So these look like to be ready soon. No need to wait for NETMF 4.3
http://netmf.codeplex.com/releases/view/91594
Why do you care? This release uses WinUSB driver so no more BSoD in 4.2 
The other fixes are also great but my favorite is the faster boot time. I am curious to see how much faster though.
So yes, THANKS Microsoft for continuing the great support for this product you are providing to all of us for free.
Gus, keep the good news coming!!! 
Is this a super Monday or what?!
Sweet, I’ve been waiting for this as the old drivers were a bit of a walk on the scary side. 4.2 is coming together nicely (I know its been a boat load of work, but its starting to get that feel of a very worthy finished project).
Gus,
How much work is it for you to update your device firmwares with an incremental update like this?
A lot of work but that comes to you at no work and for free
Hi Gus,
i’m just wondering why is it always complicate to bring the firmware and all of the goodies up to date… how hard would it be to just make this a streamlined process…especially for in version (minor) upgrades like this?
Quality take time?
Too many times I have heard from someone on my team that they checked in a change without testing because it was a “simple” or “minor” change. Guess what happened?
I too have seen the consequences of poorly tested changes, and the reputation damage can be considerable. Heck, I live that in my own Fez code (I’ve learnt that as a developer I make a good cook !)
Isn’t this the case with everything? 2 days to add a feature then 20 to fix a stupid bug?
[quote]Quality take time?
Too many times I have heard from someone on my team that they checked in a change without testing because it was a “simple” or “minor” change. Guess what happened?[/quote]
This version also includes a fix to issue I reported on May 8 (Work Item: 1636 - File.Exists returns true for unexisting file). Even though I spoted the bug, pointed out what is causing it and how to fix this it still took 2,5 month for this fix to find its way to repo. I guess quality indeed takes time. This is just so you know how much time it took in my case. At least know I’m sure that everyone is able to contribute to NET MF
What are you talking about, are you saying that Microsoft releases untest, unqualified software that GHI has to check before it incorporates into it’s line of product?
What I’m asking about, is simple:
Shouldn’t be easy to release a firmware that incorporates the latest netmf release, after all it is a simply updating the assemblies on the device… Unless GHI is doing something really awkwared with the firmware, that makes them redesign the whole thing every time a new release is out… I hope I’m wrong…
I mean look at Netduino, they release updates almost immediately after Microsoft puts out a stable version…they must be doing something right…
This is not a negative criticism but a positive one… It must be a better way that’s all
I am a professional software developer with more years of experience than the age of most people on the forums. I do not question how long it takes GHI to release new software. Just look at the number of products that have to be regression tested with each new release.
They do a very nice job but GHI adds more on top the “vanilla” NETMF which we need to test/fix/improve with new version. GHI do not go the easy way about things. Bitmap converter we just added to OSHW alone took a week of work to get right.
Exactly! See my previous answer about the vanilla. You actually do not need to wait for a release from netduino, just get the PK and build SAM7 solution and build it. Please have a look at the porting book when you get a chance, specifically FEZ Hacker!
Oh, I wish it were that easy
To correct a misconception really quickly… The Netduino codebase has a lot of deep enhancements to the core .NET Micro Framework Platform Kit, mostly visibly with the new go!bus virtual IO protocol and the custom microcontroller ports. Much like GHI and Oberon, the Secret Labs team and members of the Netduino community have spent thousands of hours enhancing and keeping the firmware up to date, fixing bugs and contributing back to the .NET Micro Framework core so that all boards benefit.
We don’t trumpet this because we don’t need kudos for our internal team…but it is really important to recongnize the extensive and thankless work that Netduino community members have done. And the efforts that Oberon and CSA have done… All these extensive features and enhancements are given away for free under non-viral open source licenses.
We appreciate the work that it takes to implement, validate, and deliver the latest .NET Micro Framework releases on these boards. Kudos to the GHI team for their efforts and continuing alongside us these last 6 years, supporting the NEMF codebase and promoting .NET Micro Framework.
Chris
As always, thanks for the valuable info Chris.
i know this was and still is a critical time for GHI as they had almost changed all of their products line and business strategy so my guess things will get easier as we move forward with more stable products… the only reason i brought this up is to help them stay focused and not loose track, as i know sometimes we loose track of time when we work on multiple products… not realizing the impact (time) you have on a single product.
so what I’m saying is, it might be acceptable in the eyes of GHI because they are looking at the big picture (having release over 50 modules, three or four new boards ( a new production house) in a year or less… YES looking at it this way is impressive, and they have done a great JOB, but when you single out a product you begin to notice that it has taken longer than expected for that single product to evolve…(and this is the view most users will see) since most user will eventually venture into a single product and stick with it. so it is important for the company to have an internal road map or agenda to keep each product refreshed every so often…
and remember, i want nothing more but for GHI and the others to succeed and keep new innovations coming, and i hope the above feedback will help.
Edit: imaging if Apple Stopped working on new version of the IPHONE while working on an IPAD… people wouldn’t see a new IPHONE version for years, if ever; and by the time the company releases a new IPHONE they might as well not release it because competition would have taken most of the market from under their feet. so it is important to keep users hooked with new updates every so often.
Thanks for feedback jay jay. We always look to make things even better.
To be fair it likely took a developer 10 minutes to fix that bug, but once fixed it had to wait for the next release cycle so it appeared to take 2.5 months to fix. I’m also hoping in this release ComputeTextInRect is fixed so I can get our GUI working for one product, What I’ve seen of 4.2 I’m pretty happy with and once I can get my hands on .NET MF 4.2 RTM (QFE2), that should help with the BSOD issue so I can start retiring 4.1 code. Then all I have to wait for is the next round of new modules to be released from Gus and the gang.
As much as I love summer (as brief as it is here in Calgary, its more like a lusty fling) I’m starting to dislike it as it distracts all the hardware guys from building cool new modules, bring on winter!!!
I would like to add my opinion to Jay Jay’s feedback above. I know that a lot of my posts lately have read as if I’m bagging on GHI, but it’s only because I love you guys that my expectations are so high. I assume that others feel the same way.
There has been an ENORMOUS amount of new hardware announced and released lately, and I think that’s the root of the problem. With the release of Gadgeteer, no fewer than 4 (soon to be 5?) Gadgeteer mainboards and a DIP40 MCU module, NETMF 4.2, and a staggeringly giant pile of Gadgeteer modules released, it has been an exciting flood of hardware. I don’t think anyone would complain about the volume of hardware released.
My feedback, however, concerns the software. Many of these new hardware offerings have been released with software that has been, to put it kindly, immature. Some still do not have working software (IO60P16, XBee?) and others have software that is still of beta quality. It’s easy to forget that the hardware is the easy part, while the software is complex, difficult, and represents an ongoing, time consuming, expensive commitment.
The difference in “feel” between the Panda II that I bought first and the Cerb40 that I bought later is striking. The Panda II felt “done”, “complete”, and while it wasn’t perfect, it generally worked as expected. The Cerb40, at least until today’s firmware (haven’t gotten it installed yet), continues to feel “alpha”. On top of that, Gus continues to point out the lack of community contributions (which isn’t fair at all… see the previously mentioned IO60P16 and XBee for examples of lots of effort contributed by the community), while at the same time failing to do the simple things that would greatly encourage community participation (such as the issue tracker that has been suggested multiple times, a patch submission system, and the move to a compiler that the community would actually have access to). It feels unfair (to me, at least) to complain that we’re not contributing when simple things that would make it easy to contribute remain undone.
I, for one, would love to be able to contribute to the development of the Cerberus hardware, at least, but it is impossible for me, as I do not and never will have access to RVDS. That MCU especially is so underutilized in the current firmware that it is laughable. It is such an incredibly powerful piece of hardware, that is severely hobbled by the NETMF port currently available. Others as well, would love to help, and are much more capable than I am. Some truly brilliant people are available here, Errol and Valkyrie-MT come to mind off the top of my head, who have indicated that they would like to contribute.
Gus, don’t take any of this as meaning that we don’t love GHI and what you do, or that we don’t appreciate the efforts of the entire GHI team. I will continue to support GHI, and I know that GHI will continue to provide world-class support to us. And we’ll all continue buying your toys We just want GHI to be the go-to NETMF and Gadgeteer solution. If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t provide feedback.