[Robotgroup] Basic Stamp SIG

[Doug Emes]

> From: Vern Graner <vern at txis.com>
> Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Please remember to RSVP through MEETUP.COM!
> Def Egge wrote:
>> What SHOULD those limits be, given the size of the venue?
>
> Another "limit" to consider is how many laptops / basic stamp boards we
> have available. I think we now have twelve Basic Stamp boards but TRG is
> not supplying the laptop to do the programming.. that would be member
> provided for now.

I found that during our DPRG competition, I needed to make an "emergency"
adjustment to my boe-bot code.  Having my code on a USB stick, it was simple
to plop it on one of the competitor's laptops that was running a bot using the
homework stamp board.

Most of the time spent in the Parallax "what's a microcontroller" is time spent
on the proto board area, you might find having an old fashioned db-9 serial
switcher would let multiple folks send down the code to their respective boards.

The first session or two its pretty neat to see the software confirm hookup of
the board, and what the debug screens, but once you start interacting with
the bling-bling of motors and leds, well, theres the feedback right there =).