Netduino Plus 1

The Netduino Plus is mostly hardware-compatible with the popular Arduino mictrocontrollers, and can interface with most Arduino "shields" etc.The difference is that rather than using the C/C++-based Arduino development environment, this board runs the .Net Micro Edition which means that you program it using the C# language (people are working on Visual Basic.Net support I believe as well).This is actually incredibly cool, as the C# language is much nicer than C/C++ (regardless of what you think of Microsoft), and you get to use the very professional (yet free) Visual Studio Express tools from Microsoft to write and debug programs.You can use the Visual Studio Express Debugger to debug the code running *on* the Netduino. Set breakpoints, evaluate expression in the context of the Netduino, etc. MUCH nicer than trying to debug an Arduino application!Downsides, such as they are, include: You won't be able to use code from any of the now many Arduino books out there. As a very basic starter guide however, you may want to pick up a copy of  Getting Started with the Internet of Things: Connecting Sensors and Microcontrollers to the Cloud  which is a book specifically about starting out with an Arduino Plus!Also the performance of .Net code will be slower than native C code on an Arduino. This is only relevant if you want to do low-level real-time interrupt handling etc. In general the Netduino's .Net runtime will be fast enough for most applications.I believe the chip used in the Netduino cannot drive quite as much power through its I/O pins, but in practice this doesn't seem to be a big issue and people have been able to use most Arduino-compatible shields (add-on boards) with the Netduino.The "Plus" version of the Netduino includes a networking stack and an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. This version has less memory available than the basic Netduino, so if you don't need the Ethernet functionality then an ordinary Netduino might be better for you. But being able to write web client/server code in standard C# ais awfully nice, and significantly expands the potential of this device.So, if you're interested in an Arduino compatible controller, and you like the idea of high-level programming and debugging in the C# language (and especially if you're a Windows user, though Mac and Linux people can still play here though without quite so many bells and whistles), then the Netduino and Netduino Plus are inexpensive devices that offer a much more pleasant experience than the basic Arduino controllers.I really love this device, and will use it in preference to the Arduino whenever possible.G.

I worked with Arduino platforms before. When I heard about Netduino and a faster chip (3 times faster), and a RAM 60 times bigger, I decided to buy one, it looked promising. One of my first tests was the next one: int K = 0; for (int C = 0; C < 100*1000; C++) { K = K + 2; } So simple eh?... With a clock speed of 48mhz, 100 thousand additions should be performed in a blast. But in real life it took 5 seconds!!! 5 seconds for many applications is not relevant. But for a lot of them, where the toggle of I/O pins or fast processing of data is a must, this platform is useless. Imagine an application where you have to display every 0.1 seconds an image of 100,000 pixels on a matrix of 100x1000 Leds. All that latency is due the .NET Micro Framework and C# combination. In order to take all the advantage of that fast micro controller, you have to erase .NET Framework from the Netduino and write your programs in native language (for the ARM7 microchips), which complicates the main purpose of buying something better and easier to work with. I'm a hobbyist, and a hobby doesn't have to be that complicated, because when a hobby becomes a nightmare to program, the pleasure is gone. And there has to be pleasure in a hobby. Arduino in the other hand, is easier to program, harder to debug, and the Achille's Heel is... its extremely low space of RAM (2kb for board "UNO").

Update: I gave this 5 stars early on. It worked almost OK in the end, but was very slow doing real time SPI bit banging, a pain to optimize that, my Arduinos were much faster in that regard. I needed it for the small factor and Ethernet on the same board, that was great. Step through programming was also very helpful. I also remember having a very difficult time with upgrading firmware and it was flaky at times, would not always upload the first try. Their firmware might have improved and they have a new version but have since moved on to RaspberryPi, half the price, eons faster/more advanced/more capable. This is a great opportunity for SecretLabs to reinvent the next RaspberryPi, better, faster, cheaper.My initial review: While the firmware is being continually improved, the existing features blow much of the competition away. Once the low level IO interop features are released in firmware 4.1.2, this thing will be the open source board of choice for .net developers. Can't beat the step through debugger. The only downside for people who like to hack the stock firmware is that there is no good compiler support (except G++ which is hard to configure and produces larger binaries that RVDS which is an expensive compiler) but most people don't care. Another downside is that it's rarely in stock!

The Netduino Plus gives you a fantastic starting point for embedded electronics.The built in memory card slot and Ethernet interface makes this a much less expensive alternative to an Arduino with an Ethernet shield.Pros:You can use the full MS Visual Studio suite with all of it's debugging goodnessThe online forums are very helpful and the user base are quite friendly.Manufacturer appears to really listen to the user's needs and tries work with private developers for the greater good of the community! (big kudos!)Most Arduino shields should be compatible with the Netduino and Netduino Plus!!Cons:The vast majority of work has been done for the Arduino and you'll need to learn how to convert the Arduino 'sketches' into VB C# Project code. (not too hard)Secret Labs (the manufacturer) is working on 1-wire support and it's relatively easy to upgrade the Netduino's firmware.Have not been able to connect a humidity sensor to the Netduino Plus yet, but I think it will be possible with a little more effort on my part.Overall, it's a great price for a compact webserver interface type device!