mcintyre@turing.cs.rpi.edu (David McIntyre) (02/04/90)
I called up about the design contest the first day we were allowed to, somewhere around Dec. 15th, and I haven't received my contest package either. I believe the person I talked to said something about late January, though. -dave Dave "mr question" McIntyre | "....say you're thinking about a plate mcintyre@turing.cs.rpi.edu | of shrimp.....and someone says to office : 518-276-8633 | you 'plate,' or 'shrimp'......"
koopman@a.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Philip Koopman) (02/05/90)
To the best of my knowledge, the contest materials have not
been sent out yet (the publications folks were'nt ready in
late January as they promised). I just received, last Thursday,
a preliminary copy of the entry form for review. It says
"Jaanuary 1990" in big letters on the cover. They should
be sent out to the several hundred entrants (and growing daily)
soon.
The form asks you some questions about title, key features of
your proposal, and your background. Most importantly, you get
one page for an abstract, and one page for a logic diagram/
logic flow chart. There are also samples on how to fill out
the forms.
The contest board is an RTX 2001A with a stripped-down Forth 83
in ROM (you *must* use Forth for this contest), 2K x 16 SRAM
(3K bytes available beyond that required by the compiler), and
a software-driven UART. You talk to it using an RS-232 comm. program
from your favorite computer. You don't need a completed design
info to get a board, just a reasonable idea of what it is you
want to do and enough writing on the form to convince the
judges you: 1) are serious about the contest
2) are reasonably clear about what you want to do
3) are going to do something at least a little creative
The deadline for returning the form is April 16, so there is
still plenty of time. I don't expect the form should take more
than a few minutes (15 to 100) to fill out (including drawings, typing, etc.)
if you have already thought about what you are going to do.
This is *not* official info. I'm just trying to defuse the
tension of those of you who are (rightly) getting impatient.
The contest is for real. The boards are being manufactured.
You didn't expect everything to go off without a hitch, did you?
Phil Koopman koopman@greyhound.ece.cmu.edu Arpanet
2525A Wexford Run Rd.
Wexford, PA 15090
Senior Scientist at Harris Semiconductor, adjunct professor at CMU.
I don't speak for them, and they don't speak for me.