CRIO Slot interchangability.

[Philbot]

I'm on a veteran team, so we have several 8-slot CRIOs, but plan to get the new 4-slot ones.

Clearly it's easier if we transition to the new 4-slot default module positions, but if we wanted to get some of our old robots working with the new labview, I was wondering if the new FRC libraries and FPGA code will still support the old slot defaults.

Case in point, we have an 8-slot CRIO with bent pins on slot 2.  So we can't use the new slot defaults which puts the 9403 (DSC interface) in this slot.

As long as we explicitly override the slot defaults, can we use the new code with the old CRIOI slot configurations?

There used to be some hard-wired dependancies ie: only can use gyro accumulation on certain slots/channels... 

Any such limitations we need to be aware of that may have changed with the new CRIO?

Phil.

[DAQjr]

The modules are directly wired to the FPGA, so the slot is hard-coded.  You have to use the slots as they are defined in the FPGA.  If you want to use the old module order, you would have to use the image from last year.  Unfortunately, the image needs a matching LabVIEW, and the license for last year's LabVIEW is expiring soon.

You could hack a while and use the old library files and the old FPGA image in the new LabVIEW and the new cRIO image.

[Philbot]

Drat.

So in reality, my bent-pin CRIO just became a door-stop, even though it was perfectly fine for 2011 software.

So much for being able to reuse old hardware. 

Phil.

[DAQjr]

That seems a bit defeatist... for one thing, it is old, damaged hardware.  Second of all, if you are not competing with it and don't care about the robot signal light, you can just use slot 6 for your Digital Sidecar instead.  You will have to tell your code to use Digital Module 2, though.

[Philbot]

Defeatist...

Well...   I didn't want to be, but that's the impression I got.

My problem was: 

"I have a CRIO which is prefectly good with the prior software, but slot 2 is bad.... can I still use it with the new software which wants to use slot 2?"

And the answer I got was esentially "NO, unless you want to hack it".

Now you're telling me I can redirect Slot 2 to Slot 6 and I just go without the BFL.

Which is what I was originally asking.

So, in effect the actual answer was "YES, with one minor caveat"

A much better answer all around.

FYI, if a NI staffer uses the word "Hack", then we minions out here read "Don't try this at home".

Phil.

[DAQjr]

Sorry for the confusion.  I was answering your question explicitly.  You cannot just use any slot you wish by telling the WPILib software to use that slot.  If you want exactly that module layout, you must use the older image, and everything that implies.  However, just like last year for the cRIO-FRC, there are 2 slots allocated for each module type.  Last year slot 2 was also used... it was the second 9201 analog input module.  This year (to match the cRIO-FRC II's module layout) slot 2 is for the primary 9403 digital module.

[Philbot]

I appreciate the clarification.  It will enable us to use the old 8slot for development while waiting for new 4-slots.