Department of InformatiX
Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Tools & Resources

Software Development Kit

Is available for free at Microsoft Download Center:

Version Build Published Size Link
3.0 3.0.7186.0 10/24/2008 10.8 MB http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9356ed6f-f1f0-43ef-b21a-4644dd089b4a
3.0 Release Candidate 0 3.0.5071.0 10/7/2008 12.3 MB http://connect.microsoft.com/netmf
3.0 beta 2 3.0.2968.0 6/25/2008 11.3 MB http://connect.microsoft.com/netmf
2.5 v2.5.0.0 3/6/2008 8.8 MB http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=eb0ef2a6-03e2-402c-89a4-a636bd0080c5
2.0 SP1 v2.0.3036.1 9/17/2007 7.5 MB http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=32f5df20-6c95-4fe8-a76c-0ed56a839ad2

Official resources

Screenshot
.NET Micro Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/netmf
  • examples and documents
  • list of developer kits
  • list of partners
  • white papers
  • videos
Screenshot
Windows Rally Technologies
http://www.microsoft.com/rally
  • webové services for devices
  • introduction to technology
  • specifications

Documents

  Description
 Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Whitepaper (550 kB)
An introductional document about the technology. Contais detailed information about implementation details of HAL and CLR, differences from .NET Framework and some short notes about the licencing model.
 Porting the .NET Micro Framework (467 kB)
Describes the general process of porting the technology either on your own hardware, or to an operating system. It discusses the .NET Micro Framework architecture from the porting point of view and the main purpose of this document is to give you an idea what the porting is about and whether it is really what you need.
 .NET Micro Framework Technology Porting Agreement (113 kB)
The porting agreement will Microsoft sent you by e-mail at request.
 Introducing Devices Profiles for Web Services (373 kB)
A short introduction to DPWS and description of its implementation in the .NET Micro Framework. Contains a summary of the libraries and some basic examples in C#, on how to create a simple service, send and receive requests, attach handlers to events or how to deal with exceptions.
 EDK Steb-By-Step Guide (3.2 MB)
Probably the most exhaustive literature about .NET Micro Framework available on the internet for free. It was created by Sean Liming as a manual to the iPac-9302 board, but it's worthy reading even when you are using another hardware. It contains an introduction to the SDK, working with GPIOs, emulator, SPI, extended weak references and also an introduction to the C# language. All this on almost 150 pages with lots of practical examples.

Blogs

Author Link
.NET Micro Framework Teamhttp://blogs.msdn.com/netmfteam
Pavel Bánskýhttp://bansky.net/blog
Steve Maillethttp://blogs.msdn.com/smaillet
Jens Kühnerhttp://bloggingabout.net/blogs/jens
Rob Mileshttp://www.robmiles.com/net-micro
Michael Schwarzhttp://weblogs.asp.net/mschwarz
Mike Hallhttp://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall
Alden Linnhttp://blogs.msdn.com/aldenl
Christopher Fairbairnhttp://www.christec.co.nz/blog
Dave Bakerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/davbaker
Device Solutionshttp://blog.devicesolutions.net/
Olivier Blochhttp://blogs.msdn.com/obloch
Luke Thompsonhttp://purerobot.com
Elze Koolhttp://www.microframework.nl/
RSSAggregated feed from all blogs

Books

Book cover
Expert .NET Micro Framework
Jens Kühner, $51.99
Published: 4/21/2008
ISBN: 978-1590599730

Comprehensive and de facto the only intermediate/advanced book about .NET Micro Framework in the time of version 2.5. You can download a table of contents and two sample chapters (introducing the .NET Micro Framework and introducting the BCL) on the web, along with the source code. You will learn not only about the basics of the framework, but some advance topics as well - like localization, web services, cryptography, serialization, emulator components... altogether on more than 400 pages with hard cover.

Book cover
Embedded Programming with the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework
Donald Thompson, Rob S. Miles, $29.24
Published: 6/20/2007
ISBN: 978-0735623651

The very first book introducing the .NET Micro Framework. It covers basics of the framework and development process, the networking (these days availably only in emulator or by third party), and also the possibilities of user interface quite in depth. Then there is a chapter about Windows SideShow with some examples and introduction to the emulators and their creation. From the bigger samples let's mention Roomba iRobot or parsing GPS data. There are also some tips how to increase the code performance.

Book cover
USB Complete: Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals
Jan Axelson, $32.97
Published: 8/1/2005
ISBN: 978-1931448024

This book contains everything you need to know as USB device developers. It describes how USB works, transfer types, device classes, descriptors, power management and even desktop drivers development. Although quite advanced book, it is suitable for beginners as well.

Newsletter archive

Published Title
11/21/2008 11:41:33 PM +01:00Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Newsletter - Vol. 1 No. 5 - November 2008
7/28/2008 3:03:14 PM +02:00Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Newsletter - Vol. 1 No. 4 - July 2008
3/26/2008 2:13:41 AM +01:00Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Newsletter - Vol. 1 No. 3 - March 2008
1/1/2008 4:01:38 AM +01:00Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Newsletter - Vol. 1 No. 2 - December 2007
9/14/2007 4:59:00 AM +02:00Microsoft .NET Micro Framework Newsletter - Vol. 1 No. 1