Ian, number one son and myself have managed to get through the first round of the "Dare to Dream Different" contest. We should be getting our hardware fairly soon and beginning work on our top secret device.
We have decided to call ourselves "Team Building" and this is our team picture, with a bit of help from http://simpsonizeme.com/#
I'm really pleased. We've made it through to the next round of the Dare To Dream Different competition. This means that once I've sent off the "Affidavit of Eligibility and Release" (posh eh?) myself and the rest of "Team Effort" should get our Micro Framework hardware and can get on with building our project.
We have to build the hardware, make it work and then make a little video of the device working. Should be great fun, I'll keep you posted as to how we get on.
Ian came round this afternoon with his new toys (well, it is just after Christmas). He is thinking of doing some work using the .NET Micro Framework and has got hold of one of the new boards from GHI. This has a huuuge LCD touch screen which looks amazing. He also had one of the tiny GHI master units which he had managed to solder down onto their carrier boards so that we can play with it properly. This does seem a very easy way to get into embedded development. The price of the hardware is starting to get sensible and you can now create Micro Framework applications with the free version of Visual Studio 2008 Express.
The ease with which you can get proper C# running on a tiny target board and start controlling hardware is very impressive. If you have an idea for a hardware based device but have previously been put off by the difficulty of writing the code I suggest you take a look at the platform.
Had a great day today. Actually set up my blog controlled christmas lights and got them going behind the telly. There is nothing quite like being able to download program updates to your light controller from your PC over the network. We are working out ways to convert them into a clock and weather station at the moment. Wonderful stuff.
If you have an hour to kill (and I do mean kill) you can now watch the TechEd 2008 presentation I did in Barcelona in November. This is the one about the .NET Micro Framework where I make my Christmas tree lights flash red when I add a new post to this hallowed blog. I've just managed to watch a few minutes of it through the gaps between my fingers. Hopefully you might last a bit longer:
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/teched2008/developer/tv/default.aspx?vid=70
If you have an idea for an embedded device there is still just time to enter the Dare To Dream Different challenge for the .NET Micro Framework.
http://www.dreamdifferentcontest.com/
The first round entry closes at midnight on Monday 15th December. You don't actually have to build anything, just pitch a good idea that you and two of your friends have had.
If you make it to the next round you get some hardware to play with, and the prizes are well worth having. You could also get help to turn your idea into a money making business opportunity.
..and if you a student from Hull the first few to show me their submitted entries will get free T shirt from the ones that I have left in the office.
Those awfully nice Coding4Fun people have put up a copy of my article about the .NET Micro Framework. This gives a sound, technical, answer to the oft asked question:
"How do I get my christmas tree lights to flash red when Rob makes a new post on his blog?"
You can find out more at: http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/
And ex-Hull student spotters might be able to locate Andy and James in some of the other pictures on these hallowed pages.
Thanks to Ian, and his breadboarding skills, we now have a working prototype.
With this, we can rule the world....
Everything went very smoothly really. In fact it worked first time - which always makes me nervous. Sure enough, later on it started to behave stupidly, which we tracked to a floating output enable signal. Now I just have to get it to Barcelona without breaking it.
Although I will be bringing it into the department on Tuesday to demonstrate as well.
Today I bought a copy of Little Big Planet for the PS3. It is supposed to be wonderful. It lets you create fantastic contraptions in a virtual world. It is still in the bag, unopened.
Because I've been playing with the .NET Micro Framework. It lets you create fantastic contraptions in the real world.
Circuit design. Actually produced in a pub.
I'm making up a hardware/software system for TechEd 2008 in Barcelona next week, where I'm presenting a session called "Putting your Big Ideas onto Tiny Devices with .NET". I can't tell you what it is yet for two reasons:
Suffice it to say that the above circuit is crucial to successful completion of the project. I'm having a whale of a time bashing out the code in Visual Studio and deploying it to the target device.
Tomorrow we build the hardware...
While we are talking about Version 3.0 of stuff we find that the third version of the .NET Micro Framework is also available. This one is very interesting, because it with it the mouthwatering prospect of being able to develop for the embedded platform using the Express versions of Visual Studio. It runs in Visual Studio 2008, including the free ones. This is wonderful news for hobbyists, as it means that you just need to get some hardware and you are away writing C# code for your tiny device. Go and get it (again for free) here.
And don't forget to enter the DareToDreamDifferent contest.
I've always loved the .NET Micro Framework. It lets you use the magical duo of C# and Visual Studio to create programs to run on teeny-tiny devices. I've been playing with it for ages, and even helped write a book about it.
Every year it gets better and more available. The latest version, 3.0 will run on a number of different devices. And you'll soon be able to use the Express (i.e. free) versions of Visual Studio to create and run Micro Framework programs.
The Micro Framework team have just launched Dare to Dream Different which is a development competition which starts with a great idea and then lets you build and promote it on embedded devices.
It looks like it will be great fun and you should have a go. But before you do, one word of warning.... students at Hull are going to enter this competition. Oh yes. I'm going to arrange some meetings and presentations about the Micro Framework in the department and and we are going to form some teams and pitch some ideas. So there might not be much point in anybody else taking part.
But then again, you never know...
If you want to target real hardware with your .NET Micro Framework programs you will need to obtain a device. I pulled this information from the .NET Micro Framework pages on MSDN.
Crossbow Technology WSN Developer Kit
The Imote2.Builder Kit includes everything you need to create wireless sensor networking applications, including three development boards with embedded radios and two sensor boards.
Digi Connect ME JumpStart Kit for Microsoft .NET Micro Framework
The industry’s first Ethernet networking solution for .NET Micro Framework. Digi JumpStart Kits are a new breed of development kits that make it easy, fast, and economical for engineers to develop network-connected devices.
Device Solutions Tahoe Development Kit
The Tahoe Development kit, featuring the Meridan CPU, allows for experimentation, evaluation and just plain fun, while slashing the time it takes to transition from prototype into production.
Freescale i.MXS Development Kit for SideShow
Freescale's high performance i.MXS Development Kit supports .NET Micro Framework applications.
GHI Embedded Master Development System
The Embedded Master includes FAT file system and USB host support, in addition to Ethernet, CAN, and other connectivity options, to provide everything you need to get started developing small devices.
SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions EDK
Includes a multipurpose development board with the .NET Micro Framework installed and ready to run C# applications. Suitable for a wide variety of embedded applications, the EDK is ideal for engineering students, hobbyists, and OEMs of small devices.
Today I went down to the Hands On Lab area at TechEd and had a go at the Micro Framework lab, just to see what it was like. The first exercise was to drive an LCD panel from a Micro Framework device....
Shameless .NET Micro Framework promotion....
Then it was on to building a little burglar alarm controller. Great fun. And the lab section was enormous.
We think our labs are quite large at the university in Hull, but this is just silly....
In fact the conference itself is just plain enormous. This is one part of one part.
If you want to find out more about the .NET Micro Framework, including devices and how to get hold of the development kit you can go to their site on MSDN. They also have a very active blog.
There is already one superb .NET Micro Framework book available (the one wot I helped to write) but now there is another.
Expert .NET Micro Framework by Jens Kuhner is excellent. It is written for those who want to really find out how to use all the features of the framework.
Whereas our book is more of an introduction to the field the Expert book, as the name implies, goes into more detail on the various class libraries and how you can use them. It also has the benefit of having been published a year or so later, and so has more up to date detail on the platforms that are now available. The people "lucky" enough to be at my session yesterday all got a free copy of the book (which really put a spring in their step) and they will find it very useful.
If you are serious about the framework you should get this book. If you are not serous about the framework you should this book and become serious about it.
My .NET Micro Framework talk seemed to go well. Got a good sized audience, and of course I took their picture.
I'm sorry I didn't have any hardware to show you. If I come back next year I'll try and find space in my carry on for some toys.
A couple of weeks ago, at the TechEd 2007 sessions in Barcelona I was giving with Dave Baker of Microsoft, I promised that I'd be putting up the sample code that we used. Apologies for the delay folks, but they are now here: https://static.squarespace.com/static/5019271be4b0807297e8f404/52c5bcfce4b0c4bcc9121347/52c5bd05e4b0c4bcc9123e9f/1195635219027/TechEd%20Demos.zip
If you are into the .NET Micro Framework (and if you aren't, you should be) then take a look at their blog. There is some really good stuff on there about hardware interfacing. I'm not just linking to it because it mentions me. Oh no.
What with the TechEd presentations less than a week away, today seemed a sensible time to start working on the code we are going to demo. We had a good idea of what we wanted to do, so today Dave Baker and I starting putting the final code together.
I've not played with the Micro Framework for a while. It has all been XNA for me for the last few months. But going back to it again I've re-discovered how neat it is. Dave had made a little application and needed to connect it to a pretend serial port so that we could demonstrate the emulation features. So in a couple of hours I've been able to build a custom emulator, put all the components that we need into it, map the emulator behaviour directly onto the real hardware and wrap it all around Dave's program. And it works. And you can flick an option and target the device and debug the code.
I'm really looking forward to the sessions now. If you are at TechEd come and see us. Sessions 201 and 301. If you are any good at poker you stand a chance of bagging an Embedded Fusion board at the first session. If you have hot breath you might win a board at the second.
We will also be running a little competition where we are going to give away the Micro Framework book that I co-wrote. First prize is a copy of the book. Second prize is two copies.....
This evening it was up to Black Marble for a talk about the .NET Micro Framework. This is the technology which lets you run your C# programs on tiny hardware platforms. I'm co-presenting a couple of sessions at TechEd 07 in Barcelona and those that turned up got a sneak preview of the material.
The talk went well, although the jokes could have been better received (although I see this as a failure of the audience, not of the jokes - of course...)
Next stop Spain.....
Daniel Moth has just reminded me that the Micro Framework book that I helped write is currently available at a 40% discount for the next few days from here. Get one. Get two. I think that you really need one for every room in your house...
If you want to find out about more reduced price deals you can subscribe to the UK MSDN Flash Newsletter here.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
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