Waysmall compared to known quantities...

[Arp]

I finally obtained a Waysmall 400 st-bt from Gumstix.com. :)
I am happy to note that its name is quite appropriate.

Here is a picture compared to a Maxtor hard disk,
a Swiss assortment of gadgets, and a smallish mobile phone.

The Gumstix "basix" 400-megahertz CPU board, st-uart baseboard and plastic box (sans Bluetooth antenna) together weigh 32 grams.

I think this will fly. :)

[TimAuton]

I wanted to see how big the bluetooth antenna was, so I broke into you house and took another picture. Hope you don't mind.

:eek:

OK, I'm kidding, we just have the same taste in toys and I couldn't resist re-creating your photo :D

[Myron]

ARP,

Got a Link to the gumstix board?

Myron

[danstrider]

www.gumstix.com

[Arp]

I wanted to see how big the bluetooth antenna was, so I broke into you house and took another picture. Hope you don't mind.

:eek:
Oh, not at all -- and thanks for equipping that swiss knife with a keyring. :D

OK, I'm kidding, we just have the same taste in toys and I couldn't resist re-creating your photo :D
A bit unlikely coincidence, but that much sillier. :)

Update: after a bit of trouble with finding a suitable RS-MMC card (dared to consider only brands which other people have seen work)... my Gumstix is nearly ready for testing. Currently soldering a serial cable, then ready to boot.

[Arp]

Well, now I've found time to actually boot it -- and likewise encounter first oddities. :)

1) Obtained a TracoPower DC/DC converter (9...18 to 5 volts, 15 watts). Hopefully enough to feed the Gumstix, GPS module, servo controller and plentiful servos).

2) Did away with the original power adapter, attached the power cord to my DC/DC converter. Measured for added certainty... outputs nice and stable 5.07 volts.

3) Assembled a null-modem cable to access the Gumstix console port (found nice connector drawings from their Wiki).

4) Plugged cables where they need to be plugged (console is initially set to centermost serial port). Booted.

5) Ran "minicom -s" as root on my Linux laptop, configured Minicom to the correct port (ttyS0 in my case) and correct speed/parity settings (115200, n, 8, 1).

6) Ran minicom as root without parameters, powered on Gumstix... watched it boot... logged in (default password for "root" is "gumstix"). Halted Gumstix, disconnected, powered down... rebooted laptop to Windows.

7) Wondered why Hyperterm shows it booting, yet fails to convey any keystrokes from my side to Gumstix. Failed figuring it out, decided to get adjusted to Minicom instead (besides, I need to do other things under Linux, so continuing to rely on Hyperterm would have been an obstacle anyway).

[TimAuton]

Woohoo! It's arrived Gumstix fans: the Robostix board is now available. Basically an AVR board which can run stand-alone, or connect to the Gumstix for all the computing oomph you could ever need for a UAV. 6 PWM (ie servo) outputs, 8 ADC inputs, a whole bunch of GPIO ports plus serial ports and the other bits you need.

That's serious computing and sensing power in a 3"x1"x0.5" package weighing under 1oz (that's for the Gumstix and Robostix together).

Gentlemen, start your credit cards!

:D

www.gumstix.com

[Arp]

Thanks for telling! :)

It appears likely that I will soon consider obtaining a Robostix. I am especially happy since it seems that Robostix *does* connect to any CPU board (not only Connex).

At current moment however, since vacation is near, and my little UAV project needs to go forward with software (compiling the control program, installing PPPD, mounting the Gumstix onboard, starting to record realistic GPS tracks for verifying behaviour without handing over control)... I may currently still opt to use my Pontech servo controller, and transition to Robostix later.

Update:

I have now managed to equip my laptop with necessary tools, built the toolchain, built a new filesystem image... but I still haven't upgraded my Gumstix. First I need to write down some details about the current configuration (in case I screw something up, and need to revert).