A little less than a year ago the first Windows 10 software for the GrovePi was developed by a dedicated set of GrovePi and C# enthusiasts. We wrote an article about it here, and ZDNet also did a followup piece about open source software here.
Now, with some issues worked out of the software and growing interest in C#, we wanted to make it easy for developers, students, and the generally-curious to start using the GrovePi and the Raspberry Pi 2.
Over the past few weeks we have worked out more examples software for Windows Internet of Things (WinIoT), and a detailed “Getting Started” page for the GrovePi and C#.
Start Using C#
If you are a Microsoft or C# enthusiast, it has never been easier to get started with the GrovePi+ Internet of Things Kit.
Setting up the Visual Studio environment can take a bit of time, but the software is free and we discovered a very nice thing about the development environment: once you get to know it, it is super comfortable to work in!
The GrovePi has a NuGet package that makes importing dependencies for the GrovePi much easier to use while programming (NuGet is a package manager for the Microsoft Developer environment). Visual Studio also has some great tools for interfacing with Github and managing a project.
Our Tutorial
Our tutorial focuses on taking you from pretty near zero experience, to connecting sensors and picking up data. As we mentioned above, if you’re new to either Visual Studio or Windows IoT, getting started with the GrovePi on that platform can be a little confusing.
No longer!
Folks who tested this setup literally “saved hours” getting set up. We give you a quick jog around the environment, and hit every major “Must do” to get you going.
Our tutorials focus on getting started with the GrovePi Base Kit and WinIoT. The GrovePi Base Kit comes with a number of sensors for the Raspberry Pi and gets you started with the plug-and-play system. With a number of common plug-and-play sensors like a button, a light sensor, LEDs, Temperature and Humidity, the GrovePi Base Kit is a simple and fast way to get started making connected devices.
1. Setting up your Computer and Raspberry Pi
All the information you need on setting up your computer and preparing your PC and your Raspberry Pi for operations. This tutorial covers pre-requisites, software installation, and setting up the Raspberry Pi.
2. Run Hello World in WinIoT
Your first Internet-of-Things Device! Simple and quick, this will introduce you to programming the GrovePi, the C# programming environment, and other
3. More WinIoT GrovePi Samples and Examples
Here we go over other Sample programs we have in our Github repo. We have an example for each sensor in the GrovePi+ Starter Kit.
We have expanded the number of example sensor samples in C# with a C# solution for each sensor in the GrovePi+ Starter Kit.
On the Shoulders of Giants . . .
As we mentioned a few months ago, we continue to stand on the shoulders of giants in our community. In no way could we have done this ourselves, and we really appreciate those folks who have contributed code recently!
Check out Thinglabs
If our tutorial leaves you hungry for more, check out ThingLabs.io. They are a self-proclaimed “group of engineers who frequently get distracted by blinking lights and shiny objects.” They provide some great tutorials and examples for running devices on WinIoT.
In addition to having some great tutorials for the GrovePi, they run workshops around the world introducing developers to the GrovePi, the Internet of Things, and WinIoT. They have contributed some great example projects to the C# Github repo as well, and they might be coming to a city near you soon!
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