Bills Blog - Classmate announcement

[JohnBoucher]

From Bills Blog....

• AC power at drivers station.
• Use any PC instead of classmate

One character at a time


Good Afternoon Teams,

I’m typing slowly with my left hand because I had carpal tunnel surgery yesterday, but the show must go on (and this is much more interesting than recuperating at home).

News from the GDC who are writing the Game Manual right now:

• The 2011 game field will have powered AC adapters for the Classmate in each driver station. The adapter may only be used to power the Classmate and the power outlet dedicated to the AC adapter may not be used for any other purpose.
• Teams will not be restricted to the Classmate as their driver station in 2011 assuming that certain criteria are met and all relevant rules are followed. More details on this rule will be available in the Game Manual when it is released.
• The 2011 Driver Station software will support Windows 7 and XP. Other operating systems have not been tested.

FRC is launching the Beta version of a Virtual Technical Advisor (VTA) system this week. Everyone is invited to visit https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/L...ual_login.aspx where teams may request help and adults with technical skills can offer assistance. The system will match teams with technical advisors who are then encouraged to communicate through whatever means best suits them (skype, email, live chat, etc.).

The Chairman’s Award, Woodie Flowers Award, and Website Award submission systems open in STIMS tomorrow Thursday, November 11th and close Thursday, February 17th. The FIRST Dean’s List Award submission system, originally scheduled to open tomorrow, will be delayed until the award criteria for 2011 is finalized. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

New this year, Team Main and Alternate Contacts will be able to see in TIMS when the student submitters have submitted awards. (The Main and Alternate Contacts will not be able to see the award submission itself, just that it is complete.) If your team has not yet assigned student award submitters, now is a good time to take care of that.

My congratulations to team 3132 Thunder Down Under who have been accepted into the TEDx Youth @ Sydney ideas conference where they will spread the word about FIRST. You can see their submission video here.

My congratulations and best wishes to Tony and Samantha Norman who were married this past weekend. Tony has been a supporter and contributor to FRC for many years.

Please note that AMEX/Take Part voting for FIRST officially closes at 11:59pm ET on Sunday, November 21st. Get your votes in.

59 days to Kickoff
See you then!