Gavin Gear's Tech Blog

Windows 7 Sensor development kit downloads are live!

If you have a sensor development kit, and either don’t have the required software/firmware, or want to update your board’s firmware (to enter Windows 7 sensor demo mode by default, or to experiment with Adaptive Brightness in Windows 7) the following download will be of interest:

See “Sensor Development Kit for Windows 7” on the following page: Windows Sensors and Location MSDN Code Gallery Downloads

If you want to update your firmware, follow the instructions in the root “readme.txt” file.

How to get new Freescale sensor boards to work on Windows 7

If you've purchased one of the new Freescale dev kits online, you may have noticed that the board does not work out of the box on Windows 7. The default mode is for Freescale demos.

There are two options to get this board to work on Windows 7:

1. Repeatedly tap the E8 capacative touch button while you plug in the board (keep tapping until you see the alternate flashing red LEDs) - see the picture below. This will not persist across reboots unfortunately.
2. Update the firmware on the board - You can use firmware from one of the sensor development kits (pictured below) or download the package from Microsoft (We dont' have this public yet)

I will post download details and firmware update instructions when the download is posted.

See ya,
Gavin

Windows API Code Pack is live, and with support for Windows 7 Sensors!

As a part of the Windows 7 RC release wave, the Windows SDK team has released the “Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework (v0.85)”. What is this code pack you may ask? This .NET source code  supports new Windows 7 light-up developer features including the following:

-          Shell features

-          Direct 3D 11.0

-          Sensor Platform APIs

This is a preview release, so it may change between now and RTM, but it does enable you to code against these features with your favorite .NET language for Windows 7. The sensor API code even includes samples (For accelerometer and light sensor) that show off the capabilities of the Windows 7 Sensor Development Kit hardware!

Here’s a link to the Code Pack release page:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WindowsAPICodePack

Thanks,

Gavin

Windows 7 RC Developer Essentials

Now that Windows 7 RC builds are live, you may want to know “what do I need to download and install to get going with driver or application development on Windows 7”?

Well, I’ll do my best to outline that here!

Essential: Download and install Windows 7 RC

The public download for Windows 7 RC builds is located here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

For application developers: Download and install the Windows 7 RC SDK

Websetup:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f75f2ca8-c1e4-4801-9281-2f5f28f12dbd

ISOs:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6db1f17f-5f1e-4e54-a331-c32285cdde0c

For driver developers: Download and install the Windows 7 RC WDK

Main page for WDK:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/WDK/WDKpkg.mspx

Download details and requirements:
Download the WDK for Windows 7 RC: The Windows 7 RC WDK (v.7.0.0) is available through the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program and through MSDN Subscriber Downloads. It is also available to developers who are participants in the WDK beta program. If you want to participate in the WDK beta program, send an e-mail to wdkbeta@microsoft.com. You will receive an e-mail in return that contains instructions about how to sign up for the appropriate program on Microsoft Connect.

 There you go!

-Gavin

Don't have a light sensor? Use VirtualLightSensor.exe from the SDK!

What is the Virtual Light Sensor tool? This tool allows the user to simulate an ALS (Ambient Light Sensor) device. The main purposes for simulating ALS devices would be to either experiment with the new Windows 7 Adaptive Brightness feature, or to test sensor applications that implement light-awareness for readability optimizations, or use ALS in some other way (night/day themes, etc).

Screenshot:

This tool is included in the Windows 7 SDK, so once you install the SDK, you'll have this tool.

Fore more detail and install directions, see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd318911(VS.85).aspx 

Windows 7 Sensor development kit boards are available for order!

If you've been wanting to get a Windows 7 Sensor development kit, you can now order directly from freescale here:

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=JMBADGE&tab=Buy_Parametric_Tab&fromSearch=false

This board has the following sensors onboard:

- Ambient light sensor

- 3D accelerometer

- Dual touch strips

More on this kit later!

-Gavin

Want to write a sensor driver? Windows 7 Beta WDK docs are live on MSDN.com!

If you have been wondering about how to support your sensor or location device on Windows 7, wonder no longer! The Windows 7 Sensor WDK documentation is live on MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb870493.aspx 

This documention covers driver development concepts including coverage of the two interfaces of interest:

ISensorClassExtension (Docs HERE)

This is the interface for the root Co-Creatable object that sensor drivers use for outgoing calls (Initialization, posting events, etc).

ISensorDriver (Docs HERE)

This is the interface that sensor drivers implement as a callback to handle incoming calls. Requests for property data and sensor data are serviced on this callback interface.

That's enough to get you started!

See ya,

Gavin

Windows 7 Sensor and Location Beta SDK Documentation Live on MSDN

If you want to start learning about the new Windows 7 Sensor and Location platform, you can now access the Beta MSDN SDK documents online!

Here's a couple of starting points:
Sensor SDK BETA documentation
Location SDK BETA documentation

With this documentation, you can learn how to write sensor-enabled applications with the Win32 COM Sensor API. You can also learn how to add location awareness to your apps with the Win32 COM Location API, or the Location scripting interface. 

Thanks,
Gavin

Windows 7 Beta Released!

If you've been wondering what's new in Windows 7, you should install Windows 7 Beta which has just been released:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

This is a great opportunity to check out the new Windows Sensor and Location Platform. By installing the SDK and WDK, you can get started with sensor driver and application development.

The Windows 7 Beta SDK download is located here

The Windows 7 Beta WDK (connect registration required) is located here

Some of my favorite things about Windows 7:
- Sensor and Location platform (I'm biased here :) )
- Adaptive Brightness (Automatic control of screen brightnes based on light sensor input)
- New shell features (superbar, etc)
- Network connection features (click connect/disconnect from systray icon menu)
- Boot performance - (Due to service control manager and related service statup optimizations)
- Projection with Win+P (Always works!)
- ....and the list goes on!

I've been running Windows 7 exclusively for about a year now, and I'll have to say, I know the world is going to love this OS!

For more information about Sensors and Location in Windows 7, please visit www.microsoft.com/whdc/sensors!

Until next time,
Gavin

WinHEC Session Slides for Sensor and Location Platform Available

At WinHEC 2008 (Los Angeles) I gave a presentation that gives an overview of the  new Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform. This overview includes details about the components included in Windows 7, an overview of the opportunities for innovation with this platform, and other relevant information.

You can download the slide deck here:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/E/6/5E66B27B-988B-4F50-AF3A-C2FF1E62180F/MBL-T523_WH08.pptx 

If you're interested in Sensors and Location in Windows 7, check out Jim Travis' blog!

Jim Travis has been a Microsoft for a long time, and is the tech writer lead who's working on the docs for sensors and location for Windows 7. Jim is a great guy, and a wealth of knowledge about various developer topics.

If you are interested in the new Sensor and Location Platform in Windows 7, you'll want to check out his blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jimtravis/

Using the Windows 7 Sensor Development Kit on a virtual machine

If you have a Windows 7 Sensor Development Kit, but don't have a machine to dedicate to a Windows 7 pre-Beta install, there's another option. In the blog post linked to below, Christoph Wille explians how to use the Windows 7 Sensor Development kit from a Virtual box image... Pretty cool!

Explained here:

http://chrison.net/Windows7SensorDevelopmentKitInsideVirtualBox.aspx

Sensor development kits were the hot ticket at WinHEC 2008!

At conferences, it's always fun to pick up SWAG, (Stuff We All Get). But SWAG can sometimes be predictable and repetitive. You've seen the typical SWAG: Pens, Illuminated bouncy balls, drink insulators, keychains, refrigerator magnets, etc, etc. All with bold company logos. If you're lucky, you may get a shirt that's handy to wear while you're chaning the oil on your car.

At WinHEC 2008 (And PDC for that matter) we gave out sensor development kits that work on Windows 7! Yes, if you were there, you could pick up a usb connected development board (based on the Freescale JM badge board, see www.canyourbadgedothis.com ) that includes a 3D accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and two touch sensor strips. What's more, we also handed out CDs with full source code for the firmware, driver, and demo applications.

Here's a picture:

Pretty nice SWAG eh? You might be wondering how you can get your hands on one... Well, we're looking into how we can make these publicly available in the next few months... Stay tuned.

 See ya!
-Gavin

Watch the Sensors and Location Session from PDC!

So what is this new "Sensor and Location Platform" in Windows 7?

Now that this new platform has been announced, I thought I would take a minute to give a quick overview of what this platform is, and what you can do with it. We'll get into more detail for each of these components in future posts.

The Sensor and Location platform implements native support for sensor and location devices on Windows. This means there's now a standard way to deal with sensor and location data and devices on Windows!

At a high level, the platform is comprised of the following:

• Sensor Device Driver Interface (DDI)
  The sensor DDI provides a standard way to integrate sensor hardware with Windows. This DDI is based on the UMDF (User Mode Driver Framework) and it makes developing sensor drivers easier than ever.
• Sensor COM Application Programming Interface (API)
  The Sensor API provides a common way to discover, connect to, and receive data from sensors on Windows 7 systems
• Location COM API and Scriping Interface
  On Windows 7 applications, desktop gadgets, and script clients can seamlessly access the computer's current location via straightforward interfaces. Multiple applications, desktop gadgets, and script clients can simultaneously access the computer's current location!
• Location and Other Sensors Control Panel and Permissions Model
  On Windows 7, access to the data exposed by sensors and location devices can be managed by the user of the computer. In this way, potentially sensitive data is under control of the user.
• Developer Tools
  You will find documentation, tools, and samples in both the Windows 7 SDK, and the Windows 7 WDK for developing sensor and location drivers, and applications. In addition to that, a sensor hardware development kit will be available that includes hardware and source code for firmware, drivers, and applications.

So this gives you an idea of the components that are new for sensors and location in Windows 7. We'll get into each of these in depth in the months to come. Stay tuned...

You can learn more about the Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform by visiting our new WHDC site, and developer forum:

WHDC site: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/sensors

Developer Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowssensorandlocationplatform/threads 

See ya,
Gavin