Theft hits Portland FRC Team 1432

[ArtemusMaximus]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

A USB key of "known good" software taped to the driver station.

Github, Dropbox, Google Drive... none of them will help if you drop your laptop half-way through re-programming your robot, while you're standing in the queueing line.

With a flash drive and a helpful alliance partner, you at least stand a chance to set things right.

Jason

The thing is it's not like it's "either, or". Any decent DRP (disaster recovery program) involves several types of backup. At the very minimum, back up your code every day of coding to USB or better yet to 2 or more USBs and give to different people.

[Ozuru]

We had this exact issue last year -- it was stored in a semi-public area during the school day and was swiped. The code is now backed up daily. If you're using Java I'm sure I could help you guys rebuild your code. PM me.

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by jojoguy10

As the main programming mentor, I've been wanting to learn how to use GitHub, but, I've heard, with Labview, it's really difficult.

If anyone else is using GitHub and Labview together, I would love to pick your brain (so to speak)!

GitHub lets you store and manage any kind of files -- text, binaries, pictures, whatever. If the files are plain text then you can view diffs and track changes between files a little more clearly, but it still works without.

Originally Posted by ArtemusMaximus

The thing is it's not like it's "either, or". Any decent DRP (disaster recovery program) involves several types of backup. At the very minimum, back up your code every day of coding to USB or better yet to 2 or more USBs and give to different people.

Just like you don't show up to a competition with only one battery, and you probably bring spares of key parts like motors, breakers, etc. Always have several ways you can access your code in case something happens to your original.

I was a design judge for FLL last November and one team showed up with a laptop expecting to just pull down their presentation from their Google Drive. I let them squirm and panic for a minute and then asked "So boys.. what did you learn?" Their sheepish answer was "we should have downloaded a copy onto this laptop before we came in". Only then did I give them the wifi password to the school network.