Hi Jason
ok i'll try to tackle these, i'm more of a software guy too.
you hardware gurus feel free to jump in anytime if i f^&k this up!
;'>
--- In
ComputerVoltageSources@yahoogroups.com, Jason Proctor
<jason@...> wrote:
>
> i'm not really up on what's going on with the concept, having caught
> the beginning of this thread on sdiy and then lost it until a day or
> two ago when i learned it had moved here. i have what may be regarded
> as a few dumb questions.
i suggest that it's worth wading through the message traffic on this
site to get the big picture. On a project this complex, consensus is
pretty hard won and there are some folks working on this with a deep
pool of hands-on expertise. There's a lot of widely applicable info in
those posts
>
> - does it have to be rs232 for the computer interface?
>
> i've not seen a serial interface other than usb or firewire on a Mac
> in living memory, and i'd be surprised if it survives on PCs for much
> longer. however, MIDI's going to be around for a while yet, and
> presumably USB for a while longer. can we have one of those instead?
>
i believe we are constrained by the design of the BasicAtomPro
architecture- which is RS232. So if you are living in MACland, a USB
to RS232 converter and some sort of PC emulation will probably be
required. Look for some of Mike Firman's posts. He has some experience
with MBASIC on a MAC.
Please keep in mind that the realm of this kind of gadget is
really neither PC or MAC.... it's PIC...basicstamps..... the little
'computer-on-a-chip' gadgets that operate the radial-saw elbow of
those robots you see on Robot Wars! RS232 is still very much alive in
that world.
I find most of my best hints and tips in the hobbyist robot sites
> - larry's PSIM layouts look pretty good. are all 8 inputs etc that
> people are talking about necessary or even supportable by the
> hardware platform?
>
8 ins and outs are supported by Grants basic PCB design. But this is a
DIY project so you can always 'roll-your-own' and implement fewer
I/O's if you don't need them.
> as a software tweak and hardware klutz i'm kinda looking forward to a
> module i can tweak...
>
it's nice to have the power to implement a complex function with
something OTHER than just opamps in your toolkit eh?
Willkommen and have fun!
-doc