If you are like me, you want to build your robot to be more then just reactionary. Being that I am a programmer, I want to use my strengths to accomplish this goal. So I looked for a platform that could control my robot and allow me to use any programming tool that I think would fit. I found this in the DimmPC.

The DimmPC is as its name suggests. It is a complete PC the size of Dimm memory module and only requires 5 volts. The version that I purchased was a 486 with 16 megs of memory and 16 megs of ram all in the size of a Dimm. In addition to that, it has a HD and FD controller, two serial ports, a printer port and a PC/104 bus. This was very impressive for a unit so small and only costing around $315. There were other modules the same size that provides you with Ethernet, VGA, and other serial ports.

The part that clinched the deal for me, it being a 486 Intel compatible CPU, I could run any OS on it I desired. Being a geek I had to chose Linux. :D Seeing that 16 meg HD is not that large I needed to find a version on Linux that would fit and be functional. Though there were many options, I chose the one that was provided by the distributor called White Dwarf. (see links below)

The installation of White Dwarf is strait forward and if you have and Internet connection, you can download the extra packages during the installation. With the package options you?re given, you can install your base OS with the size between 5 - 50 megs. You are given a lot of options from editors to a trimmed down version of Apache.

Now I can add my C++ or Java app (with a native compile) and I have a robot that can sit up and dance. I can use my strength to (programming) and give my robot a real brain on not just a bump and turn personality.

If you don?t mind breaking out the soldering iron (with robotics I hope you don?t) you can take the custom Dimm slot and mount it to your circuit board and move the Brain back a forth between your robot and development platform. You can write, test and debug your code on any PC you want then ftp it to your robot and off it goes.

If size, power consumption and computational power are a necessity in your next robotics project, I suggest you look in to the DimmPC. Not to mention that it is a really cool toy.

http://www.jumptec.de/product/data/dimmpc/dimmskd.html http://www.emjembedded.com/linux/dimmpc.html http://www.emjembedded.com/linux/dimmpc.html