Microcontrollers, Drivers and Why Vista sucked last night.
-
Would that be the "Skip obtaining driver from windows update" link that doesn't exist? No, I missed that one :laugh: Seriously though, As soon as I plugged in the hardware it popped up with the "configuring hardware" toast message. You could double click which brought up a window that said "searching windows update for drivers" and had a close button and that was it (Which by the way just closed the window and left it still searching). Right click didn't seem to do anything. Unplugging and replugging the hardware just seemed to restart(resume?) the search. Windows 7 has a skip button, but Vista doesn't seem to. (At least it doesn't on this particular laptop, perhaps it's a config thing, but it's not an option I've ever seen anywhere?)
Simon
Simon P Stevens wrote:
Windows 7 has a skip button, but Vista doesn't seem to. (At least it doesn't on this particular laptop, perhaps it's a config thing, but it's not an option I've ever seen anywhere?)
Oops, my bad, missed the 'Vista' part :)
-
I'm doing a short 15 minute talk on microcontrollers[^] this evening. (Pop along if your interested and in the Birmingham area - You have to register but as a non-member you can come to 2 for free). So anyway, last night I was installing the required drivers on the laptop ready for the demos and Vista's suckiness came up and smacked me in the face. I had the drivers downloaded and ready, but when you plug in new hardware Vista searches Windows Update for the drivers. It takes around 5 minutes to search before it fails and gives you the option to pick a location. But the worst bit is that some of the microcontrollers host multiple USB "devices" and Vista searches separately for each one. 30 minutes to install drivers that I already had downloaded and took <2 minutes on my other PC.
Simon
unplug the network cable and install the drivers through device manager specifying the 'i will choose mutha!' option.
"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct from natural variation." Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville
-
unplug the network cable and install the drivers through device manager specifying the 'i will choose mutha!' option.
"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct from natural variation." Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville
fat_boy wrote:
unplug the network cable
Good suggestion. Might try that next time.
Simon
-
Simon P Stevens wrote:
Windows 7 has a skip button, but Vista doesn't seem to. (At least it doesn't on this particular laptop, perhaps it's a config thing, but it's not an option I've ever seen anywhere?)
Oops, my bad, missed the 'Vista' part :)
Yeah, I knew it sucked but I'd kinda forgotten how bad. I think I'm going to wipe it and stick Win7 on it tomorrow.
Simon
-
I'm doing a short 15 minute talk on microcontrollers[^] this evening. (Pop along if your interested and in the Birmingham area - You have to register but as a non-member you can come to 2 for free). So anyway, last night I was installing the required drivers on the laptop ready for the demos and Vista's suckiness came up and smacked me in the face. I had the drivers downloaded and ready, but when you plug in new hardware Vista searches Windows Update for the drivers. It takes around 5 minutes to search before it fails and gives you the option to pick a location. But the worst bit is that some of the microcontrollers host multiple USB "devices" and Vista searches separately for each one. 30 minutes to install drivers that I already had downloaded and took <2 minutes on my other PC.
Simon
Break-a-leg What type of processor/development system are you using that you are able to use C#?
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
-
Break-a-leg What type of processor/development system are you using that you are able to use C#?
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
Thanks. The C# stuff targets the .Net Micro Framework[^] running on a Netduino[^]. It's a pretty cool bit of kit for the price.
Simon
-
Thanks. The C# stuff targets the .Net Micro Framework[^] running on a Netduino[^]. It's a pretty cool bit of kit for the price.
Simon
I just recently heard of and started researching the .NET Micro Framework and put it aside because the processors I am using for my current project is a ATMega328 and doesn't have near the horse power for running the NMF. ~$40 is not a bad price for the Netduino and to get started. Thanks for the heads up. Mike
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
-
I just recently heard of and started researching the .NET Micro Framework and put it aside because the processors I am using for my current project is a ATMega328 and doesn't have near the horse power for running the NMF. ~$40 is not a bad price for the Netduino and to get started. Thanks for the heads up. Mike
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
If you're thinking about using them just let me point out one gotcha I hit on when converting some code. Because the Netduino uses the USB port to support the live debugging in visual studio you cannot do serial communication with the PC over the USB cable. You have to buy/make a separate cable and connect it to pins 0/1 and do serial comms over than (With a USB-TTL serial cable[^] is the easiest way). There is discussion on the forums that suggests drivers are in the works that will support serial comms and debugging down the USB cable, (or at least some kind of switch so you can choose) but it's not certain.
Simon
-
If you're thinking about using them just let me point out one gotcha I hit on when converting some code. Because the Netduino uses the USB port to support the live debugging in visual studio you cannot do serial communication with the PC over the USB cable. You have to buy/make a separate cable and connect it to pins 0/1 and do serial comms over than (With a USB-TTL serial cable[^] is the easiest way). There is discussion on the forums that suggests drivers are in the works that will support serial comms and debugging down the USB cable, (or at least some kind of switch so you can choose) but it's not certain.
Simon
Thanks for the tip. I've got a USB/RS232 board so that won't be a problem. Just ordered book[^] from B&N. Downloaded the Framework and the NetduinoSDK and will take it for a spin. Thanks, Mike
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
-
unplug the network cable and install the drivers through device manager specifying the 'i will choose mutha!' option.
"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct from natural variation." Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville
