what the gadgeteer is all about: plug-and-play.

I think the shield will just provide a lot of sockets. Actually the Gadgeteer system is quite simple; it's all about one generic socket. The netduino lacks that socket. Offcause you could just add some wires, but a shield is more a plug-and-play solution, and that's what the gadgeteer is all about: plug-and-play.

You can get a better feel for the concept from the Module Implementation Guide.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't .NET Gadgeteer supposed to be programmable on its own?
What would be the advantage of making a Netduino shield that allows connections with .NET Gadgeteer modules?
Is it just for the cost (I saw the "spider" main board available now costs 120USD instead of the 35USD of Netduino) or is there something more?

Gadgeteer basically removes the "electronics" part from the equation. It's specifically designed for researchers who want to build quick prototypes without needing to understand electronics.

A shield would be a quick way for C# and VB programmers new to electronics to get their feet wet without having know which way to plug an LED in, etc. And for aspiring programmers. Gadgeteer is pretty specialized...the vast majority of hobby and commercial prototype projects will use a shield or breadboard.

The mainboard you mentioned ($145 base with power and USB connector) is basically the $35 Netduino with about $5-$10 dollars of Flash, RAM and 10pin sockets added to it (but minus the digital/analog headers, Arduino compatibility, etc.). Based on the low manufacturing cost, I'm honestly not sure why it's so expensive.

Chris

I must admit I'm a newbie to .netmf but the gadgeteer looks very promising. One question though, any ideas if the main board would be capable enough to handle ip video streams either H.264 or mpeg? Even at low resolutions this could be very useful for a project I have in mind

Sneak peek inside the lab...

When we build new products, we usually spend about 6-9 months: design, parts sourcing, testing, building test jigs, etc.

To make Gadgeteer affordable, we needed to make our own plastic sockets for Gadgeteer accessories. [These sockets are drop-in replacements for the normal, more expensive sockets. You'll also be able to make your own boards and accessories...all open source.]

We just received the first batch of sockets, so I took a photo of a handful of them.

Now we'll do temperature testing (to make sure they survive the industrial reflow oven) and hand-assemble a few prototype boards.

BTW, a big thank you to the MSR team in Cambridge for their work on Gadgeteer (past, present and future).

Chris

Disclaimer: We haven't officially announced a Gadgeteer product lineup... We do sometimes cancel projects. But I thought I'd share a sneak peek update since you have shared your enthusiasm about Gadgeteer

Chris,

I was looking at the specifications for the connectors used by the .Net Gadgeteer and I see they are rated for an average life of only 500 insertions, which seems incredibly low.

What is the MTBF for your connectors?

Hi Jonny,

I was looking at the specifications for the connectors used by the .Net Gadgeteer and I see they are rated for an average life of only 500 insertions, which seems incredibly low.

What is the MTBF for your connectors?

The connectors you mention are the connectors used on the original Gadgeteer prototypes. Individual manufacturers are free to use other connectors...and from what I've seen in person some of those may be as low as 50-150 insertion cycles.

We are still testing connectors and working through several interoperability and legal issues related to .NET Gadgeteer. We'll have more information if/when we are able to build an open source hardware implementation using .NET Gadgeteer.

Chris

Who wants a Gadgeteer shield for their Netduino? Please raise your hand.

This would be a great addition to my Netduino. More play with less solder!!

Any update?