Folks – we’re into week 2 of the 6 weeks of Azure program and as I was planning these sessions out with Christian last year, I thought I’d like to bring some fun into the mix.

There’s many possibilities that you can do in Azure, but none other than building a bit of h/w, programming it & having it talk to Azure! Monitored, controlled – how good is that.

Enter the FEZ Kits – www.ghielectronics.com

(There’s also the Raspberry PI’s that run a flavour of Linux with a deployment of Mono – that let’s you run C# code straight onto a $35 computer! – I’ll save that for another post)

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FEZ Kits

These are the ‘mans lego’ kit as I like to think of them as.

What makes these kits cool:

  • they run a flavour of .NET – .NET Microframework. So yes you can write C# etc that runs on the device.
  • you can get many many additional modules for these to plug into your masterpiece – things like temperature sensors, light sensors, colour sensors etc.
  • they run off USB power, even a set of 4 AAA batteries would do it.
  • you program them via USB cable from Visual Studio.
  • *rich* community and developer support - http://www.ghielectronics.com/support/.net-micro-framework

FYI – my kit I’ve added to over time and I’ve also got a Raspberry PI that I play with (good NFC reader).

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My FEZ KIT on the left, with the PI on the right in my beautiful Lego box Smile

 

Now the best thing is that the FEZ Hydra kit (above) will be available to you (as a prize and the like) on the BOOTCAMPS as part of the 6 weeks of Azure.

Let me know how you get on and if you’ve got any questions about these guys – they’re great and good for developers.

--- from the official blurb ----
6 Weeks of Azure

Need in-person Azure Training? DevCamps are for you

Register for a DevCamp in Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane to learn how to use the new Windows Azure features and services including Windows Azure Virtual Machines, Web Sites, and Visual Studio 2012 to build and move a variety of apps to the cloud.  You will see how to build web sites, mobile
applications, and enterprise-class applications. 

Need help with your app? Register for a Boot Camp

Register for a Boot Camp near you: Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane. Our
Industry and Microsoft experts will be available to help complete your
Windows Azure app as part of the 6 Weeks of Windows Azure course.
There will be a FEZ Hydra Kit or two to win… not to mention some t-shirts and mice to giveaway.

6 Weeks
Forum
Blog Post by: Mick Badran