Where to go after the .Net Gadgeteer

Hi all… I am an occasional guest here and just learned that .Net Gadgeteer is no more. Just as I was about to embark on a project that had Gadgeteer written all over it.

I suck at hardware but reasonably good at writing code, that’s why .Net Gadgeteer was great for me. It allowed me to quick build something without worrying how to convert 5v to 3.3v, among other things.

So my question is…is there something else out there with the “plug & play” factor of the Gadgeteer? Something that abstracts hardware away to a certain degree? And has a lot of modules and sensors that I can play with?

There’s nothing as good as Gadgeteer but there is… (that I can think of quickly)
[ul]Grove
mikroBus
Phidgets[/ul]

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Regarding Mikrobus, you can get more NETMF related informations here : [url]https://mikrobusnet.org/[/url]
A forum is available here as well : [url]https://mikrobusnet.org/bb/index.php[/url]

Phidgets is very good but also very expensive, to me.

All excellent options. I would go with grove for simpler and lower cost needs, like if I needed a temp sensor. Mikro is nicer but then it is costly and you need a 20 pin socket for each module.

Gus, you are partly right (or wrong :slight_smile: ) . Indeed, depending on their wiring, many of the Click boards can be stacked on a single socket (provided you have used Arduino headers instead of standard 0.1" headers of course).

Also, I personnaly find that they are more “plug & play” than Grove as they do not need any additionnal wires.

@ Bec a Fuel - both complement each other. Wires vs no wires, simple vs complex…

In my case, I have both in my tool box but find myself using grove more. I can even just wire them in without any sockets. In fact, I have a tech talk coming about grove. Still, I like mikro bus for many uses.

@ rgelb - With Gadgeteer gone I went back to writing apps for the Windows Phone no less. I think I might have become the Patron Saint of Lost Causes or something. Oh well my first app should be hitting the store sometime tomorrow and hey its a Barometer app, thanks Gadgeteer!!! Next one is Bluetooth based, thanks again Gadgeteer, I learned a ton about hardware and communications etc from Gadgeteer and everyone in this forum and got some of my creative motivation back to write apps again.

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@ Duke Nukem - Have you started writing your MS Band app, too? :wink:

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May I present Weather Barometer Get Weather Barometer - Microsoft Store

And I’m still ticked about the MS Band as I had some apps lined up for it as well, but now those will have to wait till … and the release of … :slight_smile:

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Looks great, Duke! Too bad no one has a phone that can run it :cry:

I had Windows phone once long time ago, then I switched to iPhone and never going back. Aren’t Microsoft giving up on Windows phone anyway?

@ ianlee74 - I looked at these - not even close to Gadgeteer.

Of the ones you listed - only MicroBus works with the .NET Micro Framework, right?

I do :slight_smile:
And I have a Band2 as well. Fire up the apps I say !!

Microsoft pulled the Band2 SDK. Unless you have other ways to get it, that one’s a dead end. I was really hoping for a Band replacement announcement during last week’s announcements. I love my Band2. With a few enhancements it would be everything one would want.

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Don’t look now, but someone got featured by Windows Central:

[url]http://www.windowscentral.com/weather-barometer-app-helps-you-predict-storms-just-your-phone[/url]

Nice job, Blake!

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@ Duke Nukem - How does the Barometer app work? Is the sensor built into the Windows mobile phone?

Hate to say RTFM but…RTFM. Read the first line of the description of the app :wink:

@ ianlee74 - Doh, my bad.

@ devhammer - Thanks.

I wish more Windows Phones had Barometers in them but sadly they don’t. I wanted to write a Barometer app because as a young boy I remember my grandfather tapping his barometer and setting it all the time and he was an really old retired farmer by then, but barometers meant so much to those old farmers as they didn’t have the internet or satellite images to forecast the weather with, they had barometers and forecasted their own weather, hence why this app is dedicated to those old farmers.

Next app is to help me (and others) give stuff away, how is that for a clue, hopefully out before Christmas.

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@ Duke Nukem - Perhaps you could make a simulated barometer. Get the local weather information, and then show a picture of what the barometer would look like under those conditions.