Portable BASIC Stamp- or PIC-driven Dashboard Viewer...
 

I am thinking about building a small device with a touch screen LCD and a Dashboard cable on it for debugging robot stuff without hauling around a laptop. I am looking at the Dashboard specs, and I'm confused about something.

In the IFI specs, they have three bytes, control A, control B, and control C, which show up in all packets. The high nybble of control A and the two high bits of control C are "moding" bits which determine the type of packet. Here is what I have so far:

RC -> OI (legacy): control A, bit 4 = 0; control C, bit 7 = 0
RC -> OI (extended): control A, bit 4 = 1; control C, bit 7 = 0
RC -> OI (status): control A, bit 4 = 1; control C, bit 7 = 1
OI -> RC: ?????

That is where I am confused; they specify no way of finding out if a packet is from the OI to the RC. Logic would dictate that control A bit 4 = 0 and control C bit 7 = 1, but it didn't say that so I'm guessing it's wrong.

Once I have this, I will release diagrams. (For those who are drooling over it, the total cost will probably be about $50, most of which I'm willing to cover since the thought of programming a PIC with a touch-screen graphic LCD attached is just too good to pass up.)

Thanks,

Thomas Tuttle, Team 125 (NU-TRONS)

Re: Portable BASIC Stamp- or PIC-driven Dashboard Viewer...
 

Your best bet is to write a VB program to display packet data, and search for what it is. You may also need look in to the Checksum bytes.

You may end up needing to look for indirect evidence; like identical bytes. (in #2, byte4=byte6 and byte7=byte9)

Re: Portable BASIC Stamp- or PIC-driven Dashboard Viewer...
 

I think I figured it out... there is actually a jumper in/on the OI that selects which type of packet to return... then you just set that in the program... right?

Re: Portable BASIC Stamp- or PIC-driven Dashboard Viewer...
 

Right under the dashboard port. nothing in code. Nothin'. Zilch. Nada.