While this is not one of our products, it is “micro” and will make you more productive. It is a new mouse designed for laptops, and comes from Swiftpoint, a startup company based in Christchurch, NZ. I have had mine for a couple of weeks and I’m really impressed! The video explains the features better than I can:
And no, I’m not an investor in this company – just a fan of the product!
GuruCE have released an update for their Windows CE support on Topaz.
The new update includes a fully configurable GPIO driver and updated SDK libraries. There is also access to CAN, SPI and GPT drivers from your application.
The update page includes an image you can flash into your Topaz (using the Topaz Flasher application), a getting started guide, and a binary Board Support Package (BSP) which you can use to create a custom Windows CE image. GuruCE can also support the BSP in source form along with custom development services and support. Pricing for these options is on the GuruCE Topaz web page.
If you are looking to design a product with a long life-time, one of the big questions you consider is component availability. Having to re-design in 3 years just to account for an end-of-life part is an unnecessary cost and drain on resources. Designing with a CPU module takes away a lot of this pain (and transfers it to us!). We manage the availability risk for the components that go into the module, and can re-design if necessary, while keeping the interface to your board the same as before.
The only really hard part to manage is the processor – without the i.MX25, we couldn’t really make Topaz! Fortunately, Freescale have a longevity program that clearly indicates how long a part will be supported for. In the case of the i.MX25, this is 15 years from launch. You can look this up here - filter on MX25 to find it quickly.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced the availability of v4.1 of the .NET Micro Framework. This has a number of new features (including support for Visual Studio 2010) and is the first release to include code contributed from the community.
You can try out this new release on Tahoe and Tahoe-II boards. The new firmware, and supporting SDK is available for download here. An update to our Board Support Package and firmware for Meridian/P will follow in the next few days.
Sometimes it’s easier to watch than read…
Microsoft released a refresh to the 4.1 beta late last week and we have firmware available for you to try out on Tahoe-II!
One of the biggest reasons to take a look at this is the support for Visual Studio 2010 (including the express edition). Other features are listed in this post.
The downloads page has the new Tahoe-II firmware and a new SDK.
Something to watch out for when converting your projects: VS2010 does a good job most of the time, but we have found at least one instance where it wasn’t 100%. If your application is not working correctly (especially when deploying or starting), either review the .csproj file and make sure it is not referencing the 4.0 tools, or create a new project in VS2010 and move your code into it.
Let us know what you think.
This event in Florida (21-24 June) is a great way to get in-depth training on Freescale products and see what new things they have. It’s also a really nice change from the current weather in NZ!
Let us know if you are going to be at the show, or are in the area – we would love to meet up with you.
If you are developing .NET Micro Framework applications that require user interface we recommend you check out Rich Media Extensions from Innobedded. It provides a complete set of controls for application development and can be customised to match the look you need.
The commercial license has been reduced in price to US$249, and there is a new low-cost non-commercial license.
You can also try it out for free!
Due to popular demand, we have updated the ball-in-maze game to support v4.0 of the .NET Micro Framework. There are versions for the original Tahoe + accelerometer and Tahoe-II.
Get it on the Downloads page!
Are there features you would like to see added to the Micro Framework?
There are plenty of ways to get involved with the future of the Micro Framework through the netmf.com web site. You have been able to participate in feature discussions for while. Now Microsoft has posted more information on how you can contribute to the core implementation, so others can benefit from your coding genius!
