Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The FRC Twitter posts suggests that it'll be postponed.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Great. Now I can't get that out of my head. :mad:

Yes, it is frustrating. So are other things. Perhaps next year, it can become a lottery system (somewhat like the printers), where you place your order in the first 3 or 4 days sometime, and a decent algorithm hands out the parts best they can.

Wayne, I disagree that if they don't have enough then don't offer them. But I very much agree that this is senseless. It is not a people fault so much as a process issue - and I can solve those....

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'm not sure how you conclude that from the posts of them working on the issue.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Just got the login screen back - now stuck there

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yup. It has been cold in san diego here too! It got down to the 40s last night. We almost had ice in our garden fountains.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Just as I suggested. This is the way we should also do registration for regionals. It's can't be that difficult...

- Mr. Van

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I doubt that "more information at 1:00 Eastern" means that it will be up at 1:00, but rather they'll let everyone know when they expect it to be back up, which can be later today, or even another day entirely.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Same. I sincerely hope that this gets postponed with a better server.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I agree with the earlier posts that it is better to waste my Saturday (morning, in Denver) than ruin a day of teaching, which was essentially the risk I took last year. I feel philosophical rather than angry. I did get the Inventables stuff ordered, at least.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Got a new login page just now. Entered the password and will see what happens. But at this rate, 10 minutes will not be enough. Ah well.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How much is the Inventables PDV worth?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

After Einstein 2012, you'd think the bandwidth issue would have been addressed.
I'm not stating that I believe that is the problem, but......

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I guess I view postponed as "there will be a set time xxxx" rather than "as soon as we get it working" semantics, I suppose.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

$25 from Inventables
$25 from Digikey
$450 from AndyMark

EDIT: And BaneBots website says the PDV isn't ready yet. Most likely $30

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

2 motor controllers victor or jag, 1 vex 2 wire motor and driver plus something, all worth about $220 or so. But their coupon code is not working yet

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Red alliance ready, Blue alliance ready.
3 - 2 - 1....

153 posts in 1 hour.

2.55 ppm.

Is this a record?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

It's 1PM eastern. Where's the update?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

BRING THE PITCH FORKS

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The code worked for me but as soon as I hit "Place Order" it gave me an error message.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I think Twitter just crashed...



JK :p

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How is that even remotely related to what's happening with FIRST choice right now?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Just spent the $450 AM PDV (thanks AndyMark!) for those who opted out of the kit chassis at the fully-functional andymark.com. Got the Talons I was looking for.

Quite happy there.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

My VEX coupon code was working, but VEX couldn't accept my VISA gift card as payment, and now I'm stuck with the dreaded "Coupon code "[redacted]" is not valid." Has anyone else had this problem?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Which is what he meant by the coupon code not working. I got the same result.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I give up...You guys could have it!

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yes

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The site loaded the log-in page all of a sudden, but I put in the login info and now we wait again...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How'd you do that?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How do you use this PDV code? Your normal AM account or is there a special team account to use this PDV?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Just got the preview page - now trying to get to my item page

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

FRCTeams twitter says: "We are postponing the opening of #FIRSTChoice. We will post when it will open by 2:00 PM Eastern."

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

From the FRC Teams Twitter: We are postponing the opening of #FIRSTChoice. We will post when it will open by 2:00 PM Eastern.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

vex checkout not working, first choice not working.... need to go somewhere soon.....FIRST said details coming at 1pm est and its 1:07....

edit:nvm they said something

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

@FRCTeams: "We are postponing the opening of #FIRSTChoice. We will post when it will open by 2:00 PM Eastern."

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Still stuck at the login screen.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

OPEN BY 2PM? what the heck does that mean. I have to keep refreshing until then? -__-

EDIT: Nevermind

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

We apologise again for the fault in the
subtitles. Those responsible for sacking
the people who have just been sacked,
have been sacked.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

from @frcteams on twitter:
Hopefully it will work better next time.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

They're announcing when it'll be up at 2PM, meaning you can take an hour long break.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

'We are announcing that we will be announcing the time of the opening"

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

No, I think they mean that by 2 PM, they will announce when the FC released has been postponed to.

- Sunny G.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

sorry, too worked up to even read a tweet properly

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

$25

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I meant it to be ironic.

Heavy traffic = more lost packets.
Too many of us trying to access the website.
Communication pipeline size may be an issue.
Host capacity a problem.

Someone trying to access the website with their Samsung Galaxy. :)

Bricks on the playing field.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

From what I gather, they will tell us when it will be open at 2:00 PM Eastern. NOT that it will be open at that time. Is that right? Do I have 50 minutes to go do something useful?

- Mr. Van

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Correct.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Any idea how it will be announced? Many of us don't use Twitter...
Will they announce it on the AM site?
an email would be appropriate...

R

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Love this!

Frustrating Morning.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

edit: didn't read twitter correctly

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

This bugged me quite a bit. I noticed that updates were being pushed into twitter, so I had to resurrect my three-year dead account. #bahumbug.

- Sunny G.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Don't worry. At least 4 people will repost here with variations

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Not ready to give up yet - I got a part page and and clicked add to cart. Now watching the spinning wheel.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

There needs to be a back-up plan in place for next year so that thousands of people are not glued to their computer for an indeterminate amount of time in hopes of a "fix in the near future". If the system works well on the first shot next year then all is well, but if it goes down again, at least people can get on with their lives. Something along the lines of "If after 12:20 ET you can not log-in, go to the USFIRST.org site to view a message stating that the FIRST choice will re-deploy on the following day at 12:00 noon ET".

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

You could just visit the profile page directly; no need to log in to Twitter. It should even automatically get new tweets.

https://twitter.com/FRCteams

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How did you apply the PDV?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

+1

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I Hope FC doesn't open again today... I don't want to have to get back to the house if for some reason it opens again in an hour. Things to do, places to go, people to buy things from...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

RE: AM PDV....

Login to your account as normal.
Create an order and go to the payment screen - the final view you get before you submit your order.
Look for the "Click here to apply a GIFT CERTIFICATE" link on that page - bottom left, below the Submit Order button.
Enter the PDV code in the boxes as 4 characters, then 5 characters, then 4 characters, and apply.

My recollection is that if your order is less than $450, you follow the same procedure, and the balance will still be available to you on subsequent orders.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

For some odd reason I feel the need to sign up for some health care....

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Travis is right; just do the PDV. It works.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Last year we got the PDV, because we knew what the drive train was going to be. This year AndyMark has a new one, so we decide against the PDV and get the new drive train. Mistake on our part?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Let you know in April?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Just tried to put the PDV in as a gift card, saying it's invalid. Put FRC1 in the first box, 4<team number> in the second box, and the last 4 digits in the last box?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

No. Log in to TIMS and get the full 13-character code, then type THAT in.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

You should get your PDV code from TIMS.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Weird. Could have sworn I signed up for PDV, but I don't see a 13 digit key. Just a pw for First choice, and a PDV for IFI & inventables...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

FRC Teams ‏@FRCTeams 38s
#FIRSTChoice will now open at 3 PM Eastern tomorrow, Sunday, 12/15/2013. More info to come in the blog.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

FRC Teams ‏@FRCTeams 59s
#FIRSTChoice will now open at 3 PM Eastern tomorrow, Sunday, 12/15/2013. More info to come in the blog.

FRC Teams ‏@FRCTeams 17s
We sincerely thank you all for your patience as we work through this issue.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Could you have not?

Like Don, I had a 13-character PDV code (and used it successfully).

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Looks like FIRST Choice is going to open at 3pm Eastern tomorrow - Sunday 12-15-2013, more to come in the blog. From the twitter feed.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Great. I am unavailable at 3 pm Sunday. sigh.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The main part was that it was still the C-base framing. We have tons of those peices and other gear boxes from years past. The PDV gave us a chance to get other items. With this year since it's something other than a C-base frame, we decided to get the KOP drive train for this year. I should have been more clear.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I believe when they offered the PDV option last year, they told us that the KOP was belt-driven

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog-09-07-12

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Neither am I. This is rather unfair for those who have arranged their schedule to fit the original date and time.

Rather frustrated.

- Mr. Van

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

All,

We at AndyMark are sorry that today's FIRST Choice parts ordering release did not go well. No orders for FIRST Choice have been placed.

We have contracted this service with a web hosting company, and we are working with them to get the site ready for tomorrow's (Sunday) 3pm Eastern time release.

We have been in close contact with FIRST today, and they are directing us to re-open tomorrow at 3pm. This will give us a chance to repair and reset the server files, and also gives teams a fair re-start to FIRST Choice.

We had 300 beta testers working hard to load up this site and kick the tires. The web hosting company was seeing a similar amount of traffic when the stoppage happened. Still, we at AndyMark are accountable for this and we will be working through the night to get it right for tomorrow's release.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Will this change in the opening time affect the cut off for the 3D printer lottery?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I too cannot make it at 3pm tomorrow, I wish they would just move it to latter in the week to allow time to arrange schedules.

Also, instead of the 1st come/1st served arrangement, why not take "pre-orders" in say October, this allows AM to order the correct amount of parts so they don't get stuck with a bunch of unwanted stuff.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Thank you, Andy

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yes: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=123162

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Thanks, Andy. Good fortune tomorrow.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

15 years of FIRST has taught me that one thing that we all need to have - flexibility! Thanks for the work AndyMark. We'll do our best to (not) crash the system tomorrow.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Because the FIRST choice items are donated, not bought. Therefor they have limited supply

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Well, it turns out I can be around at 3 after all.

Can you imagine the PANIC at AM and FIRST when the server crashed? I truly feel sorry for them, all of them. I have been in their shoes, frantically troubleshooting and working the problem, including Saturdays and Sundays.

The worst part of all this? Some very nice folks now have to work both through the night tonight, and Sunday too. My sincere thanks for that sacrifice. :)

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Note - we saw a few people reporting problems with the VEXpro PDV codes.
I started a separate discussion about these, here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...59#post1312559

I also want to remind everyone that there is no time limit on the VEXpro PDV code.

If you had a problem: we have time to make sure we make things right for you. We want to get those donated components in your hands.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience!
-John

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Anyone else still having issues? I tried to add an item to a cart and a message popped up and said that it failed and to re-load the page and try again. Page has been loading for about 5 minutes now with no end in sight.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

FRC Teams ‏@FRCTeams 11m
The #FIRSTChoice site is still under construction and will not be ready for traffic today.

FRC Teams ‏@FRCTeams 10m
We will post the new #FIRSTChoice opening time & date with at least 24 hours notice. We sincerely apologize for this massive inconvenience.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The relevant thread is over here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=123191