Bills Blog - Classmate announcement

[Ether]

I don't have the Classmate charger specs handy (perhaps someone does?) but I suspect it's not designed to provide the current required for a full size laptop.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by EricH

...and if we had any input.

That piece just cracks me up, this is ChiefDelphi after all. How could we not have input galore

I wonder if they are going to run the power from the same power that runs the SCC (the computer at each end of the field). Or if they are going to run another power source.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Ether

Whoa. I don't sense any rancor. Nobody's going nuts. It's a friendly discussion.

I'm getting grumpy in my old age

[Ether]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I'm getting grumpy in my old age

Old age? Yikes! I'll trade birthdays with you

[dbeckwith]

THANK YOU!!! That classmate is CRAP. During the competition last year the battery fell out of ours and we have to hold in with tape now, and it only has about 300 MB of hard drive space left. What a relief!

[PAR_WIG1350]

Just going to throw a wild idea out here:

----A device that can be attached to the outside of a classmate power supply that uses the inductive nature of the power supply to power another device. In other words, build an alternative output coil for the input coil already in the power supply (power supplies still use transformers, don't they?) to power other devices without needing to directly connect to the power outlet or the output from the power supply.

also, look for a really efficient PC because I can't imagine this delivering too much power, considering the loss that would likely occur through the power supply's 'shell'.

[2bkrul]

I know I'm late, but if you go back and lisen to the Senior Mentor Call for FRC/Control System/Driver’s Station & Beta Test Observations, they mention about NEW Classmates for 2011 with bigger screens, better battery, and a bigger hard drive.

Meeting Outline
http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...emCall2010.pdf

Recorded Call
http://www2.usfirst.org/ftpdoc/FRCControlSystem.mp3