OK great input. Can I keep asking you questions? I don't want to upset you with the questions that is why i am asking. I did join the group that you talked about. So if I have this right I shouldo the following

1. Use a ITX or 2 of the new pico boards. Four mgs of mem

2.Windows XP PRO and XPLITE

3.SSD hard drive.

As for as software go's I should the following:

LISP, OPENCV, SAPI, LEAF

Ok thanks.

I want to load LISP, LEAF on my laptop using windows 7 to test it out.

BC

yes all that is correct,dont load SAPI,mostly need to join yahoo club to get the updated files for windows 7 and answers to install it

Thanks and have A safe trip. I will talk to you when you get back.

BC

All, I feel compelled to respond..... I just want to say that I want folks to be careful planning to use new ITX boards and XP Professional. You may find that it may not load XP very well as some updated drivers are not even available for some of the newer chipsets. All the new hardware is in fact optimized for Windows 7 and 8 and the new ITX boards are recommended to have Windows 7 on them so i would not want folks to think their old copy of XP will work just fine on their new ITX board...It may not. In fact the power management on Windows 7 exceeds XP by far when Windows 7 is properly tuned, especially on the low wattage ITX boards currently being used for Home Theatre PCs. Multitasking and intense processing is way beyond XP capabilities and many benchmarks will show that as well.

I am not denying that some old hardware from 2009 or so may have worked better with XP than Windows 7 when it first came out and many drivers were unavailable but the story is different now. I don't want to sound controversial on this topic, but I don't want folks thinking XP is the right platform for the future of Robotics. It is definitely not due to a whole bunch of reasons including security (Robots of the future will be connected to the Internet). I have worked with Windows for a very long time and currently am a Product Line manager for over 47 thousand Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 machines across 4 different Microsoft domains. IT experts will all agree that Windows 7, Linux, and VMWare solutions are where you need to go with IT right now. Macintosh of course is in there too!

Coming down off the soapbox now...but I don't want folks on here to be lead astray.....in the end your won research will prevail.

vr

Kevin

@kkeast i tried oo many ITX and PICO all load perfect,have yet to have any problems loading drivers you might be thinking about the ICORE 5 OR 7 made for WINDOWS 7 I have ICORE 7 IT HAS WINDOWS 7 WITH 16 GIG RAM 2 tera gig harddrive but mostly for programming and videos at one of my main PC ,total is 9 ,each room kitchens and tv's but rest use WINDOWS XP PRO,never breaks down,i even overclock them becarefull on overclocking pc's need good test equipment some ICORE'S YOU CANT, MOST other PC'S you can with WINDOWS 7 you will find like me that works with alot of computers at work that windows 7 uses alot of current power its 32 bits and windows xp is 16 bits when you buy a itx board it says what system software will work for it,you really need to test computers with WINDOWS XP OR WINDOWS 7 with DC-DC CONVERTER and use a amp meter,when you buy ICORE 5 OR 7 they are on main pc or laptop,they not really on a battery source where you can measure current,so nless you get a amp meter you cant tell is windows 7 uses more power or not thats why alot of home theater pc uses windows xp pro i fine tune my very well and still use more current,plus it needs a bigger hard drive ,it at the LEAF CLUB others are having much trouble with WINDOWS 7,sometimes its a driver problem with new ITX board you are looking at ICORE 3 OR 5 OR 7 needed for windows 7,now if you compare that to dual core or quad on specs you will see the current draw dont need a super fast computer for a robot,mostly needed is very low current dual core is very fast and even the PICO px10000g will handle the leaf software, i have over 20 itx boards and 6 pico px1000g ,and pico i like the best 2 watts,1 GHZ 1 gig ram ITX BOARD and PICO came out when there was no WINDOWS 7 YET LIKE THE INTEL DUAL CORE 2.33 MHZ AT 4 gig of ram will get the model # very fast board fairly low current

Thanks Kevin for your input. I do understand what you are saying. I have been using windows 7 for a long time now with an intel I7 processor and 12 GB ram. It works great for video editing. and other things that I do. I am still researching the ITX and pico boards. I will use my laptop that has windows7 pro on it to do my testing. When I get to the ITX or pico board I guess I will try windows 7 but I will also try XP Pro also to see what works for me.

Kevin your opinion is always welcome as is everyone's opinion. In the end I will take all the advice I can get, from all you nice people. Sometimes things just become overwhelming, and I have to stop and ask for some advice.

Thanks for your help and input.

BC

KKEAST i use windows 7 too and ICORE7 for video editing it work great very fast you do need a very fast processor for A ROBOT BUT dont forget this is a robot doesnt need that fast of a processor,can very easy run on 1 ghz or higher like i said you are right about newer ITX board cant use windows xp pro ,mostly have ICORE 5 OR 7 and made for windows 7 and 8 when you buy the new ICORE ITX BOARD it does says how much wattage in specs like ICORE 7 95 WATTS just for cpu AT 12 VOLTS other item is bigger the cpu ,much higher in cost you look at the commercial robot designs they dont use WINDOWS 7 and ones at $15000 here is just one example carebot design at $15000 and higher carebot robot here is the info specs Kinect processing is handled by a piece of software called GeckoImager, running on a dual core 1.66GHz Intel Atom motherboard. The navigation is handled by two other GeckoSavantsT, GeckoNavT and GeckoSuperT, running on a separate dual core Atom machine. Both computers were located on the robot during the video.

very close to the design i am making using three 1 ghz 1 gig memory 6 watts total thats about 500mano speed lacking or anything and there are many others only using windows xp pro costing well over $10000 and one at $100000 another great example of commercial robot design using windows xp the corebot at almost $5000

corebot

Born with a 1.5GHz PC processor, 80 GB hard disk, a 4 DOF (Degree of Freedom) Arm, sensors and much more, CoroBot minimizes the complexity of robotic development. The CoroWare CoroBot CB-W Robot Development Platform is a capable, expandable and affordable robotic platform that comes fully assembled with an application to teleoperate right out of the box. The teleoperation software allows the user to remotely control the robot and read sensors. Complete source code is included.

icore7 mother board

here is a good itx mother board made for WINDOWS 7,i did send it back it does draw 5.1 amp no load at 12 volts,so for 1 hour nun time just cpu and hard drive plus all extra,no motors sensor or anything else you are looking at a 6 amp battery and 4 hours run time look at 24 amps battery then most likely 10 amps or more for wheelchair motors to handle heavy batteries,total is over 35 amps and more so you need to add the factor in when adding a computer on board,or board not great too,many problems,dont think any design uses a pc computer,main reason what if power shuts down or loss of WIFI,PLUS SPEED,robot will wonder all over the place,plus sensor feedback and camera feedback and so much more

@kkeast i forgot a big problem when trying to use the new ITX boards with robot or any design how do you power the board from 12 volts you need a pico itx DC -DC conveter with a itx plug to match .now on the dual core or quad core boards ,not a problem but on new ICORE 3,5,OR 7,so far i havent seen that can handle the power,need close to 400 watt power supply,look at you ICORE processor see what power supply you are using,then need more to handle a hard drive,biggest one they make is 250 watt at 12 volts in and ITX power connection out puts out different voltages neededd,like 12-,12 +,3.3 volts,5v-,5v+ plus turn-on circuit some boards like the PX10000G comes with 12 volt converter board with ITX plug

so before anyone buys a new ITX board do your research first,always very important make shore your converter will handle the board ,hard drive and at full power mostly when you look for a 12 volt DCto DC ITX converter board the techs will tell you if that board will handle the power of the ITX board also what type of connector like 24 pin or 20 pin and does it need 4 pin power connector that some pc's uses