What is .NET Micro Framework? This presentation by Rob Miles covers all details.
“Taking Control of your World with the .NET Micro Framework” Shows | Microsoft Learn
I’ve watched a few of Rob’s vids before, always informative. he’s been doing netmf for ages it seems, a good MVP. I’ve lined this one up for later viewing.
Its a good presentation.
only the price of the fez mini is not correct he said it cost les then 25dollars and on ghi it cost 39.95
I hope the prices of the fez mini will go down
The mini used to be $50 or $55 IIRC, so where it is now is still not a bad price in my view (Panda II is the best buy though !).
Always going to be hard to write a “price” for something given that he’s a guy in the UK and he’s presenting in Netherlands. What currency was he quoting in, what conversion rate, did that include freight costs? 
The price of the fez mini is to high to implement in a pcb.
When you know the the price of a USBizi100 is only 17 dollar
Mini isn’t designed to be used in a PCB. It has waaaay too many specific features (from the BS2 drop-in perspective) to be considered a simple drop in module. As you say, USBizi100 is ideal for that - just take the design files that GHI have released and make it do exactly what you want !
In the presentation is clearly stated that he wanted to just plug in de FEZ mini or use the chip.
If the fez mini isnt for putting on custom pcb I dont really get the point of a fez mini
that’s ok, not everyone needs to “get” what the mini is all about.
it was always a BS2 drop-in replacement. That meant it had specific pinout requirements that changed it’s Bill of materials. It was one of the first GHI consumer boards, so it’s cost to manufacture is different to some of the subsequently released products that are cheaper.
Rob doesn’t represent GHI or Microsoft, he’s just presenting a discussion and talking about some of the options he’s used/considered. There are options, both GHI and others; in the GHI lineup there are options too, depending on what you want. Some cost more, some cost less, but only you can figure out what meets your goals.
If ultra-low cost is your goal then Mini is not the Fez for you. But if ultra low cost is your goal then buying a USBizi chip and making a board is not the right choice either. If ultra low cost over 100 or 1000 devices is your goal then perhaps USBizi on a board IS the right choice; again, only you can know.
There’s no correct answer here, just as there is no wrong answer either… The Mini is what it is and is priced how it is, and suits a specific need. If your need isn’t addressed, that’s ok, there’s options that most likely will
As Brett said, it is all about the numbers. There are many situations where you need a small controller and something like the mini provides a nice drop in solution. The layout of a PCB to support the mini and the few items that you need for your application would be simple and the construction equally simple and quick. Laying out a PCB to hold the chipset, et. al. is not simple even with the files provided by GHI.
I’m laying out a custom board now using the Panda II files as a starting point. Hopefully I’ll have a good layout done today (about 3 days work), if I could have used the mini it would have only been a few hours work. Since I’m just building four units as a proof of concept it would have been a big benefit. (We used Dominos for the first prototypes but they wont fit in the smaller enclosures we are using now 
)
Thanks Gus for the Video.
Mini’s are there if you need some rapid prototyping that you can stick into a small space. Domino/Panda etc all waste a lot of PCB if all you need are a couple of ADC’s and serial as well as the ability to write some code very fast. Therefore, Mini fills that gap (i actually wish it was a bit smaller!)