Second: Microcontrollers are still very, very tiny in their specs. The average affordable model measures their clock in the Megahertz and their flash rom (program memory) in the kilobytes. And for that a.net platform? Are you kidding? Now, I might be prejudiced in this matter, but unless they somhow then turn that.net program into very tight assembler, the 72MHz Arm will feel like a 8MHz Atmel.
The NETMF compiler doesn't output native code, it outputs MSIL and it's interpreted on the device (unlike, for example, the full-blown framework, where everything's JITted). Certainly this comes at a performance cost. You'd need to decide whether the tradeoffs are worth it.
Now, that Arm implementation MS is offering has 4500kB of flash. Pretty much, considering most AVRs still measure their flash ram in the single and double digit kilobytes. But will that.net compiler spit out native code? Or will a good deal of those 4.5MB be taken up by some virtual machine that then tries to run the object code?
The NETMF footprint is roughly 300KB, and there are NETMF devices with only 512KB of flash. See the FEZ line as well as the Netduino. This device is a MUCH more capable platform than you'd normally see with the NETMF, with gobs and gobs of RAM and flash.
And finally: As a extension from the first point, MC developers love to tinker and toy with their gadgets. And they love expanding on them. Having a wide selection of addons is nice, but how easy is it to roll your own? In case I do not want that Ethernet expansion, can I make my own? Are the specs known? What about the legal shit, can I publish what I create without paying MS for it?
The NETMF is under the Apache license 2.0. You're free to do whatever you like with it. Millions of people everywhere would appreciate it if you'd start by working on native code generation:)
What microcontroller is it, anyway? I can't find that information. It's an ARM7 CPU, ok, but is it a microcontroller at all? Or just the CPU and some MS-invented design around it?
It's an NXP LPC23xx microcontroller, I'm guessing. GHI is building the hardware (among others, probably), and the hardware is based on a previous design of GHI's, I believe. The software is the.NET Micro Framework, which is Apache licensed.
You need something bigger, like a solution based on an ARM processor or the Microsoft gimmick.
Gadgeteer IS an ARM platform. Did you think Microsoft created their own microcontroller from scratch?
The're also the NetDuino which is pin-compatible and can be programmed in C# and the.net environment.
There's also the FEZ line of products from the same mfr as the current Gadgeteer hardware, as well as the more-capable EMX and even more-capable Chipworkx platforms.
Arduino killer? Maybe for.Net hipsters with over-rich parents...
No, not for.net hipsters, just for hyperbole-loving bloggers. Remember, for only $5 more than an Arduino UNO you can get a FEZ Panda. The ".net micro framework" has been around for several years (it was originally known as SPOT). Remember the Fossil smart watch? That's where this all started out.
And lets remember, there's already an arduino for "people who've drunk the.net koolaid".
And if you've drunk the "netduino koolaid", you might as well go whole-hog and get a FEZ (from GHI, the same company producing the first Gadgeteer hardware, coincidentally), which is a more-capable netduino for about the same price.
And yet, many people do not have it 24/7. So this "assumption" you call valid will in fact cost them sales.
inorite, you'd think they'd have learned after SC2 flopped so bad without LAN play. Geez. These guys are like, so disconnected from the markets they serve...
Sure, I know exactly what you're talking about. I've driven several cop-bait vehicles over the years (first car was a '68 Camaro SS, from there to a 3000GT VR-4, and on to various sport bikes) so I'm right there with ya, buddy:)
Might have been cheaper in the long run to stay under the speed limit. The fact that a minivan's going 20 over doesn't make it OK for you to go 10 over.
Repeat after me: "RAID IS NOT A BACKUP STRATEGY" Do not use RAID on a backup device. Do mirror your data onto multiple media sets, but do NOT acquire a dependency on any specific hardware (RAID controller) or software (software RAID implementation) to do so.
I've heard people talk about this "internet cafe" thing, mostly in exactly these sorts of hypothetical questions, but I've never actually seen one. The closest I've come is the row of computers at the library, and, well, if you're doing anything involving authentication on a computer at the library, you're doing it very, very wrong.
Uh, no, you failed to comprehend anything I wrote. The output of the compiler is *ALWAYS* MSIL, which is architecture-independent. The compiler additionally has the option of placing a flag into the resulting assembly that will determine whether or not it will run on a given architecture (and, in the case of.exes on x64, whether it'll run in a 32-bit process or a 64-bit process), but it's only a flag. The output of the compiler doesn't change and is not tied to a given architecture.
And no,.Net will not resolve the issue - most of the builds are generally tied to a specific compiler, not built to CLR byte-code like most binary Java applications are to the Java byte-code.
Huh?.NET compilers produce MSIL, which is equivalent to Java bytecode. This MSIL is JIT-compiled at runtime into machine language. There is a tool known as "ngen" which does this JIT step and stores the resulting machine code and therefore eliminates the JIT step for each startup, but this is done at install time, not at compile time (and, of course, it must be this way, because ngen needs to know what machine it's building native images for...).
When you compile.NET code, you can set a CPU architecture flag (x86/x64/Itanium/AnyCPU), but this is nothing but a flag. It does not change the MSIL, and in fact, there is a tool, "corflags" that can change this flag in an arbitrary assembly (.exe). This flag is useful for situations where you're running non-.net code and you need your process to be set up in a specific way. It's useful, for example, when you need to call out to sqlite3.dll and therefore need to control the "bitness" of your process.
The mad rush is to get (back to) a Windows that will run on multiple architectures (nowdays, ARM and x86/x64... back in the old days, it was x86, Alpha, and MIPS).
BTW, there's a reason we don't use halogen bulbs everywhere. They're too hot. They represent a significant increase in fire risk over standard incandescent bulbs, and thus are unsuitable for many light fixtures.
I'm willing to believe you, but I'd like a little clarification. Given my extremely basic understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, if a halogen bulb produces the same amount of light as an incandescent with less energy, then it must be *wasting* less on other things, the most obvious one being heat. If a halogen bulb produces the same light and *MORE* heat than an incandescent, then it must necessarily use more energy?
Uh, I know explaining the joke ruins it and all that, but I believe he was implying that all politicians (D or R) are either already "sold", or are currently "for sale". I don't think that he was implying that one party was already sold and the other was pending sale.
Compared to FOSS, which, by and large, doesn't force costly upgrades to remain useful and relevant and secure, and is much more self-sustainable, Microsoft software and tools are a treadmill leading to a giant money pit.
It's funny you say that as I've always saw that as the Catch-22 of the.NET framework and why Java doesn't see as much widespread use on client systems. A major point of the.NET framework was precisely that it was a clean-slate, well designed system that could run on many platforms. In effect,.NET framework (like Java) became the platform and the major task to consider for the client was whether they could reasonably run that platform on the various hardware they had, be it a low-power (cpu and battery life) netbook or smartphone or a high end server.
Purchasing an MSDN subscription is not the only way to acquire a license to the development tools. You can straight-up purchase Visual Studio in any one of several editions.
Getting it with the subscription, however, guarantees you access to EVERYTHING ELSE Microsoft produces, in perpetuity (meaning, you can still use your copies of Windows, Visual Studio, and MS SQL Server for development/test/demonstration purposes after your subscription expires). If you go for the "ultimate" or "premium" subscription, you additionally get to use Office, Project, and Visio for "production" (real-world use, not just development) purposes.
Ultimately, we'll probably see JS added as a.NET Framework language and some new library that's not ASP.NET that allows the output of HTML5 using form controls.
I actually do work in the "medical field", and more specifically, "medical informatics". ICD-10 has been coming for a LONG LONG time. It didn't take anyone by surprise.
Slashdot Mirror
Second: Microcontrollers are still very, very tiny in their specs. The average affordable model measures their clock in the Megahertz and their flash rom (program memory) in the kilobytes. And for that a .net platform? Are you kidding? Now, I might be prejudiced in this matter, but unless they somhow then turn that .net program into very tight assembler, the 72MHz Arm will feel like a 8MHz Atmel.
The NETMF compiler doesn't output native code, it outputs MSIL and it's interpreted on the device (unlike, for example, the full-blown framework, where everything's JITted). Certainly this comes at a performance cost. You'd need to decide whether the tradeoffs are worth it.
Now, that Arm implementation MS is offering has 4500kB of flash. Pretty much, considering most AVRs still measure their flash ram in the single and double digit kilobytes. But will that .net compiler spit out native code? Or will a good deal of those 4.5MB be taken up by some virtual machine that then tries to run the object code?
The NETMF footprint is roughly 300KB, and there are NETMF devices with only 512KB of flash. See the FEZ line as well as the Netduino. This device is a MUCH more capable platform than you'd normally see with the NETMF, with gobs and gobs of RAM and flash.
And finally: As a extension from the first point, MC developers love to tinker and toy with their gadgets. And they love expanding on them. Having a wide selection of addons is nice, but how easy is it to roll your own? In case I do not want that Ethernet expansion, can I make my own? Are the specs known? What about the legal shit, can I publish what I create without paying MS for it?
The NETMF is under the Apache license 2.0. You're free to do whatever you like with it. Millions of people everywhere would appreciate it if you'd start by working on native code generation :)
What microcontroller is it, anyway? I can't find that information. It's an ARM7 CPU, ok, but is it a microcontroller at all? Or just the CPU and some MS-invented design around it?
It's an NXP LPC23xx microcontroller, I'm guessing. GHI is building the hardware (among others, probably), and the hardware is based on a previous design of GHI's, I believe. The software is the .NET Micro Framework, which is Apache licensed.
You need something bigger, like a solution based on an ARM processor or the Microsoft gimmick.
Gadgeteer IS an ARM platform. Did you think Microsoft created their own microcontroller from scratch?
The're also the NetDuino which is pin-compatible and can be programmed in C# and the .net environment.
There's also the FEZ line of products from the same mfr as the current Gadgeteer hardware, as well as the more-capable EMX and even more-capable Chipworkx platforms.
Arduino killer? Maybe for .Net hipsters with over-rich parents...
No, not for .net hipsters, just for hyperbole-loving bloggers. Remember, for only $5 more than an Arduino UNO you can get a FEZ Panda. The ".net micro framework" has been around for several years (it was originally known as SPOT). Remember the Fossil smart watch? That's where this all started out.
And lets remember, there's already an arduino for "people who've drunk the .net koolaid".
And if you've drunk the "netduino koolaid", you might as well go whole-hog and get a FEZ (from GHI, the same company producing the first Gadgeteer hardware, coincidentally), which is a more-capable netduino for about the same price.
And yet, many people do not have it 24/7. So this "assumption" you call valid will in fact cost them sales.
inorite, you'd think they'd have learned after SC2 flopped so bad without LAN play. Geez. These guys are like, so disconnected from the markets they serve...
What happens if keys point to different types of data (images, text, movies, urls, other tables)?
In that case, you should be using something like SQLite. See this page for more information.
Mozy is the most completely shit service+software combination I've ever had the displeasure to work with.
Go JungleDisk, you'll never go back.
Having lived for a couple years in (West) Africa, all I can say, is this^^
Sure, I know exactly what you're talking about. I've driven several cop-bait vehicles over the years (first car was a '68 Camaro SS, from there to a 3000GT VR-4, and on to various sport bikes) so I'm right there with ya, buddy :)
Might have been cheaper in the long run to stay under the speed limit. The fact that a minivan's going 20 over doesn't make it OK for you to go 10 over.
Just sayin'.
Repeat after me: "RAID IS NOT A BACKUP STRATEGY" Do not use RAID on a backup device. Do mirror your data onto multiple media sets, but do NOT acquire a dependency on any specific hardware (RAID controller) or software (software RAID implementation) to do so.
I've heard people talk about this "internet cafe" thing, mostly in exactly these sorts of hypothetical questions, but I've never actually seen one. The closest I've come is the row of computers at the library, and, well, if you're doing anything involving authentication on a computer at the library, you're doing it very, very wrong.
Uh, no, you failed to comprehend anything I wrote. The output of the compiler is *ALWAYS* MSIL, which is architecture-independent. The compiler additionally has the option of placing a flag into the resulting assembly that will determine whether or not it will run on a given architecture (and, in the case of .exes on x64, whether it'll run in a 32-bit process or a 64-bit process), but it's only a flag. The output of the compiler doesn't change and is not tied to a given architecture.
And no, .Net will not resolve the issue - most of the builds are generally tied to a specific compiler, not built to CLR byte-code like most binary Java applications are to the Java byte-code.
Huh? .NET compilers produce MSIL, which is equivalent to Java bytecode. This MSIL is JIT-compiled at runtime into machine language. There is a tool known as "ngen" which does this JIT step and stores the resulting machine code and therefore eliminates the JIT step for each startup, but this is done at install time, not at compile time (and, of course, it must be this way, because ngen needs to know what machine it's building native images for...).
When you compile .NET code, you can set a CPU architecture flag (x86/x64/Itanium/AnyCPU), but this is nothing but a flag. It does not change the MSIL, and in fact, there is a tool, "corflags" that can change this flag in an arbitrary assembly (.exe). This flag is useful for situations where you're running non-.net code and you need your process to be set up in a specific way. It's useful, for example, when you need to call out to sqlite3.dll and therefore need to control the "bitness" of your process.
The mad rush is to get (back to) a Windows that will run on multiple architectures (nowdays, ARM and x86/x64... back in the old days, it was x86, Alpha, and MIPS).
BTW, there's a reason we don't use halogen bulbs everywhere. They're too hot. They represent a significant increase in fire risk over standard incandescent bulbs, and thus are unsuitable for many light fixtures.
I'm willing to believe you, but I'd like a little clarification. Given my extremely basic understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, if a halogen bulb produces the same amount of light as an incandescent with less energy, then it must be *wasting* less on other things, the most obvious one being heat. If a halogen bulb produces the same light and *MORE* heat than an incandescent, then it must necessarily use more energy?
Uh, I know explaining the joke ruins it and all that, but I believe he was implying that all politicians (D or R) are either already "sold", or are currently "for sale". I don't think that he was implying that one party was already sold and the other was pending sale.
Y'know, *whoosh* and all that.
Compared to FOSS, which, by and large, doesn't force costly upgrades to remain useful and relevant and secure, and is much more self-sustainable, Microsoft software and tools are a treadmill leading to a giant money pit.
... but .NET is free?
It's funny you say that as I've always saw that as the Catch-22 of the .NET framework and why Java doesn't see as much widespread use on client systems. A major point of the .NET framework was precisely that it was a clean-slate, well designed system that could run on many platforms. In effect, .NET framework (like Java) became the platform and the major task to consider for the client was whether they could reasonably run that platform on the various hardware they had, be it a low-power (cpu and battery life) netbook or smartphone or a high end server.
You know that C#/.NET (as well as Java) run on some pretty tightly constrained hardware platforms, right?
Purchasing an MSDN subscription is not the only way to acquire a license to the development tools. You can straight-up purchase Visual Studio in any one of several editions.
Getting it with the subscription, however, guarantees you access to EVERYTHING ELSE Microsoft produces, in perpetuity (meaning, you can still use your copies of Windows, Visual Studio, and MS SQL Server for development/test/demonstration purposes after your subscription expires). If you go for the "ultimate" or "premium" subscription, you additionally get to use Office, Project, and Visio for "production" (real-world use, not just development) purposes.
Ultimately, we'll probably see JS added as a .NET Framework language and some new library that's not ASP.NET that allows the output of HTML5 using form controls.
Maybe they could call it JScript.NET
And out here in the real world, we've all been I/O bound since right around the time I/O was invented.
enragiates
Wow, that is my new favorite word! Thank you!
I actually do work in the "medical field", and more specifically, "medical informatics". ICD-10 has been coming for a LONG LONG time. It didn't take anyone by surprise.