From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,f2aa0ddde84d1b0a X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local01.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.comcast.com!news.comcast.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 10:57:54 -0500 From: "Chip and Allie Orange" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <4uudnaJ7BJK8g4XbnZ2dnUVZ_t-mnZ2d@comcast.com> Subject: Re: GNAT verses A# for soft-realtime system Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 11:55:12 -0400 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3028 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.35.222.233 X-Trace: sv3-EWTygW24cMUbjaknSBYfG5bvrFptor28AkogvA2Wewz9YCJ4HwruLKvCey/7TBqvdlKUY6Lf+MqFJQc!B/dT+hOkoZZmDHpPnmWg00zzn2spO6nJnxrYs9pO4YM9iU/ilgSjgNc68T+x/DNmDdBLlFM2XvQJ!ZgO0k+cKncHv58ZirvCSL1+VgSdq8Q== X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-DMCA-Complaints-To: dmca@comcast.net X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.34 Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:14837 Date: 2007-04-08T11:55:12-04:00 List-Id: Hi Dmitry, "Dmitry A. Kazakov" wrote in message news:cw3lptya4i66$.1osehyxuh7vi3.dlg@40tude.net... ... > > Great, I always wished to do something like that to play with my machine > learning project pending. > > What does it mean "Windows-based PC"? Is it a sort of PC104 module running > Windows [CE] or a full-blown PC? How are sensors and actuators connected? It's a full-blown pc, running Windows, mounted in a frame with rechargeable batteries, two differential drive wheels, a host of empty drive bays for your own expansion, a webcam, and a smattering of IR ranging and bumper sensors. Check out: http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/914PC_BOT.htm and http://www.914pcbots.com/wiki/doku.php and http://www.914pcbots.com/community/ It started life as mostly a mobile webcam platform. In my discussions with the president of Frontline Robotics I've tried to convince him there's a large market of enthusiast programmers who'd like to tackle autonomous robot control programming if he would release the specs and/or the needed tools. I'm also trying to get him to offer a version with a dual core processor and more memory, as I suspect there will *never* be enough processing resources to suit those of us who want to tackle this. Of course, there's nothing but money and know-how stopping me from replacing the Epia MB with a more powerful mini-itx one. > Does it have Ethernet controller [I wouldn't even try without one]? Yes, WIFI and I think wired. > Does it > have a frame grabber for the camera[s]? I think so, that's supplied by Logitec, and is a question I'll need to research. > > Usually the biggest problem is not to choose the compiler. For a hobby > there is no choice but [GPL] GNAT. > > The problem is to get a fully functional Ada run-time for the board you > are > using, plus the drivers for the sensors and actuators, plus TCP/IP stack > for communication with the outer world. For a Windows platform there > should > be no trouble with this, except that drivers and APIs for sensors and > actuators. Often vendor's C libraries are extremely poor in quality. These are a board provided by PMD( http://www.pmdcorp.com/ ) , and according to another hobbyist, there's open source software which already tackles control of it; see: http://www.914pcbots.com/wiki/doku.php?id=whiteboxos I have reasons for wanting to use .net for development, unless the Ada 2005 features that it lacks turn out to be important for what I want to do; could you make a guess on that? Thanks. Chip