Old 2009 Kwikbyte DS

[rKramer]

Hey everyone!
My team recently moved everything to a new location, and during the move we found three of those old blue Kwikbyte driver stations from 2009. We were ready to send them off to the recycling plant but instead figured there might be a random use for them.

Has anyone tinkered with these before? I read a dead topic from a few years ago where someone was trying this but nobody really had much information back then I guess.

All I know right now is that it is based off of a Kwikbyte KB9260 Single Board Computer (http://kwikbyte.com/KB9260.html) running some obscure Linux distro, and that FRC firmware can be loaded via a USB drive. I'd also assume you could use a bootloader with the serial port, but I'm not sure if it's REALLY a serial port or not.

This could be a really cool project to tinker with, but I can tell it's going to take quite a bit of research, time, and good old trial & error.

So if anyone has any suggestions or information, let us know! If I manage to gain full control of the little boxes, I'll chain all three together or something fancy like that.

Addendum: We never actually found the wall-warts with these (They must have sprouted legs), so I checked the 2009 Control System PDF (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...s-Rev-0-5a.pdf) and found that it takes in anywhere around 12VDC, and up to 900mA. My other project happens to be a home-made lab power supply using an old PC PSU, which conveniently supplies 12VDC! (along with 5 and 3.3 of course)
I haven't tested it yet, but I'm assuming it should work as long as it doesn't overcurrent the DS.
So if anyone has this problem, I hope I helped!

[DonRotolo]

Overcurrent is not a problem, all circuits draw only what their impedance dictates.

A PC power supply is a special kind of switching supply: it requires a certain load on the main power output to regulate properly. Most likely that is the 5 V output, so be aware.

[rKramer]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

A PC power supply is a special kind of switching supply: it requires a certain load on the main power output to regulate properly. Most likely that is the 5 V output, so be aware.

Thanks for the reply.
That is true, however the power supply I used is from 2001 (still works fine, barely ever used it), and I was under the impression that those old ones didn't require a load. If I'm wrong, I suppose I could stick a resistor between 5v and common to solve that, right?

Also, I still haven't figured anything else regarding the DS itself, yet. Gonna do some more research tomorrow.