Skip to main content

Meadow Beta 3

Beta 3.12​

This is a huge release, and is a precursor to b4.0 while we finish out the last of the network stack.

Improvements and upgrades include:

  • Garbage Collector tuned up for our MCU.
  • Application crasher fix.
  • Tons of bug fixes and driver improvements.
  • Serial/UART events fixed and a big overhaul with a new way to use serial.
  • FilterableObserver changes.
  • A cleaned up and expanded Meadow.Core sample repo.
  • Piles of new Meadow.Foundation drivers.
  • GPS/GNSS NMEA processor overhaul.
  • Meadow library project template.
  • F# Meadow templates.
  • Parametric enclosure.
  • Meadow EDA schematic and PCB footprint parts.

Updating​

This release is cut from the b4.0 work and requires an OS update as well as IDE extension updates. If you're on Windows, it's easy, we've added a one-click upgrade to the extension. However, on macOS (and Linux) it's significantly more complicated. We recommend updating on a Windows machine in Visual Studio if you have access to one, but the manual steps for macOS and Linux are provided as well.

macOS/Linux Manual Instructions​

Open a terminal window and execute the following steps. Please note that if you don't have DFU-Util installed, follow along on the Meadow.OS Deployment page.

  1. Download and unzip the latest Meadow.OS files.
  2. DFU Meadow.OS.bin:
    dfu-util -a 0 -S [serial] -D Meadow.OS.bin -s 0x08000000
  3. Reset F7 (press RST button).
  4. Disable mono (may need to run twice if you get an exception the first time):
    mono ./Meadow.CLI/Meadow.CLI.exe -s /dev/tty.usbmodem01 --MonoDisable
  5. Erase flash:
    mono ./Meadow.CLI/Meadow.CLI.exe --EraseFlash --KeepAlive
    This will take a few minutes. After it says "Bulk erase completed," hit space to exit.
  6. Reset F7.
  7. Upload new Mono Runtime:
    mono ./Meadow.CLI/Meadow.CLI.exe --WriteFile Meadow.OS.Runtime.bin --KeepAlive
    After "Download success," hit space again.
  8. Move the runtime into it's special home on the 2MB partition:
    mono ./Meadow.CLI/Meadow.CLI.exe --MonoFlash --KeepAlive
    After "Mono runtime successfully flashed," hit space to exit.
  9. Reset F7.

Meadow.OS Improvements​

Garbage Collector Tuning​

The Mono garbage collector that we use in Meadow.OS got a major tune-up, making it much more suited for our architecture and use case. You should find that garbage collection works far better now than it did before.

Application Crash​

The dreaded application crash that got introduced a few beta releases back that prevents Meadow applications from standing up for more than a few minutes has been fixed! As well, with the garbage collector fixes, Meadow apps are now very unlikely to run out of memory. This is the most stable release of Meadow OS to date!

Bug Fixes​

Meadow.Core Improvements​

Serial/UART Communications​

We did a major overhaul of the UART/Serial Port in Meadow for b4.0. Big changes include:

  • Serial Port Events Fixed - Serial port events now work, which enables more efficient communications, without the need for a polling thread.
  • New ISerialMessagePort class - We fundamentally reworked the way legacy serial communications work, and created an ISerialMessagePort class that modernizes them. It's thread-safe and asynchronous by default, and massively simplifies communications with serial devices by taking a message approach. We recommend using this class instead of ISerialPort for serial communications from now on.

For more info, check out the awesome Serial Communications Guide.

To see the new ISerialMessagePort class at work, check out the SerialMessagePort Sample.

FilterableObserver Changes​

We renamed FilterableObserver to FilterableChangeObserver.

We made this naming change because the FilterableObserver, as designed, was based on change notification and as such had Old and New values, along with built in comparison. However, it became clear that we should also have a non histrionic version for cases where Old and New had no meaning. In the next beta release we'll likely re-introduce a non-histrionic version of FilterableObserver.

Meadow.Core Samples​

We completely re-did the old Meadow_Samples repo and renamed it to Meadow.Samples. The samples are now much better organized and all updated to the latest .csproj format.

Meadow.Foundation​

Meadow.Foundation got a pile of new peripheral drivers, including:

GPS/GNSS NMEA Processing​

We did a major overhaul of the NMEA (GPS/GNSS) sentence processing library. In the process we re-worked, upgraded, and modernized it. It now handles a wider array of sentence structures, is more fault tolerant, has a better API and is easier to add new decoders to.

Check out the GPS/GNSS NMEA Sentence Processing Library guide for more information.

PwmLed minor change​

We consolidated the logic and code convention across our LEDs drivers in Meadow.Foundation.Core, and when we did, we removed the method public void StartBlink(uint onDuration = 200, uint offDuration = 200) which was redundant and we kept public void StartBlink(uint onDuration = 200, uint offDuration = 200, float highBrightness = 1f, float lowBrightness = 0f) since its more flexible since you can also change the values of brightness.

Deployment & Tooling​

New Meadow Library Templates​

We added a new Meadow library project template to both Visual Studio for Windows and Visual Studio for Mac. Meadow library projets automatically have the essential Meadow package references and SDK type all set:

F# Meadow Templates​

We've also released F# templates for both Meadow apps and library projects!

So if you <3 F#, now it's easy to start building Meadow apps with it:

Other Stuff​

Parametric Enclosure​

Are you building a project and need an enclosure? We've created an easily modifiable enclosure template in Fusion 360 that allows you to change variables like length/depth/height, as well as the position of Meadow inside, and it'll automatically resize for you:

You can use it as is, or use it as the starting point for more complicated enclosures by adding features.

Check it out at our 3D Print Designs repo.

Meadow EDA (Schematic and PCB Footprint) Parts​

We've posted schematic symbols, PCB footprints, and 3D files of the Meadow F7 board for use in your own custom circuit designs. You can find them in our Meadow_EDA_Parts repo.

Beta 3.11​

Beta 3.11 is a major release that brings a pile of stabilizations and fixes across Meadow.OS, Meadow.Core, and Meadow.Foundation.

Updating​

You'll need to flash a new Meadow.OS binary to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

Meadow.OS Changes​

We reduced the time resolution in the underlying OS to 1ms, down from 10ms. This should fix a number of issues where 10ms delays were happening with calls, and the time functions such as Stopwatch were reporting incorrect timings.

Meadow.Core Changes​

  • Improved I2C support in Meadow.Core - I2C now uses a Span<byte> internally and the I2CPeripheral added overloads taking Span<byte> params. Span<T> was introduced in .NET Core 2.1 and allows I2C comms to be much more efficient in their use of memory.
  • Fixed internal Pull-Up & Pull-Down resistor settings - DigitalInputPort now has working internal pull-up and pull-down resistors.
  • Improved Interrupts - We implemented a glitch filter and reworked the debounce filter to move it further down the OS stack to operate with less overhead. Docs on glitch filter coming soon.

Meadow.Foundation Changes​

Motion Sensor Read/StartUpdating/IObservable fixes​

We did a major overhaul to the motion sensor (accelerometers and such) APIs, updating their APIs to match the Read(), StartUpdating(), StopUpdating() and IFilterableObservable pattern found in the other drivers.

Driver Improvement​

  • ITextDisplay - Updated the API to work with larger variety of display types, TextDisplayMenu coming soon!
  • RotaryEncoder - Is now more responsive when turning quickly
  • RgbPwmLed - Improved brightness control when setting the color
  • Max7219 - Has been updated to support more display configurations when driving 8x8 led arrays
  • TftSpi Display Driver - Improved performance when making partial screen updates
  • GraphicsLibrary - Performance improvements and several rendering fixes when drawing basic shapes
  • Button - Long press does not raise click event and is disabled by default

TextDisplayMenu Draft​

TextDisplayMenu prerelease nuget published! You can now leverage the power of TextDisplayMenu in your Meadow projects with any display currently supported in Meadow.Foundation!

Beta 3.10​

Beta 3.10 is a cleanup release to fix several regressions introduced in b3.8 and b3.9 due to a mismatch in git submodules that slipped through the cracks and resulted in an awkward build. It's also an opportunity for us to test out our new release pipelines and QA processes, which should lead to greatly increased quality of releases from here forward. Finally, we also unlocked another serial (UART) port on the Meadow, so there are now two accessible serial ports.

Updating​

You'll need to flash a new Meadow.OS binary to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

Additional Free Serial Port​

Previously, COM1 (pins D13 and D12) was unavailable for use as a serial port because we were outputting debug information from Meadow.OS on that port. However, we've moved that debug stream to USB, freeing that port (and pins) for use. For more information see the Serial (UART) guide.

Bug Fixes​

Meadow Foundation​

This release includes bug fixes and performance improvements in several drivers.

Bug Fixes​

  • GraphicsLibrary - We fixed a bug when vertical and horizontal lines were drawn 1 pixel too short.
  • Analog Temperature Sensors - We merged two pull-requests fixing analog temperature sensor calculation. Thanks to James Fraser for the fixes.

Other Improvements​

  • CharacterDisplay - We improved error checking and gracefully handle long strings.

Beta 3.9​

b3.9 is a minor release that adds more API stability, fixes some things we broke in b3.8, and adds some new features, including exposing the Real-Time-Clock on Meadow.

Updating​

You'll need to flash a new Meadow.OS binary to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

New Features & Changes​

Real-Time-Clock Setting​

We've exposed an API to set the system clock:

//Set the current date and time to March 30, 2020 at 12pm
Device.SetClock(new DateTime(2020, 3, 30, 12, 0, 0));
//Can now use DateTime.Now and the RTC will accurately mainting the correct time
Console.WriteLine($"Today is: {DateTime.Now}");

As long as the board is continuously powered, the clock will retain its time. Check out the power guide for more information on keeping the clock active.

Bug Fixes​

Meadow.Foundation​

We've added a new driver for the Veml7700 light sensor and improved the performance of the Max7219 driver. You can find an example of the Max7219 in action in the Meadow Samples GitHub repo.

Beta 3.8​

This is another point release but it gets us another step closer to b4.0. The b3.8 release adds further API stabilization and functionality, specifically focusing on I2C and SPI. This release also takes advantage of the performance increases from b3.7 to unlock more drivers, including a couple of exciting input peripherals: AnalogJoystick and RotaryEncoder.

Updating​

You'll need to flash a new Meadow.OS binary to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

Bug Fixes​

Meadow.Foundation​

There's continued improvement of driver features and stability as well as a handful of new peripheral drivers.

New Peripheral Drivers​

We've published eight new drivers:

New Power Guide​

We added a guide on Power IO that explains the options for powering the board, battery charging, solar, and more.

Beta 3.7​

Though this is a point release, it's actually cut from the b4.0 work, and represents a significant Meadow upgrade. It continues the API stabilization and bug fixes started in b3.6, but also includes major performance increases, an up-to-date Mono runtime (with pre-cursor support for Core 3.x), and a pile of new Meadow.Foundation drivers that were unlocked by both the performance improvements and IO bug fixes.

Updating​

You'll need to flash a new Meadow.OS binary to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

Performance Improvements​

We enabled various low-level caching mechanisms available on the F7 chip and fixed some long-outstanding memory bugs that were preventing their use up until this point. With these fixes and optimizations, we're able to realize one to two magnitudes of performance increases across various aspects of execution. The most significant being in IO access, which saw an 8,600% increase since b3.6. However, we also saw significant improvement in general execution, as well. The following charts were created from the Meadow Performance Benchmarking application readme data:

Overall, since b3.5, IO writes have gotten 318x faster. And since the last beta, general operation execution speed is 4-8x faster.

These improvements made several additional Meadow.Foundation drivers practical, now that execution speed can handle them.

Meadow Deployment​

We made a number of optimizations to the CLI, including making deployment much more robust.

We also merged the OS binaries into a single binary.

Bug Fixes​

This release is a major leap in API stability. We closed nearly all of the open bugs around the IO API, including:

Known Issues​

With that said, there are still three bugs that we were hoping to squish, but did not:

Meadow.Foundation​

This is a big update, there are numerous improvements and fixes across published drivers.

New Peripheral Drivers​

As well, we've published 13 new drivers via NuGet:

Beta 3.6​

This release is focused on quality and stabilization. It's mostly bug fixes, API stabilization, and new drivers based on that work. This is also just the first part of this work. We have a number of additional bug fixes that were originally due for b3.6, but there are so many good things already in this, we decided not to wait until they were all in and instead break it up into multiple releases, so there will likely be a b3.7 release soon as well.

Bug Fixes​

Performance Improvements​

While Meadow.OS is still slow overall, due to the fact that we're running .NET code in interpreted mode (as opposed to compiled via Just-in-Time (JIT) or Ahead-of-Time (AoT) compilation), we did optimize some things within Meadow.Core, and realized ~380% speed increase in digital output writes. In running the Meadow Performance Benchmarking application, digital output writes went from ~16ms to ~4ms, which, while still slow, is a major improvement.

AoT compilation (which should give us at least two magnitudes of performance improvement) is still schedule for b4.0.

Meadow.Foundation Fixes and New Drivers​

Changes​

We fixed the following drivers:

  • PwmLed - Pulse now works without blinking.
  • RgbPwmLed - Pulse and colors now work without blinking. Also, we fixed it to work with common anode LEDs, so it now works with the onboard LED.
  • PushButton - Resistor stuff now works.

New Peripheral Drivers​

This is a big update, there are numerous improvements and fixes across published drivers.

As well, we've published 14 new drivers via NuGet:

Meadow.CLI Fixes, Updates, and Open-Sourcing​

Most of the Meadow.CLI changes involve more complete information being returned by Meadow. Previously, Meadow only returned text strings. Now it returns more structured information and is more stable. Some of these changes will become important in future releases. One new command was added, RenewFileSys. This command recreates a new, empty file system.

Open Sourced​

Also, we open-sourced the Meadow.CLI code. Some of the code is ugly. We know. :)

Samples and Documentation​

We've updated and standardized all of the sample projects in Meadow.Foundation to match the latest template. And we've invested heavily in our docs, you'll notice we've added details and wiring diagrams for most of our peripheral docs.

Updating​

You'll need to flash new Meadow.OS binaries to your device, upgrade your IDE extension(s), and if you use the Meadow.CLI, you'll also need to download and use the latest version of that as well. Follow along with the Meadow Getting Started guide to get updated.

Beta 3.5​

This is quite a big release with new features, including UART, and a major overhaul to Meadow.Foundation. We also launched a new developer site and added docs for Meadow.CLI.

Serial/UART​

Meadow now has Serial/UART support! Check out the new UART guide for all the details!

Better Digital Protocol Errs​

As part of the Serial work, we also improved error messaging across all the digital protocols (I2C, SPI, UART). We now get an actual linux error number back when things go wrong. Those error numbers still need to be looked up online to make sense of them, but before we were only getting -1 when something wrong. There's still work to be done here, though. We plan on recreating common failures, mapping their errors, and generally trying to provide better guidance.

I2C Speed Setting​

You can now set the speed of the I2C bus. Somehow we missed this when we launched the I2C feature.

Meadow.CLI Docs​

We've published a guide for the Meadow.CLI (Command Line Interface).

Meadow.Foundation​

Read(), StartUpdating(), and StopUpdating Sensor Pattern​

Meadow.Foundation got a major sensor overhaul for b3.5, including the new Read(), StartUpdating(), and StopUpdating() pattern for sensor reads. We also published a new Working with Sensors in Meadow.Foundation guide that is recommended reading, and explains the new pattern.

Display Updates​

We've added new features to GraphicsLibrary:

  • two new large pixel fonts: 12x16 and a 12x20
  • new Rotation property allows screen rotation on any display (even if the driver doesn't support it directly)
  • smarter drawing calls, allows more optimizations to be performed by the display driver

SPI display driver performance:

  • drivers share a buffer with SPI bus under-the-hood, this reduces memory usage and should help performance
  • drivers now caches color values to reduce conversions from 24bit color to display-specific values
  • automatic partial screen updates (when possible) to reduce drawing time

Better display support:

  • fixes to improve display support across several drivers including support for the 135x240 variant of the ST7789 display
  • re-write of the ePaper display drivers to expand supported displays and make it easier to identify the correct driver

New Developer Site​

You're looking at it! We took our beta-developer site live, with the hot new redesign, and of course, Meadow docs! The whole site has been redesigned, including the API docs, which also got a major information architecture overhaul.

Updating​

To use this new beta, you'll need to reflash your board with the latest Meadow.OS binaries, as well as update your IDE extensions.

Beta 3.4​

This is another small release that expands the SPI capabilities, adds robustness to the IDE extensions, and sees some more things open-sourced.

Advanced SPI Configuration​

When using SPI, you can now have control over advanced configuration such as speed, clock polarity, and phase. This adds the ability to use more SPI peripherals, such as the OLED display included in the Hack Kit Pro, and NeoPixels!

To use the new SPI configurations, simply pass them in during construction:

Device.CreateSpiBus(
    Device.Pins.SCK,
    Device.Pins.MOSI,
    Device.Pins.MISO,
    new SpiBus.ClockConfiguration(4000, SpiBus.Mode.Mode2));

You can also change configurations during runtime.

ST7789 OLED Display Meadow.Foundation Driver​

Along with the configuration options, we've also released a Meadow.Foundation driver for the state ST7789 OLED display included in the Hack Kit Pro:

Visual Studio IDE Extensions Open-Sourced​

We've open sourced the Visual Studio Meadow extensions! We're slowly working towards open sourcing all of the Meadow tooling, but we need to clean a lot of it up first, so this is the first step.

You can find the source code in the following repos:

Meadow.CLI and Visual Studio Extension Enhancements​

We've also made some updates to the Meadow.CLI to enable the IDE extensions to check for updates to files already deployed on the Meadow device.

Meadow.CLI Updates​

There is a new command, --ListFilesAndCrcs, that lists files as well as the CRC values for each of the files.

IDE Extension Enhancements​

With the CLI returning CRC values, the IDE extensions now check to see if any files need updating when deploying. This solves an issue where if a dll such as Meadow.Foundation.dll had already been deployed to the device, and a newer version existed in the project, it wouldn't get updated.

Updating​

To use this new beta, you'll need to reflash your board with the latest Meadow.OS binaries, as well as update your IDE extensions.

Beta 3.3​

This is a small release with some sundry fixes:

  • Multiple PWMs - We fixed a bug where only one or two PWM channels would be active at one time. With this bug fix, you will now have full multi-PWM access, enabling things like the onboard LED to do full color spectrum.
  • Analog IObservable - These now work. They actually worked all along, but our sample was using Debug.WriteLine() which doesn't currently work (Console.WriteLine() is fine).
  • VS Extension Updates - We've made some sundry fixes to the Meadow project templates. Meadow.Foundation is now linked by default, and File > New > Meadow App now creates an app that walks the color hue spectrum on the onboard LED.

To use this new beta, you'll need to reflash your board with the latest Meadow.OS binaries, as well as update your IDE extensions.

Note: Meadow.Core updates also require the latest Meadow.dll be deployed to your Meadow. Currently, the IDE extensions will not update this dll if it's already on your board, so you'll need to manually delete it via the CLI, via the following command:

MeadowCLI.exe -s [NameOfSerialPort] --DeleteFile --TargetFileName Meadow.dll

Make sure to replace [NameOfSerialPort] with the serial port name of your device. Once deleted, the IDE extensions will automatically re-deploy with the latest bits.

Beta 3.2​

New File System​

We upgraded the file system that Meadow uses to LittleFS; which has the distinct advantage of initializing and formatting in seconds, as opposed to the 15-20 minutes of the last file system we were using.

Now, after when you deploy Meadow.OS, the first startup should be very fast, and you won't need to wait for the flash to format.

To upgrade, you'll need to flash the latest version of Meadow.OS to your device.

Basic Analog Input is Up​

We got basic analog input ports working on pins A0 through A3. To read an analog input value, create an AnalogInputPort on one of those pins and call the Read() method.

Note that advanced IObservable and events do not work at this time.

To use analog inputs, make sure you update the Meadow.Core nuget packages in your projects.

Debug Output on Visual Studio for Windows​

Console.WriteLine() calls are now being forwarded to a Meadow output window in Visual Studio on Windows, enabling basic debug output. Make sure to upgrade your Meadow Visual Studio extension to get support.

Meadow.CLI Updates​

In order to be compatible with the file system changes, the Meadow.CLI has also been updated. Make sure download and use the new binaries.

Beta 3.1​

SPI​

We got SPI validated and merged. We're excited to get this out, as we know that several of you are working on integrations that require SPI. To use it, you'll need to flash your Meadow board with the latest OS firmware binaries.

Visual Studio Extension​

Our project template is now included enabling the creation of new Meadow Apps within Visual Studio, check out the update. Debugging remains unavailable, but the console app gracefully exists.

Meadow.CLI​

Now available for download.

Beta 3​

Beta 3 is here, and it's awesome! This is the biggest release we've done yet and is the first beta that makes Meadow truly productive. We're excited to get it in your hands.

New Core Features​

  • USB Deployment
  • PWM, I2C

USB Deployment​

Wahoo!! No more painful JTAG deployment, deploying your app is now a cinch via the USB deployment feature.

Meadow.CLI​

We've created a Command Line Interface for meadow that allows you to deploy a Meadow application to a Meadow device over USB. Check out the guide on how to Deploy Meadow OS to your Board.

Visual Studio Windows and Mac Extensions​

Say hello to productivity! That's right, we now have extensions for Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac to deploy apps. To get up and running, check out Hello, World; Meadow-style.

Digital Outputs and Protocols​

Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM)​

PWM is now live! Along with it, PwmLed, RgbPwmLed, Servo Core, etc.

IPwmPort pwm = Device.CreatePwmPort(
    pin: Device.Pins.D04, 
    frequency: 100, 
    dutyCycle: 0.5f);
pwm.Start();
Inter-Integrated Circuits (I2C)​

The I2C protocol is also available in our latest Meadow OS.

II2cBus i2c = Device.CreateI2cBus();
GY521Test(i2c); // Pass i2c to an I2C capable device

Fixed Bugs​

Known Issues​

  • Meadow runtime is slow. For instance, we're currently only able to get about 30-40hz out of the SoftPwmPort. There's still a lot of debug code, so this will get much faster in future releases.
  • GlitchFilterCycleCount is not implemented in DigitalInputPort. This is coming soon.
  • Debug.Write calls don't output to the console - Workaround is to use Console.Write calls.
  • Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) - not working as expected, investigating.