thanks jstarne1 confirming what we also know! "I've decided that DJ Sures and the EZ-Robot team has done a FANTASTIC JOB on this board and with promises of endless free upgrades and improvements (DJ, if you are reading this, PLEASE ADD KINECT SUPPORT!) and perfect product support, this robotics board, software, and kit, the E-Z Robot system is the best on the market and I am recommending it to all my fellow robot nuts. This concludes my EZ Robot review. "
I'd say that was 9.5 out of 10! (Thunderous applause from all the two handed robots, waves from the one handed robots and whistles and flashing LED's from the rest!)
I found it interesting that the reviewer, and so many who comment here, don't understand that EZ-B requires a computer and is not standalone. It was so clear from the video tutorials to me, but seems to pass a lot of people by (even one of the commenters on the review page as asking about a bootloader, so he didn't get it even though it was clearly stated). Maybe DJ needs to add something on the web page about system requirements that makes it clearer.
I do agree with the reviewer that it would be great to have a written manual and use the videos to compliment that rather than having them be the primary source of information, but I also understand that EZ-Robot is a 2-man operation and technical writing is time consuming and requires very different skills than programming. (If I had more free time, I would volunteer to write a manual in exchange for a second EZ-B, but no way I could finish it before it would be obsolete at the pace DJ adds new features.
This forum is a great source of supplemental instruction too, but can be hard to find exactly what you are looking for unless you just read all new messages every day.
Maybe we should start a WiKi and have the community here document the features, relying on each other to proof read and improve as we go along.
A wiki or at least an easiier way to find out how to wire the hbridge I am using would have been awesome a couple of weeks ago. I found what I needed but it could have been easier.
But, that said, what we got works and personally I would rather the EZ-Robot team spend their time ironing out bugs in the software or adding new features than writing countless pages of a manual that probably wouldn't get read too often (unless I'm the only one who learns by trying).
I'm glad I'm not alone in being surprised people don't realise the EZB needs a PC to operate it. It was clear enough to me that the EZB needed a bluetooth enabled PC to work when I first found DJs Omnibot on youtube some 6 to 8 months ago... I know it shouldn't surprise me but it does when I see just how dumb some people can be...
The Tutorial section is a wiki of every single control. There is the word Tutorials on the top of this website. Press it, and you'll be directed to an amazing resource of everything you'll ever want to know.
I don't know how to make the ? button any more clear... Every single control in the entire ARC software has a ? next to the X (close) button. If you press that button, you will be directed to a tutorial/help page for that control.
@RichMR2 if you would have pressed the ? button on the HBridge control, you would have been directed to a video which shows you how to connect it. If you would have pressed the ? button, you would have been directed to here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=70
oh, I found your video for connecting up the HBridge I used (although not the one the ? sent me to). I used the sparkfun hbridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfZjgH6wMJY but even then, I can't print a video for reference when soldering away from my PC. The forum search was what helped me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't complaining (and I am very aware of the ?, I use it very often, it is clear enough)
I'm glad you figured it out though! We have many thousand units sold now - and it impresses me at how well the website is documented actually. Out of many thousand people with EZ-B's, only a handful actually post on the website in a day with questions. The rest found the ? button and follow the tutorials. Makes me want to do a little dance!
The suggestion I would make is this: add a section to the manual/wiki that allows user to add content for hardware and code implementaions not covered in DJs tutorials.
Things such as alternate hardware; h-bridges, lasers, sound cards, etc.
Alternate code implementations.
Etc.
We could help build the wilipedia of ez-robot! EZ-wiki-robo-pedia!
Yes i see many many on this site with mostly bad spelling,some caps is push a main word up like JOSH or EZB
On mine i make mistakes too,mostly i write fast and dont recheck it,but sometimes i do .
ON caps my new DELL laptop has no cap light (witch is stupid idea) so i dont know if on or off and dont double check,also i didnt think its a big deal.
If i do it from one of my main computers i dont have that problem.
Main reason i use my laptop alot,i am outside working or in bedroom and dont wont to use my large screen tv with computer hook up to it for writing ,its mostly game or media center.
On the wiki idea ,i think is better to have a seperate wiki on the internet
that way more sales for EZB,i would think DJ would be happy with more sales.
That is the good thing about WiKi's, is we can edit each others work. So if someone has a good idea, but bad grammar, someone well with no ideas of their own can contribute by cleaning up others work. (extreme ends of the spectrum for demonstration purposes only. Other use is correcting mistakes or adding better clarification).
But then there is the fact that a lot of the posts on here which have bad grammar or bad spelling often make very little sense... There are a lot that I've read and after thought "What in the blue hell is that about?"
99% of what we need to know is already on the tutorials pages or videos. A "suggest and edit" link on pages may be the better idea to save anyone coming along and changing things, potentially damaging your EZB or yourself. If something isn't in the tutorials, suggest it or even write it and send it in to DJ for him to check and publish if necessary... that makes more sense to me.
Flagging words with CAPS is not ideal and also shows you have clearly ignored the UBB Code Support to the right of the post box.
Bold works better.
Underline would workor even both!
Lol... I know exactly the posts you are talking about.
Yeah. Wiki may still be an option, they can be set to have changes approved by an editor. We may be making more of this than required. The tutorials are great, I just personally prefer to have written documentation to refer to, and really like it as the first choice since I can read faster than anyone can speak, but I know it is a lot easier for DJ to document stuff by recording a video and narrating than trying to write quality tech documents, and it works for most people.
Again, if I had more free time, I would be happy to volunteer my time for minimal compensation. I have done a lot of technical writing in my career, but I would rather spend my limited free time building my robot. Maybe when it is done.
I agree, you can't beat written documentation. You also can't beat a well drawn schematic and wiring diagram. I know the rewiring of the camera from the EZ Kit was difficult to see exactly where to solder the signal wire or turning it on (even if mine turns itself on regardless of the signal now...). The HBridge was a little difficult to follow where everything went too, but it's there and works.
Lucky for me I have had the time to look at the videos and photos and figure it all out, redraw it for when I get back to doing the soldering etc.
But at the end of the day, those things I have mentioned are not the ez-b, ARC or products of EZ-Robots and as this site and forum are for the ez-b and ARC I can understand why those things are not as clear... if DJ was to cover everything it would be a mammoth task!..
I'm documenting my entire build and have all schematics etc. so once I have the time to post it all there will be clear diagrams for the camera, the hbridge I used, even things such as the battery monitor, blown fuse alarm, larson scanner etc. etc. (i.e. things that can work with the EZB but aren't directly supported)... But I guess that's why there is the project showcase section of the forum.
P.S. I apologise, but bad "netiquette" is one of my biggest bugbears.
Hmm maybe I could start a wiki page of nothing but projects and uses for ez robot and include links to related pages in the forum... sorta organize the good ideas and mods from the seperated threads.
There's the spirit of christmas @jstarne1...I will have think very hard of my contribution/gift for the forum! Everyone but me has given so much....thanks too @robotmaker
Wikipedia is a great idea ,it will give more help and promote a great pcb board EZB ,it does lack some software like true AI (my favorate) but in time it will get better
If you have ideas for organization or content of a forum wiki for ez robot email them to Kandyred@gmail.com in the subject line place " EZ Robot Wiki" in the subject line so it goes to my wiki folder and not my junk box. Please keep in mind the spirit and direction of EZ Robot and usefulness of the information to both new and regular users.
thanks jstarne1 confirming what we also know! "I've decided that DJ Sures and the EZ-Robot team has done a FANTASTIC JOB on this board and with promises of endless free upgrades and improvements (DJ, if you are reading this, PLEASE ADD KINECT SUPPORT!) and perfect product support, this robotics board, software, and kit, the E-Z Robot system is the best on the market and I am recommending it to all my fellow robot nuts. This concludes my EZ Robot review. " I'd say that was 9.5 out of 10! (Thunderous applause from all the two handed robots, waves from the one handed robots and whistles and flashing LED's from the rest!)
I found it interesting that the reviewer, and so many who comment here, don't understand that EZ-B requires a computer and is not standalone. It was so clear from the video tutorials to me, but seems to pass a lot of people by (even one of the commenters on the review page as asking about a bootloader, so he didn't get it even though it was clearly stated). Maybe DJ needs to add something on the web page about system requirements that makes it clearer.
I do agree with the reviewer that it would be great to have a written manual and use the videos to compliment that rather than having them be the primary source of information, but I also understand that EZ-Robot is a 2-man operation and technical writing is time consuming and requires very different skills than programming. (If I had more free time, I would volunteer to write a manual in exchange for a second EZ-B, but no way I could finish it before it would be obsolete at the pace DJ adds new features.
This forum is a great source of supplemental instruction too, but can be hard to find exactly what you are looking for unless you just read all new messages every day.
Maybe we should start a WiKi and have the community here document the features, relying on each other to proof read and improve as we go along.
Alan
A wiki or at least an easiier way to find out how to wire the hbridge I am using would have been awesome a couple of weeks ago. I found what I needed but it could have been easier.
But, that said, what we got works and personally I would rather the EZ-Robot team spend their time ironing out bugs in the software or adding new features than writing countless pages of a manual that probably wouldn't get read too often (unless I'm the only one who learns by trying).
I'm glad I'm not alone in being surprised people don't realise the EZB needs a PC to operate it. It was clear enough to me that the EZB needed a bluetooth enabled PC to work when I first found DJs Omnibot on youtube some 6 to 8 months ago... I know it shouldn't surprise me but it does when I see just how dumb some people can be...
The Tutorial section is a wiki of every single control. There is the word Tutorials on the top of this website. Press it, and you'll be directed to an amazing resource of everything you'll ever want to know.
I don't know how to make the ? button any more clear... Every single control in the entire ARC software has a ? next to the X (close) button. If you press that button, you will be directed to a tutorial/help page for that control.
@RichMR2 if you would have pressed the ? button on the HBridge control, you would have been directed to a video which shows you how to connect it. If you would have pressed the ? button, you would have been directed to here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=70
:)
oh, I found your video for connecting up the HBridge I used (although not the one the ? sent me to). I used the sparkfun hbridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfZjgH6wMJY but even then, I can't print a video for reference when soldering away from my PC. The forum search was what helped me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't complaining (and I am very aware of the ?, I use it very often, it is clear enough)
You can print the wiring image on the ? page
I'm glad you figured it out though!
We have many thousand units sold now - and it impresses me at how well the website is documented actually. Out of many thousand people with EZ-B's, only a handful actually post on the website in a day with questions. The rest found the ? button and follow the tutorials.
Makes me want to do a little dance!
Thats my my good friend THOMAS site,thats done posts here mostly on his annidroid design with EZB
The suggestion I would make is this: add a section to the manual/wiki that allows user to add content for hardware and code implementaions not covered in DJs tutorials.
Things such as alternate hardware; h-bridges, lasers, sound cards, etc.
Alternate code implementations.
Etc.
We could help build the wilipedia of ez-robot! EZ-wiki-robo-pedia!
Hopefully everyone will remember to use spell check and turn the caps lock off for this wiki
Yes i see many many on this site with mostly bad spelling,some caps is push a main word up like JOSH or EZB
On mine i make mistakes too,mostly i write fast and dont recheck it,but sometimes i do .
ON caps my new DELL laptop has no cap light (witch is stupid idea) so i dont know if on or off and dont double check,also i didnt think its a big deal.
If i do it from one of my main computers i dont have that problem.
Main reason i use my laptop alot,i am outside working or in bedroom and dont wont to use my large screen tv with computer hook up to it for writing ,its mostly game or media center.
On the wiki idea ,i think is better to have a seperate wiki on the internet that way more sales for EZB,i would think DJ would be happy with more sales.
Josh,
That is the good thing about WiKi's, is we can edit each others work. So if someone has a good idea, but bad grammar, someone well with no ideas of their own can contribute by cleaning up others work. (extreme ends of the spectrum for demonstration purposes only. Other use is correcting mistakes or adding better clarification).
Alan
But then there is the fact that a lot of the posts on here which have bad grammar or bad spelling often make very little sense... There are a lot that I've read and after thought "What in the blue hell is that about?"
99% of what we need to know is already on the tutorials pages or videos. A "suggest and edit" link on pages may be the better idea to save anyone coming along and changing things, potentially damaging your EZB or yourself. If something isn't in the tutorials, suggest it or even write it and send it in to DJ for him to check and publish if necessary... that makes more sense to me.
Flagging words with CAPS is not ideal and also shows you have clearly ignored the UBB Code Support to the right of the post box.
Bold works better. Underline would work or even both!
It takes more time to use underline or bold i see DJ posts hav capitals letters some times
@RichMR2
Lol... I know exactly the posts you are talking about.
Yeah. Wiki may still be an option, they can be set to have changes approved by an editor. We may be making more of this than required. The tutorials are great, I just personally prefer to have written documentation to refer to, and really like it as the first choice since I can read faster than anyone can speak, but I know it is a lot easier for DJ to document stuff by recording a video and narrating than trying to write quality tech documents, and it works for most people.
Again, if I had more free time, I would be happy to volunteer my time for minimal compensation. I have done a lot of technical writing in my career, but I would rather spend my limited free time building my robot. Maybe when it is done.
Alan
I agree, you can't beat written documentation. You also can't beat a well drawn schematic and wiring diagram. I know the rewiring of the camera from the EZ Kit was difficult to see exactly where to solder the signal wire or turning it on (even if mine turns itself on regardless of the signal now...). The HBridge was a little difficult to follow where everything went too, but it's there and works.
Lucky for me I have had the time to look at the videos and photos and figure it all out, redraw it for when I get back to doing the soldering etc.
But at the end of the day, those things I have mentioned are not the ez-b, ARC or products of EZ-Robots and as this site and forum are for the ez-b and ARC I can understand why those things are not as clear... if DJ was to cover everything it would be a mammoth task!..
I'm documenting my entire build and have all schematics etc. so once I have the time to post it all there will be clear diagrams for the camera, the hbridge I used, even things such as the battery monitor, blown fuse alarm, larson scanner etc. etc. (i.e. things that can work with the EZB but aren't directly supported)... But I guess that's why there is the project showcase section of the forum.
P.S. I apologise, but bad "netiquette" is one of my biggest bugbears.
Hopes everyone has blessed merry christmas and a new year
Thanks for the tip @RichMR2 regarding netiquette.. a new years resolution. ....@robotmaker Same to you and thanks for all your good ideas!
Hmm maybe I could start a wiki page of nothing but projects and uses for ez robot and include links to related pages in the forum... sorta organize the good ideas and mods from the seperated threads.
Thats what we need JOSH
There's the spirit of christmas @jstarne1...I will have think very hard of my contribution/gift for the forum! Everyone but me has given so much....thanks too @robotmaker
That would be awesome Josh! I would be happy to help as an editor as time allows.
Alan
Wikipedia is a great idea ,it will give more help and promote a great pcb board EZB ,it does lack some software like true AI (my favorate) but in time it will get better
; )
Happy Holidays.
If you have ideas for organization or content of a forum wiki for ez robot email them to Kandyred@gmail.com in the subject line place " EZ Robot Wiki" in the subject line so it goes to my wiki folder and not my junk box. Please keep in mind the spirit and direction of EZ Robot and usefulness of the information to both new and regular users.