*NEW* USB Input/Output Board -- Fusion Brain

[P3D4T0R]

Sorry about all of this but I got it working... turns out the USB cable I was using was to long and/or it went bad sometime between yesterday and today. I plugged in a shorter and newer USB cable because I noticed the other one seemed kind of loose and now it works properly. I still don't know why the 6 LEDs came on when I first plugged it in with the new PIC but everything seems to be fine now. Sorry about the frustration.

P.S. the other USB cable was working perfectly until today.

[greenman100]

Good to hear. How's the new revision treating you? It shouldn't connect/disconnect anymore.

[P3D4T0R]

If you guys are seriously considering a touch screen i have one of these and it is really simple to interface with it, it is powerful, and it has a touch screen and best of all it only needs 4 to 5 pins to operate. 2 for power, 2 for communication and 1 optional for enhanced communication (I think)... Check it out: http://www.simmetry.com/

[P3D4T0R]

Good to hear. How's the new revision treating you? It shouldn't connect/disconnect anymore.

Works like a charm, thanks for all the hard work

[h3rk]

I wonder if the revamped version of the software be ready in time for the big ship date. In any event, I hope you guys get enough preorders to help with all of your costs.
I'd buy more if I could connect them, you know

[2k1Toaster]

I wonder if the revamped version of the software be ready in time for the big ship date. In any event, I hope you guys get enough preorders to help with all of your costs.
I'd buy more if I could connect them, you know

Well I havent been to sleep yet today/yesterday whatever (31hrs so far) and most of that time has been spent redoing the program.

So have no fear.

[turbocad6]

wow nick, wish I could help man... I can't believe the pace you've set for updating this.... I knew you were a sick boy when I asked for the changing images & differing timings on the same output, & linking outputs & then you stayed up all night & had it done that morning

this just sounds like it's going to be real sweet, multiple boards & multiple pages & dynamic buttons, along with everything else we've got here so far as far as skinning & animations, this thing should take off like wildfire when it get's underway... I can see so many different really practical uses for this, & the way your setting it up now it'll be so universal that there are just soooo many possibilities for using this for so many different things.... if you were close to me I'd bring you a giant bucket of coffee or something, I feel like it's at least partially my fault your getting no sleep

I'm waiting to skin this till you get the new skinning in place as you suggested, just playing with graphics at this point... will a button be able to be placed over or overlapping a label?

just another thought since your coding & all, greenman mentioned that he will be able to provide current sensors which is an awesome thing... it'd be nice if in the config we could determine a threshold to disengage a circuit, IE:

like an auto window down circuit or something, say when a window is going up, it'll draw lets say 5.5 amps, we could set a threshold that would disengage the circuit, if the window reaches the end of it's travel, the amperage draw will ramp up quite a bit, so if a load of 10 amps or more is realized, then a circuit could be disengauged... these thresholds could be defined in the config...

this would allow almost anything in the car to be automated, with current sensing to show end of travel & trigger disengauge... anything motorized could be used with this, from windows to motorized amp racks to anything really, the benefit of this over say limit switches is that then the motorized item will have a safety built in so if it gets blocked half way through travel it'll still turn off, where limit switches will keep a motor stalled till it burns out...

just a thought, don't want to make even more work for you

[h3rk]

this would allow almost anything in the car to be automated, with current sensing to show end of travel & trigger disengauge... anything motorized could be used with this, from windows to motorized amp racks to anything really, the benefit of this over say limit switches is that then the motorized item will have a safety built in so if it gets blocked half way through travel it'll still turn off, where limit switches will keep a motor stalled till it burns out...

just a thought, don't want to make even more work for you

damn good thought, between timers, limit switches, and current sensing, just about anything could be controlled.

Here's something from left field, and I don't really expect it to get halfway to short-stop:

The manner in which Fusion envisions 2 or more modules to be connected involves connecting to outputs. While I first cringed at it's cost-efficiency, I understand the idea. I would have done cartwheels if there was a secondary communication bus between the cards ( I think I said something about CAN early on, half joking) allowing more total ports available.

The thought I had was this: There are a few things that have been mentioned that would work better if the brain could actually think without the PC. This would however be cumbersome and involve largely application specific PIC code. But, and I may kick myself for this, what about providing a similar (ie. 2 brains connected) means for application specific modules to be connected. These application specific modules could possibly share control of certain ports, allowing these cards to act as a stand alone car alarm/HVAC/general accessory-aftermarket control. This would raise the ceiling of possiblities beyond my range of vision, me thinks.

[turbocad6]

yeah, I guess the problem there is that your trying to make this into something it's not,kinda like adding bluetooth, I mean sure there all good ideas, but the real beauty in this thing is it's relative simplicity, relatively low cost & the universalness of it,

sure module to module communication would be nice, i2c or can buss communication, etc, but then it's not what it is anymore... I think there on the right track trying to get this off the ground with what they've been building so far, theres no reason this can't be expanded & added to in the future I guess, this could be the first of many offerings from fusion tech, but it can't be everything either, which is why I've been trying to keep my requests just in line with what this things intended design is... & I think it's revolutionary & def. fills a void in the carpc game....

the software end of this is the real thing that puts it out over the top, & with just a little skinning & configuring it can be many different things to many different installs


GO BADGER!!!!!

he's probably sleeping somewhere right now

[h3rk]

Truely good points turbocad6.

I don't mean to come across unapreciative or trying to influence this in a totally different dierection. And I know the only place for anything like this would be in the far off distant future. And maybe I am trying to press the efficient communication thing to the point of annoyance. I am excited about this for what it is.
Maybe they just need to send me one asap to shut me up
Joking aside, its own univesrsal-ness, flexibility, and simplicity is sort of what got me seeing it as the main dish of a larger meal. I'll hold off on these kinds of things and try to stay with the more-immediate things. Sorry. I get it, 450 posts, etcetera.