Gadgeteer – Low Code Life

Thread.Sleep equivalent in UWP

Wanted to share a quick solution to an issue I ran into while working on a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app for my Raspberry Pi 2.

Background

I was building an app to read sensor data from a .NET Gadgeteer TempHumidity module using the GHI Electronics FEZ Cream, which is a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) for the Raspberry Pi 2 that allows the use of Gadgeteer modules. In my case, I’m running Windows 10 IoT Core on my Pi 2, so that I can stick with programming in C#. The original driver included a call to Thread.Sleep, which it turns out is not available in a UWP app.

For Gadgeteer modules that are directly supported (i.e. with drivers that have already been ported to work with Windows 10 IoT Core), integrating them into a UWP project is as simple as downloading the relevant NuGet packages. However, in my case, it turned out that the temperature and humidity sensor I was using was an older model which was not directly supported. The good news is that since GHI makes their Gadgeteer mainboard and driver code available on Bitbucket, it was easy to find the driver code for the sensor I’m using and work on a port to work on the Pi. Continue reading Thread.Sleep equivalent in UWP

Slides From NoVA Mini Maker Faire – Meet Gadgeteer

http://1drv.ms/1xrVEjE

This weekend, I had the privilege of participating in my very first maker faire, the NoVA Mini Maker Faire, which was held in Reston, VA.

I signed up for a booth which I called “Meet Gadgeteer: Reusable Modular Electronics” which was intended to highlight the advantages of the .NET Micro Framework and .NET Gadgeteer as a means of creating electronic prototypes and IoT devices. I created a rolling slide deck for the event, which I’ve embedded above. You can also download a copy using the link above.

Continue reading Slides From NoVA Mini Maker Faire – Meet Gadgeteer

Slides for “Communicating with the Internet of Things”

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that if you want to keep up with my hardware projects, I post video demos to my Devhammer Vimeo channel. You can also see info on some of my past projects on the Garage page on my blog.

Thanks to all the folks who came out to hear my talk last night at CapArea.NET on “Communicating with the Internet of Things”. I’m embedding my slides from the talk below, including some additional resource links:

Continue reading Slides for “Communicating with the Internet of Things”

Upcoming Talks and Classes

I’ve been scheduling a lot of events and classes over the next several months, so I wanted to provide a list for anyone interested in checking out one of my talks. Here’s the current list:

Continue reading Upcoming Talks and Classes

.NET Gadgeteer Deployment 101

One of the things I love most about developing for the .NET platform is the wide variety of devices and form factors that I can write for using a single language, namely C#. With Microsoft’s recent announcements about the reach of Universal Apps, that’s more true than ever. But it’s not just true for Windows devices, you can also develop for devices and IoT using C#. And you don’t need to wait for the Windows 10 port for Raspberry Pi 2, either.

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Rocking Gadgeteer on DotNetRocks

I’m honored to have had the opportunity to spend some time with Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from .NET Rocks, to discuss the .NET Gadgeteer platform and some of the projects I’ve worked on using this hardware/software platform. We also discussed some of the great work being done by the Gadgeteer community, including the many community created Gadgeteer modules.

Continue reading Rocking Gadgeteer on DotNetRocks