A Surprise from Secret Labs

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Getting a surprise from Secret Labs is, well, no surprise but this is one that I wouldn’t have predicted.  Today Chris announced that they are selling a new Netduino board – the Netduino Go.  This board responds to requests from their community for more resources – cycles and memory and I/O – and it does that handsomely with 168 mHz, 385KB code space, and 100KB+ available RAM when compared with the Netduino Plus.  As for I/O, they have created a different way to expand the I/O needs of your Netduino built around ‘go!bus’.  For users of .NET Gadgeteer, the connectors on this board will be very familiar and you can plug in Gadgeteer modules (at least S-U-X modules in two of the sockets) but there are some differences. 

The first difference is that there is a number next to each socket but no socket type.  This is because you can plug anything in anywhere.  Another difference is that when you plug a module in, you can identify the socket in the code or let the program discover it.  Of course, you need to tell it which socket if you have more than one of a particular module type so that you and the Netduino have the same mapping in mind.   When the Netduino Go starts up, it lights a little blue LED next to the modules that are defined and that is discovers which is pretty cool.   For fun we unplugged all the modules and swapped them around and restarted and let the application find everything again.  That was cool.

So, if the board only supports .NET Gadgeteer modules in two of the sockets, what are the rest for?  Go!bus modules of course.  So far there is nothing on the Secret Labs site but if you go to Amazon and search for ‘Netduino Go’ you will see the new board and an initial set of modules.  More are coming I presume. 

So I have a kit but I have to wait a bit to get the libraries for it.  I’ll keep you posted as I find out more. 

Technorati Tags: Netduino,Netduino Go,NETMF,.NET Micro Framework,.NET Gadgeteer

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 18, 2012
    Colin, isn't this family member, exactly what the platform was supposed to be, even when the whole idea was an earlier Beta test? Right now I am using a Netduino Mini for work and I am pleasantly surprised, even pleased by how well it responds. I'll probably be obtaining the other two, but not the Go platform, over the course of the next two months, but so far I'm on schedule as far as this platform is concerned. The Go platform is a special investment.....

  • Anonymous
    June 19, 2012
    Hi Mr Spock,     I like the Mini as well - I think it speaks to my IC roots although it is great to see the innovation that everyone is bringing to the table.  I'm glad to hear that it is working out for you. Colin