New Product Input: BASIC Stamp Take-Home Project Board
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Posts: 46,084
Hello,
Parallax seeks your input on a new product based on educational requests.
We're giving away surprises and marketing plans by mentioning it on this
list, but we want it to be something you can use.
This new product would be primarily intended for educators and students
(hobbyists and engineers could buy it also). This product idea spawned from
educators who send our Rev D. BASIC Stamps home with their students as "take
home projects". The Rev. D is inexpensive ($34) and has a prototype area,
though it uses only DOS for programming and has limited memory.
The concept is a "BOE/BS2 combination" built as a single unit, stripped of
anything but the necessities to reduce retail cost. The BS2 would be surface
mounted onto the PCB. Overall dimensions would be about 60% the size of a
BOE, but maybe it could be made to fit on our Bot chassis (using the
interior four mounting holes). DB-9 included.
The marketing intent is to make this inexpensive enough ($49-59) to be a
take-home project board for students. Their lighting controllers,
temperature monitoring devices, smart home controllers, etc. could be put to
permanent use outside the classroom. The Take-Home Board would be sold in
10-packs to teachers (and of course qty 1s to anybody). To achieve this goal
we obviously must have high quantities and define the product correctly from
the start.
Therefore I seek your input:
(a) Like the concept?
(b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference.
(c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both?
(d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less expensive
power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board.
(e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and you).
(f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis?
Obviously, making the features collide with the right cost is a critical
part of making the product inexpensive enough to be considered "take home".
Please direct your responses back to me at kgracey@p.... Thank
you for being a Parallax customer.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
Control it with a BASIC Stamp: www.parallaxinc.com
BASIC Stamps for education: www.stampsinclass.com
Parallax seeks your input on a new product based on educational requests.
We're giving away surprises and marketing plans by mentioning it on this
list, but we want it to be something you can use.
This new product would be primarily intended for educators and students
(hobbyists and engineers could buy it also). This product idea spawned from
educators who send our Rev D. BASIC Stamps home with their students as "take
home projects". The Rev. D is inexpensive ($34) and has a prototype area,
though it uses only DOS for programming and has limited memory.
The concept is a "BOE/BS2 combination" built as a single unit, stripped of
anything but the necessities to reduce retail cost. The BS2 would be surface
mounted onto the PCB. Overall dimensions would be about 60% the size of a
BOE, but maybe it could be made to fit on our Bot chassis (using the
interior four mounting holes). DB-9 included.
The marketing intent is to make this inexpensive enough ($49-59) to be a
take-home project board for students. Their lighting controllers,
temperature monitoring devices, smart home controllers, etc. could be put to
permanent use outside the classroom. The Take-Home Board would be sold in
10-packs to teachers (and of course qty 1s to anybody). To achieve this goal
we obviously must have high quantities and define the product correctly from
the start.
Therefore I seek your input:
(a) Like the concept?
(b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference.
(c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both?
(d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less expensive
power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board.
(e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and you).
(f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis?
Obviously, making the features collide with the right cost is a critical
part of making the product inexpensive enough to be considered "take home".
Please direct your responses back to me at kgracey@p.... Thank
you for being a Parallax customer.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
Control it with a BASIC Stamp: www.parallaxinc.com
BASIC Stamps for education: www.stampsinclass.com
Comments
I would have female plug pins like you do on the BOE, marked appropriately,
and use the breadboard. They can plug in servos using hookup wire easily
enough. Use a 9 volt battery clip of some sort, maybe the little wire things
instead of the nice metal clips you do use, unless those are inexpensive.
Mounting the chip parts on the board is interesting.But does it save over
the 24 pin IC socket that much?
Regards,
Earl
Original Message
From: Ken Gracey [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=bpejysTgZb0lDGoVNOSFdplvHvtK0O6f6zGpuOpV79BbBn4ft13p3yZkhtliNdcJozFA-crmf6o9b2LicHvu4Q]kgracey@p...[/url
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 4:03 PM
To: stampsinclass@yahoogroups.com; basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] New Product Input: BASIC Stamp Take-Home Project
Board
Hello,
Parallax seeks your input on a new product based on educational requests.
We're giving away surprises and marketing plans by mentioning it on this
list, but we want it to be something you can use.
This new product would be primarily intended for educators and students
(hobbyists and engineers could buy it also). This product idea spawned from
educators who send our Rev D. BASIC Stamps home with their students as "take
home projects". The Rev. D is inexpensive ($34) and has a prototype area,
though it uses only DOS for programming and has limited memory.
The concept is a "BOE/BS2 combination" built as a single unit, stripped of
anything but the necessities to reduce retail cost. The BS2 would be surface
mounted onto the PCB. Overall dimensions would be about 60% the size of a
BOE, but maybe it could be made to fit on our Bot chassis (using the
interior four mounting holes). DB-9 included.
The marketing intent is to make this inexpensive enough ($49-59) to be a
take-home project board for students. Their lighting controllers,
temperature monitoring devices, smart home controllers, etc. could be put to
permanent use outside the classroom. The Take-Home Board would be sold in
10-packs to teachers (and of course qty 1s to anybody). To achieve this goal
we obviously must have high quantities and define the product correctly from
the start.
Therefore I seek your input:
(a) Like the concept?
(b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference.
(c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both?
(d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less expensive
power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board.
(e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and you).
(f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis?
Obviously, making the features collide with the right cost is a critical
part of making the product inexpensive enough to be considered "take home".
Please direct your responses back to me at kgracey@p.... Thank
you for being a Parallax customer.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
Control it with a BASIC Stamp: www.parallaxinc.com
BASIC Stamps for education: www.stampsinclass.com
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Original Message
From: "Ken Gracey" <kgracey@p...>
To: <stampsinclass@yahoogroups.com>; <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 2:03 PM
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] New Product Input: BASIC Stamp Take-Home Project
Board
> Therefore I seek your input:
>
> (a) Like the concept?
Good idea
> (b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference.
I like options so put in pads for the 2.1mm jack and a dual pin header
for a 9v battery.
> (c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both?
Depends if you plan on a little changing during the building, both would
be good to have available, again options
> (d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less
expensive
> power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board.
Put in traces to a header, the sip parts could be put on a small
daughter board if your going to use a servo.
> (e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and
you).
I know this is redundent, traces to a header, I put in the header and
plug in my AppMod and go, an option.
> (f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis?
Yes, and maybe 2 or 3 alternates would allow the mounting to be made in a
variety of locations.
I guess I am leaning toward the board since several traces could be used
by several "projects" decreasing the number
of traces but giving maximum use of the board space. I could buy three
boards, put a different circuit on each, tie them
together and have a lot or a little control what ever I need.
> Obviously, making the features collide with the right cost is a critical
> part of making the product inexpensive enough to be considered "take
home".
> Please direct your responses back to me at kgracey@p.... Thank
> you for being a Parallax customer.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
> Control it with a BASIC Stamp: www.parallaxinc.com
> BASIC Stamps for education: www.stampsinclass.com
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
Here is my input about your idea;
(a) Like the concept? Yes
(b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference. 9V battery, most
houses with kids already have to
many things to plug into the wall for their power and for most projects a 9V
battery is enough.
(c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both? breadboard, so
they can change their project to
something different for future project ideas.
(d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less expensive
power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board. No, they could learn
how to interface servos as BOE rev.
A experimenters had to.
(e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and you). No,
because it would be for take home
projects where AppMod's should not be necessary.
(f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis? Yes, so they can learn how
robotics designs started and where it is
going.
Things to remove from board;
2.1mm jack
servo headers
AppMod header.
Things to change on board;
rotate 9V battery clip 90 degrees to about the same location as 2.1mm jack
rotate breadboard area 90 degrees, and add more space for larger projects
move the regulator to the space now used by the servo headers
add 2 to 4 switches with headers for use with projects.
Leave BS2-IC socket, so if BS2-IC fails or gets damaged so it can be replaced
easily, and keep the board the same
size as it is now.
Thank You !!
Dale Fleischmann
Ken Gracey wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Parallax seeks your input on a new product based on educational requests.
> We're giving away surprises and marketing plans by mentioning it on this
> list, but we want it to be something you can use.
>
> This new product would be primarily intended for educators and students
> (hobbyists and engineers could buy it also). This product idea spawned from
> educators who send our Rev D. BASIC Stamps home with their students as "take
> home projects". The Rev. D is inexpensive ($34) and has a prototype area,
> though it uses only DOS for programming and has limited memory.
>
> The concept is a "BOE/BS2 combination" built as a single unit, stripped of
> anything but the necessities to reduce retail cost. The BS2 would be surface
> mounted onto the PCB. Overall dimensions would be about 60% the size of a
> BOE, but maybe it could be made to fit on our Bot chassis (using the
> interior four mounting holes). DB-9 included.
>
> The marketing intent is to make this inexpensive enough ($49-59) to be a
> take-home project board for students. Their lighting controllers,
> temperature monitoring devices, smart home controllers, etc. could be put to
> permanent use outside the classroom. The Take-Home Board would be sold in
> 10-packs to teachers (and of course qty 1s to anybody). To achieve this goal
> we obviously must have high quantities and define the product correctly from
> the start.
>
> Therefore I seek your input:
>
> (a) Like the concept?
> (b) Prefer a 9V battery clip or 2.1 mm jack? Big difference.
> (c) Prefer one or the other: breadboard or through-hole? Both?
> (d) Servo headers a necessity? If not, we can probably use a less expensive
> power supply and leave several SIP parts off the board.
> (e) AppMod header? These little parts are quite expensive for us (and you).
> (f) Desire to mount this on a robot chassis?
>
> Obviously, making the features collide with the right cost is a critical
> part of making the product inexpensive enough to be considered "take home".
> Please direct your responses back to me at kgracey@p.... Thank
> you for being a Parallax customer.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
> Control it with a BASIC Stamp: www.parallaxinc.com
> BASIC Stamps for education: www.stampsinclass.com
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body
of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]