Buying new RC - CompactRIO

[Daiane]

Hello,

I would like to know if i can buy the new rc 2009 before the season?

I want to buy it in order to learn more of its functioning and to make test with robot.

so where can i buy? Is there any site?

Thanks!
Bye

[EricH]

The best thing to do is to pay FIRST as soon as possible. They are planning to ship the units as teams pay their registration fees. The FIRST version is not available anywhere else, though some components are.

As for learning the language, there are plenty of tutorials linked to on CD, and you can always get an NXT set and play with that.

[Daiane]

let me see if I understood...

Are you saying that FIRST will send the new RC as soon as we pay the registration?

Thanks

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Daiane

let me see if I understood...

Are you saying that FIRST will send the new RC as soon as we pay the registration?

Thanks

Yes. See http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2008...ol-system.html for more details. There will be a link to the original announcement near the bottom of the page.

[Daiane]

Ok, Thanks for your help.

I hope that is possible for the Brazil too!

[Roger]

Are you saying that FIRST will send the new RC as soon as we pay the registration?

Not quite. At a New Control System seminar I went to this past weekend, they were saying towards the end of November it will be shipping. Mind you, they were one or two degrees separation from the source, but that is probably the closest you'll get to an answer. It may be sooner, or maybe the package will be incomplete -- there are still things in production. (They had to take some of the components from WPI to ship to the Beta-testers, that's how tight supplies are.)

EricH is correct, though: You won't get anything if you aren't registered.

The programming preview was great, by the way. LabView (graphical programming, like EasyC was) or C/C++ (text programming, like MP-Lab). Either one has it's ups and downs, but everyone gets both in multiple copies, so it'll be a tough choice. (The PC vs Mac debate.) The good thing is you can use both (not together, though).

Libraries for everything, no fussing with obscure details to get sensors to work. And a real instruction book! I am actually looking forward to a good programming game at Kickoff.

I want to thank the WPI crew for working to make this all possible.

[marccenter]

BTW, where was the workshop offered? Will the workshop materials be posted for access (on the web)? This is the first time I have heard of a workshop tailored for FIRST and would love to get my hands on the material!

[Roger]

It was an FRC Mentor-only seminar in Wilmington Mass. I don't know how it was set up, but it was limited in size because they only had so many LabView computers set up, and because it was at a secure facility they probably didn't want non-adults. There was also Mentor team-building exercises.

Believe me, we all wanted the materials they showed us! The WPI C/C++ guru was still working on the manual so he didn't want to pass it out. It'll probably be on the WPI website "Real Soon Now". From the pages I saw (and how fearful he was to make sure it was free of errors), I'm sure it'll be a good read.

To give a taste of how easy the C/C++ part was, he showed us a complete 30~40 line program that had a simple autonomous mode plus a tele-op mode. It read similar to the old EasyC style of calling functions. All the tough stuff was hidden in the WPI libraries. And everything is open sourced code.

Sorry, I got caught up in the C/C++ side I forgot the LabView stuff. They did pass out an exercise book, but it was generic and not FRC.