I’m getting 404 errors while trying to access MSFT’s .NET Micro Format library documentation. Does anybody know what is going on?
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hmm. same.
I can still see this if it helps.
Yeah, I already have that link bookmarked. That’s great for the old GHI extensions (and still very useful), but I need info from the base .NET implementation. I can reference the FULL .NET info, but much of it is not implemented in .NETMF.
You can still find it on their new docs site: .NET Micro Framework Platform SDK | Microsoft Learn
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Great. We should add this link to our docs.
I’m not very savvy about web pages but is there a way to download all the pages under the .Net Micro Framework 4.3 drop down? Download or print a .pdf or create a single giant web page or ???. Eventually this stuff is going to disappear from the Microsoft site and will be a huge problem for those of us that have to continue maintaining .Net Micro legacy systems.
Aren’t you planning on switching to TinyCLR in the future?
Let me ignore your question for just a second. The issue is maintaining our existing large-ish applications written with .Net Micro. They work (mostly) and like my grandpappy used to say “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it”. It would take 100s, maybe 1000s of hours to rewrite and test my existing applications in TinyCLR as opposed to what I hope is on the order of 10s of hours to fix whatever issues might come up with the .Net Micro code so I fully expect to need access to the .Net Micro documentation for the next 5-10 years.
Now for your question about switching to TinyCLR. Here’s an honest answer to where I’m at on this issue: a clear and unambiguous “maybe”. Here’s a pro/con list as I see it and I’d be interested in your and anyone else’s comments.
.Net Micro
Pros: a) We have several programmers up to speed, b) we know it’s quirks, c) it does the job quite nicely for a range of our projects, d) adequate (but limited) hardware support e) Visual Studio, C# and GHI hardware is an incredibly effective development environment
Cons: a) No longer supported by anyone
TinyCLR
Pros: a) Probably an improvement on .Net Micro in several ways b) Probably strong support from GHI c) Potentially decent market acceptance
Cons: a) Single source supplier b) it will probably take a year or two for the nuts and bolts (like IO drivers) to reach the level of maturity of .Net Micro
Here’s the bad news: Probably the biggest factor in whether I switch to TinyCLR in the future is if I can find a more “mainstream” C/C++ development environment as cost effective as the combination of Visual Studio, C# and the hardware GHI used to provide. And programmer hours are the overwhelming cost in our situation. Frankly now that ST Micro has bought Atollic and provides it for free, it may be a viable alternative.
The bottom line is our current .Net Micro work flow is working quite nicely for us and I don’t have to make a decision anytime in the near future so I haven’t spent too much time analyzing this situation.
Maybe not publicly…
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In reality NETMF is a single vendor, which is us. The majority of commercial products at least. TinyCLR will be that but it opens the door for us to shine, since we are completely free to work with our customers on whatever needed changes. With a 15 year history our commercial customers can go off, a single vendor becomes less concerning.
To the hours and work needed to switch, yes there is work needed but most definitely small fraction of any work with c++!
Of course I am talking about the future, hopefully near future, when TinyCLR has all necessary features.
We need your feedback to understand your concerns and make sure we cover them all. We can also chat on the phone or email if you like.
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