Batteries

[Tim Vanderhoek <vanderh@ecf.utoronto.ca>]

The batteries we talked about from Sayal for ~38cents (after tax) per
are still available.

I will be coming into the lab tomorrow.  Just so you know, Joyce may
not come into the lab at all.  I may not arrive until after morning (I
only got-up early the last couple times due to Joyce! :-).

As a general update, since you might not know otherwise: Tim still has
a lot of programming work to do.  Joyce is going to do soldering today
--- stuff like the relays that multiplex the IR sensors.  The sensor
circuit is still acting somewhat finicky.  It works about 5X better on
the east side of the room than it works on the west side.  Why?  Urg...  
We're not sure.  The main problem from Monday had been that the sensor
circuit would routinely return false positivies (ie. it would detect a
sensor signal that didn't exist).  That has been mostly fixed --- it
was an error in how the signal logic levels were being changed.

Joyce should be able to finish her stuff other than the sensors soon.

I tried to get the monitor program (the program that lets me download
code directly onto the 6502 board from my own computer rather than
needing to burn an eprom) working.  It wouldn't.  Reasons unknown.
I'm not sure it it's my fault --- I need to find another 6502 group
that is trying to make the monitor work.

I plan to come into the lab tomorrow to test Joyce's motor circuit (aka
the Tachyon Controller) with a small test program (for double+ fun, we
could hook the motors up to Zeta's drive system, if that's ready).
You'll probably get this email before you see me.  The sooner we know
about the batteries, the better.

One advantage of Sayal's AAs over others: they're not mail-order.  If
we get some now and some later (!!!! _assuming_ they're still available
later... !!!!) then there's no extra hit on shipping costs (other than
my parents' general inconvenience, but that doesn't count!  ;-)

In her email about the batteries, my mother forgot to remind me about
the price of the AAs.  I think it was 38cents per battery (after tax).
It was in that range.  Comparing this to your original price of $30/72,
and remembering that this was 30USD (ie. American), but that the 38c
is Canadian, I think this may be a really good price for the AAs...  It
may be that the only thing cheaper would be going to something other
than AAs.

I think Sayal also has small 9V batteries (the 5x2x2cm ones) available
for $1 (before tax).

I just finished-off during this email the chips you bought me.  They
were quite good.  :-)


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Signature withheld by request of author.