Back in 2008, GHI Electronics signed its partnership with Microsoft on the .NET Micro Framework. The developed products and the amazing community since then have been a top notch. The passions never ended for .NET and the search continued. When recently approached by Microsoft about the plans for Windows 10 running on devices, including a full .NET Framework, it was an automatic forward step. Today, we are eager to announce our commitment and involvement in being part of the building of the Windows 10 ecosystem.
The plan includes many short and long term goals. Some of these goals are in providing extension hardware and software to existing devices, like the Raspberry PI 2. This includes the FEZ Meringue, an extension board for the Raspberry PI 2 with multiple sensors, PWM outputs, Analog inputs and easy connection points. This hat will become the “topping of choice for every Pi!”. More details with a dedicated announcement to come in the near future.
We are also bringing .NET Gadgeteer to Windows 10. The “plug-and-play” experience offered by .NET Gadgeteer is a must have, especially to software developers who may not be comfortable with soldering irons. This will be available in the near future. In the long run, we are working with Microsoft in integrating Gadgeteer support similar to how it works now in NETMF for even further simplicity.
Everyone is invited to join the Windows 10 movement. Any suggestions, help and news will be part of the new section on the GHI Electronics forum, dedicated strictly for Windows 10. Have you ran your first embedded application on a device running Windows 10 yet? What are you waiting for?
Just in case you missed it, the FEZ Meringue and the FEZ Cream made it to //build 2015 (thank you @ Pete Brown). The FEZ Cream is a .NET Gadgeteer HAT prototyped for //build strictly as a proof-of-concept. The production HAT is still on the design table and being drawn up. To view the .NET Gadgeteer //build 2015 debut please click the following link and fast forward to the 6:40 minute mark, Shows | Microsoft Learn
“To address emerging IoT device categories, we are delivering a new version of Windows 10 for small devices [em]that will be free for Makers and commercial device builders [/em]and device services to unlock new scenarios”
-Kevin Dallas
General Manager, Operating Systems Group - IoT
GHI has a ton of working code. We (Microsoft) were the bottleneck. The Raspberry Pi build was pretty much unusable until the one we released at Build. Seriously. It wasn’t until I was at Build that we had a version with working I2C.
So GHI designed the HAT in the blind. They have a working prototype on the Minnowboard Max and now a partially working prototype for Pi 2 (it needs some HW changes because we have some pins reserved that were not obvious up front).
I still have work to do on the open sourcing of the Gadgeteer designer/templates. Build completely consumed me from around February onward, so I’m behind there. Still happening, though.
