USO issues (pololu & xim2)

Hey everyone, if someone can help me here it would be great, I'm using the pololu usb 16 servo controller and as soon as i load xsim the controller flashes a fatal error - apparently the baud rate is too high.

in xsim I've set the baud rate for the com3 to an acceptable range... ideas why this is happening?

thanks!

oh ok thanks! at least i wasn't doing something wrong then...
what's the usual development cycle timeline? and is there something else i can do to get it working?

oh really? ok cool, ahh who do i ask?

haha ok thanks

Yeah well it was always my plan to build a tutorial on how to get this going and post it on here, my main issue with x-sim atm is the way the information is laid out, its a big mess everywhere (2 sites, a wiki with minimal info, 2 sets of sofware, half info manuals and a forum with 50 page long topics), and for people who aren't electrical engineers or programmers (myself), so was going to try and create a step by step tutorial that doesn't require as much circuit building.

ie, buying the cheap usb serial controller from pololu, getting some servos and a software setup guide.

then as I take the next leap into either larger servos or actuators, i'll detail my decision and why, then map that out as well.

but baby steps, hard for me to give back anything yet when the hardware is not working with the software

I'd like to eventually build a 3DOF with servos.

At the moment i'm starting small so i don't get too deep and screw it all up - and so I can learn along the way.

So right now I'm at stage 1, getting the software working, and to start small i'm trying to control 3 RC Servos with a Pololu Servo controller... and yeah, have hit a brick wall already!

If I can get that working then i'll be into setting up the software to actually respond properly and move the way it should - to scale.

Then i'm planning on using the servos as gauges, and upgrading from small scale to a large scale and try and implement actuators - which i think i'll have to start finally doing some electronic work - building a h-bridge i think (still have to research and work that out - but yeah, baby steps, thats still a long way away).

And then from there, take that knowledge and start work on a full size 3dof with servos. (should have the upgraded power worked out by then - b-bridge and what not) and will know if i need something better than the pololu controller by then as well.

but yeah, these down the road plans aren't fully nutted out yet, but I have my road map so trying to get there one step at a time, and documenting it as i go.

The upside i have here is that I live in Thailand, so finding someone to build me a custom steel rig to handle different types of motion isn't a great expense. The downside is that electronics are hard to find (no shops, there's no shops like Tandy here or any real electronics shops) so I'm waiting 10 days at a time for parts to be shipped from the US.

As for the website side of things, I might be able to help there (I own a design studio in Thailand...) so we might be able to put some downtime into building a site and structure, it's almost impossible to find the wiki, and there's 2 xsim websites?! just found the x-sim2 website the other day when i was looking for the version 2 software that i saw being discussed on the forums...

so really i'm trying the impossible...

building everything...

scale versions, gauges (also want to do lcd screen and led shift lights), actuator motion system and a 3dof motion platform... i think that's just about everything...

and if i can stop spending my money on my race kart, motorbike, prototype race car and other stupid shit i'll have the money to do a 6dof!... 6dof, thats the dream anyway! (if i can get the software to work and learn the electronics that is!...)