

The .NET Micro Framework - Hardware for Software People - RBerenguel
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheNETMicroFrameworkHardwareForSoftwarePeople.aspx

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misterbwong
I have to say, this is pretty awesome. I've looked into doing some hardware
projects on the side but haven't really had the urge to learn another language
for it. Now I'm that much closer to losing some time & money on this.

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ovi256
There are Arduino firmwares and compilers that allow you to use Python. Or C.
I bet you know at least a bit one of these languages! Don't let the language
be the brake.

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gabbo
I've always wanted to play with this. I think it was used for the dubiously
useful "Windows Sideshow" gadgets that were briefly pushed when Vista came
out.

From what I remember it was briefly licensed to third parties but was never
commercially successful. I'm really glad it was open sourced instead of being
killed entirely. If nothing else would be great to use in some educational
settings.

One technical caveat: it's called the ".NET Micro Framework" which implies
it's language-neutral (like the rest of .NET) but it's actually interpreted
and understandably only supports C#.

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timthorn
Whilst it does only support C# presently, it does use a subset of the CLR, so
it isn't tied to C# by definition.

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jarek
Does anyone know about the performance and/or power use of the Netduino boards
as compared to standard Arduino boards?

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motters
Nice, but totally Microsoft centric.

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redstripe
What does that generic MS critique even mean? That it's controlled by
Microsoft? The entire thing is open source:

"The .NET Micro Framework 4.1 source is available, it's Open Source under the
Apache 2.0 License. (Ya, the new Microsoft is freaking me out also. There's a
lot of source that's quietly making its way out under increasingly liberal
licenses.)"

I would say it's damn awesome, not just nice. You can get a controller for
$34.95 and program it in a modern user friendly IDE. You can even step through
code in the debugger. It makes hardware tinkering ridiculously _accessible_ to
a lot of people.

If I had a kid I would love to be building little projects with this. Lego
mindstorms is $300 I think.

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rbanffy
> What does that generic MS critique even mean?

Probably that it requires Windows in order to use the toolset. That's a no-no
for me. I can run Windows on VMs, but I just don't want to and Arduino
provides me enough without having to run Windows in any case.

It may also refer to the possibility Microsoft decides to sue you for patent
infringement (their promise only covers the parts that are ECMA standards) if
you ever build a successful product with it.

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jordan0day
AFAIK the Netduino guys are looking at (already are?) supporting MonoDevelop,
so in that case you could do all your development on Linux or OS X.

Additionally, this is specifically around the .NET Micro framework, which has
been release by MS under the Apache 2.0 license. IANAL, but that certainly
makes me think they're not planning on suing anyone who uses it.

