Internet of things: Arduino, VS 2013, using the VisualMicro add-in, setting ports

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To get started, if you are like me, you might need to get your brain around the fact that you are working with an open source add-in with Visual Studio 2013, and that the open source product is maintained over a number of years.  That latter part is pretty amazing to me, usually, with exceptions, the open source stuff works for awhile and then gets out of date.  But the VisualMicro folks are pretty nifty types, so make sure to buy their upgrade.

To get started I just used an existing sketch, why? Because I know that it working, it’s simple and I understand it.  But it didn’t work at first, because I forgot to set the serial port, in the image below, notice the COM22, if it is blank, then you need to select the correct COM port.

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Which COM port? In Windows 8 from the start screen just type Device Manager and then select Device Manager.  In the listing you will see the Arduino will show up.  Then in the port selector select the correct COM port.  It’s that easy.

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