.net Micro Framework

[Dave...@gmail.com]

To Whom,

I have been doing research on the new .net micro framework and I have a
few questions. From what I read the .net mf is suitable for hobby
enthusiast like my self to use. The microsoft white papers say the ARM
7 and ARM 9 microprocessors are capable of running the .net mf.

>From what I understand an USB communications circuit needs to be
connected to the chip and all programming is done via Visual Studio
2005 and the USB connection.

Can anyone assist me with getting started with this. I want to build a
simple circuit that does nothing in particular. I have experience
programming PIC microcontrollers but this seems very different from
that. Could someone provide me with a list of components and perhaps a
schematic diagram that I could use to get started.

Thank You
David Powell

[Eric]

Dave...@gmail.com wrote:
> I have been doing research on the new .net micro framework and I have a
> few questions. From what I read the .net mf is suitable for hobby
> enthusiast like my self to use. The microsoft white papers say the ARM
> 7 and ARM 9 microprocessors are capable of running the .net mf.

I'm both a .NET enthusiast and an embedded enthusiast, but I'm not
terribly happy with this Micro Framework. They call it lean and mean,
but I'd call it a serious pig. It takes 250k of flash, so you can
forget about using it with onboard flash of most Arm7 chips.

I strongly prefer the thought of doing an ahead-of-time compilation to
generate native code on the PC, and then only downloading a small
portion of the Framework, which would be the essential exec and library
functions needed by that program. This would produce a lean and fast
application.

The simplest blinking light example shouldn't take 250K! I'm not sure
what they were thinking about but they clearly didn't have single-chip
MCUs in mind.

Remember the small .NET chips (DotCPU) that came out a few years ago,
and then suddenly went away? That was bought by MS and turned into the
Micro Framework. It was tremendously overpriced and a general pig. Now
it's still both of those. But at least you can pick your own silicon
now.

Microsoft's efforts aren't any worse than Sun's efforts. Sun's various
attempts at producing a small JVM have met with similar success (or
lack thereof).

Eric

[Eric]

Dave...@gmail.com wrote:
>From what I understand an USB communications circuit needs to be
> connected to the chip and all programming is done via Visual Studio
> 2005 and the USB connection.

Whether you use USB or serial will depend on the board in question. USB
can be faster, but serial can be less problematic and cheaper.

VS2005 can do all the compiling and debugging, just as it can with the
normal PocketPC Compact Framework.