I’ll admit that at this point, I’m confused as to the compatibility of previous systems (such as the v.5), current systems (such as the classroom bundles and the starter bundles), the recently confirmed items (such as the Vexnet Upgrade) and the announced future items (such as the high power motors and Vexnet Pro)
I’m not sure if everything is compatible with each other (other than the Vex-Blue items from Vexplorer which are incompatible with Vex-Red items that I believe everything else uses). For example, I’m not sure what’s needed to run the high-power motors that are in the works. (I believe Smartkid’s photos indicated some different motor connections on the Vex Pro for those high-powered motors.)
It would be helpful to me personally if I knew v.5 systems would be compatible or not with Vexnet upgrades and high powered motors or if the current bundles with the vexnet upgrade would still be compatible with those motors or what the differences were between say, a current bundle with an upgrade and the Vexnex Pro or other Vexnet options (because, quite honestly, I’ve lost track as to which systems support multi-threading, etc.)
A lot is changing and quite honestly, I’m once again lost. I think I personally want to wait until the Pro comes out because I think that’s where the cross robot communication and multi-threading are and I can’t imagine it not supporting all the Vex-Red stuff but maybe it would be a good idea to be able to run off crystals or wi-fi depending on interference.
edit: I don’t even recall. Was v.5 Vex-red or was it some other discontinued line, such as Vex-green?
I don’t think there is anything actually out, new that could be considered not v0.5. I believe that refers to the original kit in the white box that was ~$300 at release and then ~$150 on sale at radio shack.
Now I think they offer different kits, but they all contain the same thing.
The new brains coming out are more better, but they still use the same motors, sensors, etc.
The new VexNET system is coming out in 2 products, one that makes the old stuff work with it and one that is totally new and only includes the VexNET stuff. I believe the major difference is that the new brains feature VexNET built in (but I think I saw the ports to use RF receivers?).
On the new brains, I think what you are talking about is a set of extra DC ports, such that you might plug a normal motor into or perhaps the vexplorer motors. I don’t think they were the high torque motor ports. I have normal RC stuff at home and my one giant servo (the steering servo for a gas powered boat) has the plain old PWM wires. I suspect the Vex guys are just releasing a vex customized version of this.
From what I saw at the VEX store in Dallas, both the new VEX 2.0 microcontroller and the VEX Pro will support the new high strength motors that are coming out. They both have extra pins on the motor ports for 2 wire motors. They both should also be able to support robot to robot communications because I believe that is a future feature of VEXnet which they both have. If you check out this page on the new VEXnet upgrade, it should answer some of your questions http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexnet-upgrade-bundle.shtml.
Assumptions:
The new motors will work with existing microcontrollers with external PWM/DC converters. (based on the two wire photos from Dallas)
The new motors will work with the new microcontroller in slots 1 and 10 without needing external PWM/DC converters. (based on the photos from Dallas)
The new microcontroller will work with existing transmitter/receivers as-is or with the vexnet upgrade or with the new transmitter/receivers. Of the three, the existing transmitter/receivers with vexnet appears to offer the most versatility since they can use crystals or 802.11 allowing for more frequency freedom.
Vex-Blue is likely to not be compatible with the new microcontroller slots 1 and 10 due to different power requirements.
Thanks. That clears up a lot, as well as a few of my misconceptions (such as I see there’s no new Wifi-only transmitter in the pipeline on that page).
I’m assuming when the Pro is released we’ll be able to get transmitter upgrades without the microcontroller upgrades, but there’s no need for me to worry about that now.
I just looked at the wiki page and it doesn’t mention a new VEXnet only transmitter. From the information IFI released last year, I thought that was going to be a new transmitter coming out that would look kind of like a game controller that plugs into a small pack that clips to your belt. 2 of the game controller pads could plug into the small pack. Maybe that has been delayed or something.