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  • Author Author: Eavesdropper
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Microsoft wants you to be a Gadgeteer

Eavesdropper
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(Fez Spider dev board with peripherals and Gadgeteer logo via Microsoft)
 
Microsoft (MS) has just released a platform and toolkit so everyone can build simple electronics projects in a “matter of hours.” The Microsoft .Net Gadgeteer is a toolkit that allows people to build embedded projects using the .Net framework and C/C# Express in an open source environment. Source code and libraries are limited at the moment, but the concept for MS is to let the community expand on the archives. MS stated they will be involved in a very limited way, but they hope partners will help keep it going.
 
The first board for the Gadgeteer system is from GHI Electronics. The GHI Fez Spider starter kit is a GHI EMX Module with a handful of standardized sockets for different peripherals to plug right in. Going deeper, this Fez Spider starter kit houses a 32-bit 73Mhz ARM7 processor with 16MB ram and 4.5MB flash storage. The ports and features are similar to many ARM based dev kits. The peripheral options are quite extensive and complete, allowing for a lot of different projects right from the beginning. The board lets a user add multiple LCDs, touchscreens, joysticks, buttons, and removable memory jus t to name a few. A 3.3V and 5.0V power supply comes with the kit.
 
At the moment MS only has 2 projects, but they look useful and fun. One is a desktop arcade console for developing you own games. The other project is my personal favorite, a “flipbook maker,” or a mini animation platform. Both of which are housed in a simple Plexiglas cases.
 


 
The whole site placates to the hobbyist and dabber sort, with hand drawn graphics here and there, giving the feeling of being a designer. Note the robot shooting a cloud on the right. I like the idea of there being more options to the hobbyist aside from the popular Arduino world. I also like that the core processors is more powerful than the 8-bit Arduino lot. I can see this becoming popular, it just needs more from the community. It is wide open and looking for people to add to the dev fray.
 
Eavesdropper

  • in reply to DAB

    It doesn't appear to have integration with the robotics platform. This is a completely different system. However, I am sure they will combine at some point. Having too many functions, components, or moving part often makes for more errors and difficulties.

     

    Hence, why everything in the first Gadgeteer kit just plugs in with no wiring.

     

    C

  • Hi E,

     

    I looked into this last night and the development kit is on the pricy side, but you do get a whole lot of interesting components with it.  One thing they did not make clear was if they were going to integrate the hardware with the Robotic Development Software.  If they manage to do a clean integration, the Gadgeteer could be a worth while investment for developing new products.

     

    DAB