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News - AVC Course Preview | about 2 days ago

How about minimum distance from a barrel to the hoop?

News - AVC Course Preview | about 2 days ago

Living in San Diego, I can’t exactly drop by Sparkfun’s building to size up the course, so this video is much appreciated. However, I still feel I’m at a little bit of a disadvantage on some details. So, if someone can help me out, here are a few questions:

1. Any specs on the barrels, such as where I might find one of the same color to use for calibration with a color vision sensor?

2. Same on the color of the paint used on the hoop?

3. Any dimensions on the depth of the potholes (hard to tell from the video.)

Also, since it appears the ground vehicles have to start 5 at a time, what are the rules regarding interference from another vehicle? That is, if another bot swerves into mine, or rams it from behind, is that just my tough luck?

Wayne

p.s. my daughter and I had a blast showing our car at Maker Faire and it was great to see Sparkfun there, too.

News - SparkFun Gets a Subpoena | about 2 weeks ago

Yeah, you totally missed my point. You can buy Sparkfun products, such as breakout boards with the Flame logo (the kind of products implicated in this) from other online retailers, such as Pololu.com, too. You can also buy them on eBay. I’m sure this device wasn’t built solely out of Sparkfun parts, so the issue of who was asked to divulge customer info and who was not is still important.

My concern here is that DIY-related sellers and purchasers will be singled out as “troublemakers” much like the guy who got raided for having a chemistry set at home (http://blog.makezine.com/2008/08/11/home-science-under-attack/). So, the point needs to be made just because we build gadgets at home that does not make us “obvious” suspects in a crime.

News - SparkFun Gets a Subpoena | about 2 weeks ago

The question I would have asked the prosecutor before surrendering any information is this: Are all the other manufacturers of components found in this device also getting a summons? That is, if Energizer batteries were found inside, did Eveready have to cough up a list of all the people in Georgia that purchased batteries? If not, then why are Sparkfun components singled out as the root cause of evil.

Wayne

Product TOL-11219 | about 3 weeks ago

Sigh, yet another USB scope that’s windows only…

Product GPS-11058 | about 3 months ago

I think I’ve figured out what’s going on based on the clue I got reading this thread:

http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?t=18245

which indicated that the Venus chipset sends back more than a single ACK message in response to a binary command. Unless I missed something, the document on the binary commands doesn’t mention this. However, I modified my test code to read all responses after a command until a timeout command, and this is what I got:

Disable all NMEA messages

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 09 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 8 8B

Set Rate to 5 Hz

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 03 0E 05 00 0B
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 0E 8D

Enable WAAS

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 03 37 01 00 36
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 37 B4

Check WAAS Enable

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 01 38 38
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 38 BB
Rsp3: A0 A1 00 02 B3 01 B2

Enable GGA Messages Only

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 09 08 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 08 8B

System Restart

Cmd:  A0 A1 00 0F 01 01 07 D8 0B 0E 08 2E 03 09 C4 30 70 00 64 16
Rsp1: A0 A1 00 02 83 00 83
Rsp2: A0 A1 00 02 83 01 82

So, as the post I mentioned above explains, each valid ACK is preceded by an ACK for a command code of 00. In addition, the Check WAAS Enable command seems to send back three responses (perhaps this makes sense, but the binary manual seemed to suggest that the response message would send back only the status.)

I suspect that the erratic behavior I was seeing resulted from sending a additional commands before I’d waited for all the responses from the prior command. At least, the board seems to behave much more consistently when I do this.

Wayne

Product GPS-11058 | about 3 months ago

I’m having some weird problems with this board that I cannot explain, or eliminate. Specifically, when I set the unit to enable WAAS, output only GGA messages and report at 10 Hz, the unit sometimes fails to lock onto any satellites. Sometimes it may eventually start to output data after about 20-30 minutes but, at other times, it stays in a state where it cannot get a position lock even after several hours with an unrestricted view of the sky.

Giving the unit a factory reset command, followed by a power off cycle seems to put the unit back into an operational state. However, when I then try to switch back on the WAAS, GGA-only and 10Hz options, the unit will eventually start to show the same problems again.

I have now observed this same behavior in two different GPS modules using the Venus chip set, so a hardware problem is lower on my list than a software, or config issue. But, I’m not sure what tests to try next to isolate and diagnose the problem. has anyone else seen something like this?

Wayne

Product DEV-09530 | about 3 months ago

I am extremely frustrated with this board. I bought it some time ago, but only recently had the need to use it. If it had worked it would have really helped me solve an important problem. However, instead, I spent the entire evening trying to debug this thing. The short version is that my board must have an older software revision because, try as I might, I can’t get it to come up in logging mode and log data (yes, I even tried the tie RXI to ground and power up trick, with no luck.). It always power up in command mode. Then, it took me several house of fruitlessly trying to use a CONFIG.TXT file before I figure out that my version must not support this, either. But, even here I’m only guessing because, even after I hooked it up to a serial adapter, I can’t seem to find a way to put it back into logging mode, nor can I even find a command that will tell me what version of software my board is running (did the designer forget to add these most basic features to the software…?) Argh… I suppose my only option is to blindly update the software but, two things, I don’t have the required FTDI Basic board. Geez, this just keeps getting better and better.

News - A Good Ol' Fashioned Capt… | about 3 months ago

All our parts are packed by Vikings to assure freshness.

News - A Good Ol' Fashioned Capt… | about 3 months ago

After the collapse of wall street, Erik found that his pillaging and plundering skills were not as sought after as they once were.