At the risk of insulting the monkeys, the .net pdk comes with a solution for an nxp lpc2478 which is similar to the nxp chips used for the mini and domino, so my question is…
how easy would it be to take the pdk and roll your own on board version of tinyclr, im guessing where ghi offer a value added solution is a) already done for you, but b) maybe its not as easy as the pdk makes out,
Not exactly sure what you’re asking. Do you want to port NETMF to a different chip?
Interesting question…
To paraphase an old clique, “if you have to ask then it is too hard for you”.
It has been done by several companies. If you have the skills, and time you could do it also.
Ooops pardon my engineer spelling. I meant to say “cliche”.
It has many useful ports not only LPC2478. GHI provides tons of extra features (not found in LPC port or any other) and the convenience of getting a hardware/software package that is Freakin’ Easy to use 
I still didn’t talk about the superior support you get for free…oh, and the free software maintenance/upgrades/new-features.
If you do not need any of the above then the porting kit is the way to go and here is a link 
[url]http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=ccdd5eac-04b1-4ecb-bad9-3ac78fb0452b[/url]
Why do you want to port it to a different chip?
It is not a different chip. It is the same chip used on EMX. By the way, we had the L2478 long time before NXP release their port for the same processor.
This where everyone get lost with NETMF. someone may think, I do not need to buy from GHI, I can just get a port myself and put on my board to save money. This is not true since our offers are cheap when compared to any dev board with decent processor. Also, you need months of work just to put things together. At then end, you will spend more time and more money and you will still not have the GHI exclusive features, like USB host/device…wifi…database…rlp…more!
Now, if you are a big company making a million device then sure, making your own is better than using GHI’s…or licensing the port from GHI. If you are making 1000 or even 10,000 then it is a bad idea to do it on your own…unless you are doing this for fun 
well, the nxp chip costs 10$ say, and the nxp chip plus all the excellent work from ghi costs $20 say, ok for small volumes, but for large volumes then it might be worth doing the pdk port yourself… maybe there could be some negotiation on volume liscensing?, Im trying to convince colleagues that micro .net is the way to go rather than messing with pics and C code…
Well, .NETMF is better thsn C and pic for most everything, but I think you’d be better off just using what GHI has to offer, which is not only support, but a fully baked package ready to be used.
made my reply before seeing gus’s excellent summary…
at the moment to go the micro .net route you either have an expensive arm chip + external ram + flash ie Emx and other products (tahoe ii for example) or the really neat (but limited) usbizi solution, i just wish we could get it down to the couple of bucks type pricing where it could really compete with the pics et al
We do have volume discounts already. Order 10K chips and you will defiantly not bother trying to port NETMF. Even if you are making a million give us a call, it is free to cal and talk to the experts…no we do not have phone system that keep you away and we do not hide the phone number
EMX as an example, the board hardware itself with all RAM, FLASH, Ethernet PHY (which other competitors does not include 
), assembly… if you add all these, you realize that our EMX price is very reasonable and our profit margin is small! This doesn’t include yet all the features and support from GHI, time to market, ready solution…
Of course, if you are buying 1000 EMXs, then email GHI about a quote to reduce the price.
gus, i might take you up on this offer, hopefully
For a commercial product, I would think that an arrangement could be made with GHI to license their products at a lesser cost than porting it yourself.
Peter must be thinking about a rather large number of units if he is considering the chip cost versus versus development costs.
Speaking of PK, we added C# express, NETMF SDK and NETMF PK to the downloads
Gus,
You might want to think about moving the NETMF SDK up to where the FEZ SDK is. It might be confusing to users that there are two SDKS, but if they are together then it might be easier for them to see that both must be installed.
Already requested by me…to put things in order of they way you install them
but thank
You might even think about having a special box for everything you need to get up and running.
And also added a new section to FAQ to explain the porting kit needs