Unfortunately I am new to both VisualMicro and Arduino development in general, so have a couple of questions

I just have set up my LattePanda and want to start developing simple Arduino apps. However, I do not know how to connect to the Arduino board located on the LattePanda over the network. Reason is, that I do not want to run VS on the small device, instead use my laptop. Is that possible with VisualMicro ? If yes, how ? 

I saw the possibility in VisualMicro to enter an ip address instead of a COM port, just can't figure out how it works and what component is required on the LattePanda to redirect its default COM5 port to some network port to which I can connect to remotely ?

Unless I am mistaken, LattePanda has a built in Arduino Atmega32U4 ( Leonardo ). I guess I have to select this type of board in VisualMicro, too, but can't find it. Is it supported ?

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the superfast response !

First off, I've got used to using Visual Studio for development and if possible I insist using it also for Arduino development, this is the reason I am looking at it. On the other hand, you're right that if I am using the firmata library for coding in c# then I won't need VisualMicro.

Secondly, I also have seen and read the LattePanda documentation about remote controlling arduino, but for me it seems quite like local access to the arduino board, directly from the LattePanda computer. At least I can't find any reference in the documentation explaining how to connect over an ip address ? The firmata class library seems to be useful for local application running on the LattePanda itself, is it not . Am I overlooking or missing something ?

No. What I am asking is how can I use my laptop and Visual Studio on it to write and debug c# applications controlling the arduino board through firmata class library provided by lattepanda. 

I think this is quite a natural approach. Although the lattepanda mini computer is quite fast and runs win10 pretty well, I still do not believe that it is a good idea to install Visual Studio on it. It is not a development machine, but only a machine hosting an arduino board. The app I write - and I mean c# and .net, not an arduino sketch - will eventually be deployed on the lattepanda win10 OS and will interact with the arduino board locally through the aforementioned class library.

But I can't develop and debug such an application on my laptop even if i install firmata class library on it, unless there is mechanism to reach out to the arduino board on the panda. In other words, reach the arduino "remotely". And I assume a logical choice would be leveraging the network to connect to the arduino.

That's all. It seems so evident to me, I wonder why others did not bump into this staff. Or I might have a false view on this whole story...probably I do. But then again, how others do this ? Is really the only way to install VS on the lattepanda ?

Sorry, I see I am rambling from forum topic...

Okay, let's say I am content with the services provided by the standard firmata sketch (yes it is sketch that I had to upload to the arduino) and the firmata class library built over it, and therefore I do not want to write any sketch at the beginning. Only write managed c# code using the class library.
 
I guess the only place where I can make use of the firmata class library at runtime is the lattepanda host locally, as the class library will communicate locally with the arduino board.

But I also need to install the class library on my local, development machine (laptop) in order to be able to build an application. Then I deploy the app to the lattepanda and debug it from Visual Studio on my laptop with remote debugging capability built into VS ?

Again, many thanks for you insistent support Tim.

I may have mis-explained the story from the beginning, sorry. So yes, LattePanda runs Win10 with its full functionality (Enterprise x64) and theoritically I can install VS on it. But this is exactly I want to avoid . Its true though, that I have not tried 2017 yet, only used 2015. But as VS2015 can occupy 5-9GB on disk as well as eat up CPU resources I am little bit afraid. Nevertheless, I'll give a try to VS2017 and let you know the results.

Btw, the arduino board is mapped to COM5 port and I uploaded the firmata sketch with Arduino 1.8 installed on LattePanda using that port. So it works for sure.

My primary goal however, is building C# .NET apps using the firmata library, as I am not very strong in C++, and I think most of the time the library can provide what I need. I also know, however, that when it comes to strict timing or some real-time functionality requirement, I'd better forget .NET.