Subject:
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Re: mars expansion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 28 Dec 1998 20:18:34 GMT
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Original-From:
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John A. Tamplin <jat@traveller.SPAMLESScom>
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Viewed:
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1183 times
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On Mon, 28 Dec 1998, Walter Barnum wrote:
> Has anyone heard what will be included in the mars expansion pack? Also,
> what is the general consensus on the worth of the first two expansion
> packs? Lastly, are there any rumors (or facts) about a second revision of
> the RCX with more inputs and outputs?
No idea about the Mars Rover pack other than what is on their webpage.
I have the RoboSports expansion, and it contains a motor, a couple of
balls and pucks, two pairs of wheels, several gears, and various standard
building parts. At $50, I would say it is about the cost of buying all
the parts separately. The software is probably useful for a child, but
if you aren't planning on using the Windoze software it won't be useful
to you.
You could certainly have more motor outputs without major changes to the
RCX hardware, since the motor controllers live in external address space.
However, 4 of the 8 analog inputs into the H8 are full (3 sensor inputs and
the battery voltage), and it is a little awkward to use both groups of the
analog inputs (in auto-scan mode, it can only cycle through 4 of them at a
time). Two of the other possible analog inputs are used for the view and
program buttons, so the most you could add (and there might be other things
on the other bits I haven't figured out yet) would be 2 more analog inputs.
There are virtually no digital inputs available, so probably any digital
communication would have to come in through the serial port (muxed somehow
with the IR transceiver) or be in external address space.
You could certainly do a major redesign and do arbitrary things, but a big
problem is the physical space for the connectors. Another issue might be
power draw.
John A. Tamplin Traveller Information Services
jat@Traveller.COM 2104 West Ferry Way
256/705-7007 - FAX 256/705-7100 Huntsville, AL 35801
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | mars expansion
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| Has anyone heard what will be included in the mars expansion pack? Also, what is the general consensus on the worth of the first two expansion packs? Lastly, are there any rumors (or facts) about a second revision of the RCX with more inputs and (...) (26 years ago, 28-Dec-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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