Subject:
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Re: RCX --> miniBoard(was: lack of interest in basic stamp and basicx)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Wed, 24 Nov 1999 03:40:28 GMT
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Original-From:
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dave madden <[dhm@mersenne.com]stopspam[]>
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Viewed:
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875 times
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Getting pretty far off-topic, methinks, but...
=>From: rmemory@zinc.com
=>...
=>You all may think that I'm nuts, but I've kinda had a pipe dream for a while
=>about putting a basic 32 bit CPU in the RCX enclosure. Something like a
=>Motorola 68k or ColdFire.
=>[...]
=>So an even bigger problem is once I get a successful design on a breadboard
=>with schematics and all, where can I go to find a company or person who can
=>actually build a pc board for fairly cheap??
I used to be pretty handy with a soldering iron, but I think the days
of people committing the types of hacks you describe are over. You
just can't compete with the pick-n-place robots and wave solderers,
and all the good parts only come in tiny packages that you can hardly
make out the leads, let alone solder them without melting the chip.
On the other hand, there are plenty of ready-built MCUs for embedded
applications, some of which you may be able to adapt. I've been
looking at Cell Computing's (http://www.cellcomputing.com) products
for a while, thinking of building a radio-networked machine-in-a-backpack
with audio & video inputs, and one of those virtual monitors. The
Mighty Mite fits in a 3.5"-drive footprint, which is only a little
bigger than the RCX case. I personally have an old 5x7cm
Z80-compatible board (with most of the Zilog peripherals incorporated)
that would easily fit in the RCX housing, which would kick the snot
out of the RCX's processor, but could probably only be run on
batteries for a few seconds :-) Still, I'm sure more than a few
people want tiny, moderately-powerful, general-purpose computers, and
some of those people are probably reading this list.
I'd love to see an RCX-form-factor, LEGO(r)-compatible brick with more
inputs, more outputs, no LCD (to make space for the connectors), and a
flashable ROM. Except that I wouldn't have time to play with it any
more than I do with the RCX. Oh well. (I'd probably buy it anyway,
though!)
d.
PS: If you insist on doing it yourself, I once found a company that
provided a freeware PCB layout program and that would make precision
dual-sided PCBs to your spec quickly, and for a reasonable price. So
if you're still young enough to see & solder all the leads on the
SO-??? packages, that's one way to go. I'll look up the info if
there's any interest.
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