VB.NET Support

[dhines]

Hi there and thank u in advance for your help!

I am a VB.NET developer and want to work with microcontrollers - but in order to make the learning curve as painless as possible, I want to use VB.NET as the programming language.

I have researched microcontrollers but still it is not clear to me which microcontrollers support a VB.NET development environment.

Any/all comments are welcomed!

Thank u!

Doug

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Isn't VB.NET a Windows language? I don't think you'll find any microcontrollers that use that. C, Asm or BASIC are more common microcontroller languages.

 

[dhines]

tks for the comment Bill.

I did come across the MAKE microcontroller board which allows for programming with .NET C#. I am hoping that there is a microcontroller which will support VB.NET...

tks.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Which make microcontroller board?

 

[futz]

Which make microcontroller board?

**broken link removed** It's the only one I know of.

I am hoping that there is a microcontroller which will support VB.NET...

Almost certainly NOT. I'd be very surprised if that was possible.

I'm pretty sure you can't program that chip in C#. They're talking about interfacing with C# programs on your PC.

You would normally program the ARM with C, usually GCC, but not necessarily. IAR has a decent compiler too. If you're ambitious you can program it in asm too, but that's a lot of extra work.

 

[3v0]

**broken link removed**
I have to say I am not a fan of the idea. If you can code in VB you should can move to Swordfish Basic. It is a powerful basic you can run on inexpensive (about $5) PIC 18F processors with just a pullup resistor on MCLR and a bypass cap between power and gnd.

It looks like someone worked too hard to make this happen.

3v0

 

[Leftyretro]

**broken link removed** It's the only one I know of.


Almost certainly NOT. I'd be very surprised if that was possible.

I'm pretty sure you can't program that chip in C#. They're talking about interfacing with C# programs on your PC.

You would normally program the ARM with C, usually GCC, but not necessarily. IAR has a decent compiler too. If you're ambitious you can program it in asm too, but that's a lot of extra work.

Make says it's no longer avalible, WTF?

Make Controller Kit

Lefty

 

[blueroomelectronics]

There you go. Why not use the Make computer? Seems to fit your requirements.

 

[BeeBop]

tks for the comment Bill.

I did come across the MAKE microcontroller board which allows for programming with .NET C#. I am hoping that there is a microcontroller which will support VB.NET...

tks.

You have them flipped around though; it is VB.NET which does not support any microcontrollers.

That Make kit seems expensive though. Why not go with the Swordfish BASIC as suggested above?

 

[DSGarcia]

Doug,
Try searching for single board computers (SBC) that run Windows Mobile or Windows CE. That would probably be the best you could do. Be warned that they will be a bit expensive but that is the price you will have to pay if you insist on using VB.NET.

You will need to work with a compiler (or assembler) that is suitable for the smaller processors if you want anything smaller or cheaper.

Dale

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Opps you're right, got it backwards. Swordfish should be an easy transition for a VB programmer.

 

[futz]

I have to say I am not a fan of the idea.

Pretty wacky, huh? Looks like yet another oddly designed method of using a MCU from the PC, like that strange Velleman thing a while back.

The Make controller is pretty normal. What I'm saying is that this kludge to make it useable from the PC with C# is strange. Like you say, someone went to way too much trouble.

 

[DirtyLude]

Ya, based on the MAKE link. The controller is just an AT91SAM7256, with firmware that allows you to control it with a C# program running on your PC. It requires that it be connected some way to the PC at all times it is being used. Firmware is still written in C.

The board itself can also be reprogrammed to run standalone from the PC – firmware is written in C, and can be easily uploaded via USB.

I think it's an interesting concept. It turns that hardware into basically a peripheral device that you can do some standard controls on. Basically for people that want to do microcontroller type things, without actually dealing with one.

 

[3v0]

For about $20 or $30 you can get a USB bitwacker. I think they now have an advanced version (32 bit?) for about $50.
If you are cheap you can build the original for the cost of the chip and the header pins.

 

[be80be]

There a plugin for vb 8 on swordfish site

A Visual Basic .Net class for interfacing with the Swordfish Plugin API. Developed with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition, by Steven Wright.