Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Tools & Resources

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Production Modules

Everything what has the processor inside is considered to be a module here.

Discontinued products:

• Meridian/A ($60) by Device Solutions
• ChipworkX Module ($150) by GHI Electronics
• Embedded Master (TFT) ($80) by GHI Electronics
• EMX Module ($85) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Cerb40 ($25) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Domino ($75) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Mini ($50) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Panda ($35) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Panda II ($40) by GHI Electronics
• FEZ Rhino ($75) by GHI Electronics
• USBizi™ ($100) by GHI Electronics
• netduino ($30) by Secret Labs
• netduino plus ($50) by Secret Labs
• Embedded Development Kit (plus) ($50 ($225)) by SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions
• Imote2.NET by Crossbow

Current products:

• AUG AMI DevKit for .NET Micro Framework (370 €) by AUG Elektronik GmbH, powerful and customizable hardware (200 MHz / 64 MB RAM / 256 MB FLASH), ready for production including OLED display.
• Analog Devices BF518F FMC Development Kit ($350) by Analog Devices, .NET Micro Framework support provided by Adeneo Embedded - lowcost headless Blackfin board, with BF518 processor running at 400 MHz, 64 RAM, 8 FLASH.
• Topaz ($100) by Device Solutions, another 400 MHz module including the ethernet and other peripherals onboard, but keeping the small size of Meridian and interesting price.
• FEZ Cerb40 II ($30) by GHI Electronics, Cortex-M4 based DIP module with full feature set (168 MHz / 192 kB RAM / 1 MB FLASH).
• G120 Module ($40) by GHI Electronics, mainstream module with GHI specific features.
• G120HDR Module ($50) by GHI Electronics, through-hole version of G120, includes couple of buttons and sockets.
• G400-D Module ($115) by GHI Electronics, a 400 MHz module with GHI specific features, in-place replacement for ChipworkX module.
• G400-S Module ($115) by GHI Electronics, cheaper version of G400-D, surface mount without ethernet physical layer.
• netduino 2 ($35) by Secret Labs, arduino compatible board.
• netduino plus 2 ($65) by Secret Labs, arduino compatible board with ethernet stack.
• netduino go ($50) by Secret Labs, with its own system of add-on modules.

For an overview of their features and differences, see the big comparison table.

Expected products:

Others and specialized products:

• ADSP-BF527 EZ-KIT Lite® Evaluation Kit for the ADSP-BF52x Blackfin Family ($900) by Analog Devices, .NET Micro Framework support provided by AxiomFount Inc. - the first board for Blackfin architecture, with BF527 processor running at 600 MHz, 64 MB RAM and 24 MB FLASH.

These modules are either intended for specialized applications, or I do not have enough info about them to include them in mainstream products for developers. If you do have and want to share, let me know.

Development Boards

Discontinued products:

• Embedded Master Development System ($200) by GHI Electronics with Embedded Master 2.x module.
• Tahoe ($400) by Device Solutions with Meridian module.
• Embedded Master TFT Development System ($300) by GHI Electronics with Embedded Master TFT module.
• CANxtra Box ($300) by GHI Electronics with Embedded Master 2.x module.

Current products:

• Tahoe-II ($400) by Device Solutions with Meridian module.
• JumpStart Kit ($300) by Digi with Digi Connect ME® module.
• JumpStart Kit ($500) by Digi with ConnectCore™ 9P 9215 module.
• HiCO.ARM9-SBC (€204) by emtrion with HiCo.ARM9-Core module.
• EMX Development System ($300) by GHI Electronics with EMX Module module.
• ChipworkX Development System ($400) by GHI Electronics with ChipworkX Module module.
• FEZ Cobra ($150) by GHI Electronics with EMX Module module.
• Topaz i.MX25 Development Kit ($300) by Device Solutions with Topaz module.

The board comparison table will be available later.

Expected products:

Others and specialized products:

• WSN Imote2.Builder Kit ($990) by Crossbow with Imote2.NET module.

Extensions & Accessories

• Ethernet for Tahoe
  Thomas Brunner sent me a scheme and printed circuit board drawings for an ethernet add-on board for Tahoe, he uses SMT parts.
  I have succeeded in building such board with DIP parts, but I don't have the files ready for publishing (actually I don't have them anymore). However, we could put it together again, if somebody was interested.

Consumer Products

.NET Micro Framework is slowly reaching the consumer market as well. Here are the first products available (exluding SideShow displays only and devices with MSN Direct service, which is not available in Europe):

	waySmart™ 820 RTS Price: don't know Manufacturer: inthinc
	The one system smart enough to create immediate, dramatic changes in the driving behavior of your fleet while also providing your business with tremendous control and quick ROI. All powered by industry innovations including in-cab mentoring, Speed By Street™, waySmart™ Zones and an SAE J211-compliant crash data recorder. The handheld unit is built using .NET Micro Framework.

Microsoft has published document (PDF, 539 kB) introducing these products, as well as other concepts and prototypes shown at Nuremberg exhibition in 2008.

Porting to your own hardware

If you want to use some native code or have the .NET Micro Framework on your own processor, you have to port it there. You will need the .NET Micro Framework Porting Kit for this task, which is now (starting version 4.0) available for free at Microsoft Download Center, see the Links section. There are practically two tasks you might want to handle:

Interop with native code

In this case, you just need to add some feature to the existing framework requiring native code, perhaps some unsupported hardware access, or just some fast computation. Unfortunately, dynamic loading and binding of native code is not supported at this time. Adding interop native code requires creation of a custom image. Typically you need a BSP (board support package) from your hardware vendor, create a managed interface to the native code you would like to add, generate native stubs from it using Visual Studio, implement them in native code and build new HAL/PAL using the native platform compiler. Then you can call your method using [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall)] attribute. Check the Tutorials section for a walkthrough.

Completely new hardware

In such case, good luck to you! :-) You will need to verify if support exists for your platform (e.g. ARM), and then use the Solution Wizard included in the Porting Kit to create a new solution or derive from existing sample. Follows the implementation of HAL and/or PAL functions for BSP and building it using the native platform compiler. Since everything is now open source, there are no fees to pay and you can sell your devices right now. If you let me know, I will mention your products on this page!

For porting kit related questions, try the forums at netmf.com, or see the NNTP archive of the microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.microframework.porting news group, eventually there used to be a possibility to write directly to netmfbiz@microsoft.com.