"Why cook boring, when you can cook fabulous!" -- MarkO

As of this date, 03-NOV-2009, Google has neither "Why cook boring" or "When you can cook fabulous" Indexed, so I will be the first...

Discover Spices and Seasonings... They make your Food, much more interesting...

Sean Daugherty:

The config switch should not be used under normal circumstances. It only needs to be used to try to correct issues such as the one you have now. Depressing this switch in otherwise normal use can possibly disrupt your connection between the units.

We will refer to the units as Receiver (the part that attaches to your Microcontroller) and Transmitter (the part that attaches to, you guessed it, the transmitter).

For this fix, we will be dealing mainly with the transmitter side of the pair. You will also need a small (5/64, the one used for shaft collars) VEX allen wrench or paper clip. This fix only applies if you have a steady green blinking Robot light on the transmitter side.

1- Make sure you have power connected to the unit, that it is off, and remove the VEXnet USB Key.

2- On the front of the unit, there is a small hole labeled “Config”. Insert your wrench into that hole and you should feel a small button inside the unit. Hold this button down.

From Internet to Robotics: The Next Transformative Technology [Local Copy]
From Internet to Robotics - An Update [Local Copy]

RioBotz Combot Tutorial 2.0 (PDF - 28.7MB) [Local Copy]

DuraTrax 75MHz Radio Frequency Checker.

"Articulated Steering"

Intelitek Vex On-Line Code v3 (Shipped with EasyC Pro) (18F8520 Processor Only)

"intelitek Loader Version 3.1",
Vex On-Line Code v12/27/2006@12:23
FRC On-Line Code v12/27/2006@12:07 (18F8520 Processor)

End Of Line (EOL) is Line Feed ( 0x0A ), verses Carriage Return ( 0x0D ) in v2 Code.

Input to the Vex Controller is identical to v2 Code.

Output from the Vex Controller, with the "Vex Code" is One Line of 51 Bytes, including the Line Feed.
The Line Header is "IO ", followed by 16 Records of'0', and 8 Records of '1', delimited by a Space.
No change in DATA, when the Limit Switch or Line Follower is "triggered".

Output from the Vex Controller, with the FRC Code is Two Lines, the First of 40 Bytes including the Line Feed, and the Second "is a max of" 83 Bytes, including the Line Feed.
The First Line Header is "DIO ", followed by 18 Records of '0' delimited by a Space.

One of the "highlights of my month", is stealing my co-workers copy of Embedded Systems Design. This month has an article on The basics of embedded multitasking on a PIC processor.

I don't know how well this described multitasker would work on the Vex Controller because of the Master and User processors, but I would guess that it could be adapted to some extent..

There are Three Parts, and the Source Code is available from the author, "Gamal Ali Labib". I have already requested the source code...

Links to Articles are:
The basics of embedded multitasking on a PIC, part 1 - Reentrant multitasking
The basics of embedded multitasking on a PIC, part 2 - Cooperative multitasking

[quote=nilocor;12050]A couple of weeks ago in this forum Vex Labs said there would be an announcement last week about accessories for the new Vex Explorer. Did anyone see anything announced? I was hoping that some of these accessories would be useful on the old Vex product. [/quote]

Yes they did, make a pre-announcement, and it would be nice if they gave us an update on the status of the new products, but they might be busy. That is what happens where I work... Many, many things going on.... It is really hard to give every area, 100% of your attention, 100% of the time..

[quote] The company always seems to be promising accessories, but nothing seems to happen. It's really disappointing the company is doing so little development on what is a fine product. No wonder First gave up on the Vex. At the current rate, the Vex seems doomed for oblivion. The number of kits for sale on e-Bay is steadily increasing. I guess I am not the only frustrated user.[/quote]

[quote=basicxman;12027]What!?!? Vista is awesome, it is way better than XP. it has some compatibility issues but you can right-click on a program and choose compatibility mode. by the way i'm a 13-year old computer programmer and vista is way better on the developer side:D :D :D[/quote]

Computer Usage has a "long sad history" with the users moving from [I]where they are[/I] to [I]where the computer industry is going[/I].

R283 HOKUYO LASER
Maxbotix Sonar Sensor
Maxbotix (Testimonial)
Maxbotix
Maxbotix Sonar Sensor PDF