We are fairly new to vex and had a question. Can you download your program from the PC to the cortex wireless or do you have to plug it in every time? We have used Lego Mindstorm for several years and like the fact that you don’t have to mess with programming cables.
We are using easyC.
Yes, you can use the orange cable that plugs from your computer into your joystick’s PROGRAM port. It’s a little more prone to problems than the direct cable connection but it’s often worth it, especially because you can get debugger information off your robot wirelessly.
EDIT: I’m not sure about EasyC, if it has a debugger window. We use RobotC.
Absolutely! This is one of the cool things about Vex.
We use Robot C and the programming cable hooked to the joystick on the programming port will allow you not only to download the program but run the program in an interactive debugger.
There’s a bit of setup to pair the cortex to the computer and make sure firmware is all up to date so everyone talks the same talk.
Instructions here:
http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/fire/media/cortex_startup.pdf
Here is the page on the vex robotics website if you don’t have it already.
With EasyC You can use the USB - USB programming cable to download directly to the cortex controller. You can also use the USB-Serial cable to download joystick to the gamepad which will transfer wirelessly to the cortex.
The Serial cables are great, but just be aware if you end up using the old serial adaptors and you are using windows 8 or higher you will need to follow the instructions detailed here.