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Programming woes with TAB sumobot — Parallax Forums

Programming woes with TAB sumobot

TazmanTazman Posts: 6
edited 2011-01-03 09:33 in Robotics
Hi all,

we recently received a second TAB sumobot and had great fun building it as a family. It is a great startup bot to build with 6 year olds. Though it is working fine with the supplied remote control and pre-programmed behaviors, we have had ZERO success trying to program the onboard BS2. We tried:
1. installing the supplied IDE in an old XP laptop and using the built-in serial port. We used a straight-through serial cable here.
2. using the most recent parallax IDE in a mac with a USB-to-serial adapter cable. We use this regularly to program a more advanced Sumovore with BS2 (from Solarbotics)
3. using the above USB-serial cable on a Netbook running Win7 and latest parallax IDE.
When I attempted to identify the onboard BS2, I get a YES for loopback and echo. But device type and version come out blank :-(

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-12-27 11:43
    You have 2 identical Sumobots ? If one works and one doesn't, you may already have your answer. Aren't those the soldered-in component versions of the BS2?

    I have some of the TAB "build your own robots" where there is an empty socket for a BS2-IC. The pre-programmed behaviors are in hardware in that robot, perhaps similar to yours. That is, the remote and behaviors may work even if the BS2 doesn't.
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2010-12-27 11:43
    Check power. Also try your cable on the other bs2s to make sure it works. Swap the bs2 to a working bot and see what you get there.
  • TazmanTazman Posts: 6
    edited 2010-12-27 13:35
    erco wrote: »
    You have 2 identical Sumobots ? If one works and one doesn't, you may already have your answer. Aren't those the soldered-in component versions of the BS2?

    Sorry for not clarifying. I am not able to program either of them. We have had one for about three years and I never got around to programming it (or even trying). When we got the second one few months ago, I thought it might be worth it to try to program the bots and that's when I noticed that I am not able to program them.
  • TazmanTazman Posts: 6
    edited 2010-12-27 13:41
    Franklin wrote: »
    Check power. Also try your cable on the other bs2s to make sure it works. Swap the bs2 to a working bot and see what you get there.

    The cables do work on the third sumobot we have. The third one has a removable BS2 module and it is a completely different beast (Sumovore by Solarbotics). The issues I am experiencing are with the two TAB sumobots. As mentioned in another reply above, the TAB sumobots have soldered-in BS2 chips and they are not removal.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2010-12-28 11:02
    The TAB Sumbot has a PIC controlling the motors and built in behaviors. The Basic Stamp runs user programs and directs the PIC what to do. I would guess it is possible that the BS2 failed which the PIC still worked which would result in this sort of symptom.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-12-28 11:05
    Tazman wrote: »
    We tried:
    1. installing the supplied IDE in an old XP laptop and using the built-in serial port. We used a straight-through serial cable here.

    Was that the original DOS PBasic editor you tried? That's almost as old as your Sumobot, it may work...
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2010-12-31 00:34
    A BS2 on DOS? I never heard of that. You can try programming the BS2 to test it, even if it's soldered in. But... someone did a boo-boo on the second one. Good practice is to always use a socket with the BS2 module.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2010-12-31 09:02
    @Humanoido:

    The year was 1995. The BS2 was new. The only option was DOS, Win95 was barely in its infancy. START IT UP!

    I started programming on an old monochrome Compaq LTE286 laptop. AND LIKED IT FINE!
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-01 08:05
    erco wrote: »
    @Humanoido: The year was 1995. The BS2 was new. The only option was DOS, Win95 was barely in its infancy. START IT UP! I started programming on an old monochrome Compaq LTE286 laptop. AND LIKED IT FINE!
    I know the Stamp 1 was "stuck on DOS" for some time but didn't realize the BS2 was there also. Good to know history and that we've moved past DOS with all Stamp versions.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-01-01 08:44
    Ain't nuttin' wrong wit' DOS-based programs. DOS is more stable than many versions of Windows!
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2011-01-03 09:22
    erco wrote: »
    DOS is more stable than many versions of Windows!

    Yeah... but it's a pain to browse the web with it! :-) (Lynx anyone?)

    Bill
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-01-03 09:33
    Ain't it ironic that many movies still use a DOS-like green screen cursor to overlay incoming 300-baud text to give it a high-tech feeling to certain scenes?
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