Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

That PCB is green. Green is a combination of yellow and blue. Water is typically depicted as being blue. Clearly, this signifies a water game. :D

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

Here's my opinion so far

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

Didn't CTRE say they were making a external solenoid controller? I think they may be analog inputs.

Ya, you could be right. The controller had to speak to the pneumatic controller somehow. Was that CAN-based? (I'm on my phone right now and can't look stuff up)

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

yup http://i.imgur.com/276hmyB.jpg

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

I think the Ethernet jack is to the right of the one you specified. I could be wrong (and frequently am...)

And USB! Hooray!

Not sure if there would be 20 PWMs and no DIO or Relay ports though.

Looks a lot like the footprint of the IFI controller, eh?

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

Nobody has talked about form factor. Anyone have any idea about the size?

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

I don't think IFI actually makes microcontrollers (?). Surely they don't have a fab or got an ASIC produced. I can see them rebadging something. I'm going to guess an ARM microprocessor solely because of it's ability to handle vxworks.

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

I've tried to unskew it the best I can and based off of my assumption that the headers are 0.1" pin pitch, it looks like it will be about 5.5" x 5". The rectangles are my best attempt at making 1" long segments.

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

I wonder if they will phase out spikes because of the new pneumatics board.

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

I think the big connector is simply the "custom electronics port". The Ethernet and USB ports look vertical style instead of right angle (if it was right angle, the Ethernet port would be facing the center of the board). Also, vertical style ports would be consistent with the cRIO style and make possible more compact electronic layouts (no ports off to the sides!).

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

Nope, they still show "relay control" outputs in the new system (http://i.imgur.com/eA3Bvfu.jpg). Spikes can be useful for driving normal motors as well. Which makes me wonder where those outputs are on this board layout..

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

4 pin headers are probably I2C and SPI

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

Upon second look, those aren't potentiometers (the silk screen threw me off). I think they're push button switches. I should really learn to count.

Re: [FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments
 

28 i/o
That puts us at 7 analog, 7 relay, 7 dio, 7 pwm...
That's not enough for some teams, so I think that the large ide cable thing is a bunch more io.
Also, it the pin pitch is 0.1", the board is 5 inches deep, and either 5" or 5.25" wide so its pretty small...