**FIRST EMAIL**/2007 FRC Manual Decryption and Bill of Materials Information

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:

2007 FRC Manual Decryption Information

The 2007 manual will be available to teams on our website in the form of '.pdf' files at 5 PM EST today, January 3, 2007. Please note six (6) sections of the manual (Introduction, Arena, Game, Robot, Tournament, and Kit of Parts) as well as the Kit of Parts (KOP) Checklist are encrypted. Instructions for decrypting these files are given below.

Tip!We recommend you get a binder with tabs as there are a total of eleven sections!

To accommodate timely distribution of the encrypted portions of the manual, here is the plan:

The decryption password, which will allow you to open these files, will be announced at the end of the Kickoff on Saturday, January 6, 2007.

**IMPORTANT** The files will not be readable until the decryption password is released at Kickoff on Saturday.

The non-encrypted versions will be posted at 12:00 noon on Saturday January 6th, however, teams are encouraged to download the encrypted sections ahead of time to help alleviate downloading delays on the 6th.

There is no difference in the content of the encrypted and non-encrypted versions.

Individuals traveling to a Kickoff site who wish to have a manual to read for their ride home are encouraged to bring a portable computer with these files saved on the hard-drive, Acrobat Reader installed. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 7 or higher to decrypt these files. If you do not have it, you may download it for free at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING (and TESTING) ENCRYPTED MANUAL:

In order to be sure that you have the capability to decrypt the files at the appropriate time, a test file is currently posted on the FIRST website.

The method used to encrypt these files is secure. It is called 128-bit RC4 encoding, and is a current standard considered by the US Government as completely secure for short (weeks) periods of time. Please go to:

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=3828

You may download this file now and decrypt it with the following case-sensitive password: 2007DecryptTest

Acrobat will prompt you for the password when you try to open the file.

If you get to see the message "Congratulations! You have successfully decrypted the test file", then you have successfully decrypted the file and have everything you need for Saturday.

Bill of Materials

This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal. The Game Design Committee feels
that an advance Bill of Materials (BOM) list might be misleading and cause some teams to buy more materials than they will likely use.

Please wait for a full set of field drawings and their lower cost equivalents to be released immediately following Kickoff. Knowing the nature of this year's challenge, you can more logically decide what to buy and build.

See you at Kickoff!

Go Teams!