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

[ThomasTuttle]

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)