Toastie

Eurobricks Dukes
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About Toastie

  • Rank
    Good Spirited
  • Birthday 02/17/1962

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  • What is favorite LEGO theme? (we need this info to prevent spam)
    Trains
  • Which LEGO set did you recently purchase or build?
    A minifig

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  • Website URL
    https://www.ptc.uni-wuppertal.de/de/startseite/

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Wuppertal
  • Interests
    LEGO, electronics, micro controllers, lasers, making things work

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  • Country
    Germany
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    https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/uploads//gallery/album_241/gallery_8966_241_2675.png

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  1. Toastie

    Little Crane

    Town, as in EB EDIT: Respectfully (end edit) Yours, Thorsten
  2. Ah. OK no, that won't work. Does bricklab.exe run under Win 3.11? The latter can be installed in DOSBox-X as well. OK, Win 3.11 was a DOS application anyway Best, Thorsten
  3. Toastie

    Little Crane

    Hmmm. True: The gear reduction on this one could be almost infinite, maybe Emanuele has invented a very small almost frictionless gear box, which is mounted under the "hood". And then flux compression (invented in 1955) and voilà: What takes ages in the purely mechanical world takes only seconds outside of Einstein's laws limiting everything to the speed of light ... Things really get cheap and small nowadays. Best, Thorsten
  4. Hi Lars, it is all pure speculation because I don't have the hard nor the software ... Just to get this into the clear: You have the usb2serial adapter plugged in, when DOSBox-X is not running (i.e., you are in the Windows desktop; DOSBox-X it does not recognize the adapter when you plug it into a USB port after it was started); You changed the COM port for that adapter to COM1 in device manager; Then you start-up DOSBox-X with the config file (there are three: 1) dosbox-x.reference.full.conf, 2) dosbox-x.reference.conf, 3) dosbox-x.conf; only the last one is read by DOSBox-X upon start-up - it took me a while to figure that out ^^), where you changed the serial entry to "serial = directserial realport:COM1"; Then you run "bricklab.exe", which is the DOS version to control interface B; In "bricklab.exe", the COM port is set to COM1. Is that correct? Best, Thorsten
  5. Hi Lars, I am asking, because I have no clue what kind of software is available for interface B (other than the Windows application found on the web). So when the original Dacta application is DOS based (please forgive me my ignorance!), it will run with DoxBox-X + USB2Serial adapter almost for sure. Best, Thorsten
  6. Hi Lars, not that I know of, but that does not mean anything. I bet DosBox-X will work with interface B, as is does very nicely simulate the serial port at 9600 baud. With old link, you are referring to this one, right? (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/192941-lego-interface-a-97509771-–-lego-technic-control-1-tc1-referenceideas-thread/) Are you planning on writing DOS based software for interface B? All the best, Thorsten
  7. Oh, that is really a nice one ... you know, there were (and are) many steam engines (to be) built in bricks. What really catches me on your choice is the clear "loftiness" between boiler/smoke box and running gear/cylinders. The LEGO approach (used e.g. for the Emerald Night) and many, many other designs, seem to imply a bold and solid (brick built) connection between the steam engine and the "wheels". That is absolutely fine with me. But the moment you see the thermodynamic machine (smoke box, boiler, cylinders) propelling the engine via rods/mechanical force transformation assemblies) clearly separated - that is what I find very exciting. And that is what you accomplished here. Thanks for sharing! All the best, Thorsten
  8. Toastie

    Which Comic Do You Read?

    "Asterix & Obelix" ... nothing else ... ... the parole? No idea, btw, you think and I am ... which is a very nice translation of "cogito ergo sum" when you are a team of two. Cheers! Thorsten
  9. Toastie

    Little Crane

    Hi Emanuele, I truly love this. The smaller the MOCs the harder it gets (as far as I am concerned). I really like your attention to detail - not only when you build super trains (as in super cars ...) and you built many(!!!), no also when it comes to hardworking individuals on the track. And that is a lovely crane! All the best, Thorsten (P.S.: Still studying the code, your son wrote - I am slow - but please congratulate him on his work!!!)
  10. That sounds very exciting! Thank you for all your efforts! Once again: The "frontpage" disappears in no time - pinned topics remain accessible for a long time - well as long as they are pinned. Yes, I do see the honor when folks/themes/topics are frontpaged!!! On another thought: Who really cares about a striking promo image when it comes to using PoweredUp? Just put a bold THE ULTIMATE POWERED UP GUIDE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE IT WAS INTRODUCED For bloody beginners to total programming nerds. - advanced pairing - the meaning of the hub's LED colors - - THE guide to all programming blocks - - and how to meaningful connect them to power your MOCs at another level of control - YOU WILL BE AMAZED text only frontpage - it certainly will catch attentions, I am sure. After all, people here on EB can read. Maybe choose a nifty font or cool colors, but I believe b/w using Arial is much better ... But that is my opinion only of course! Best, Thorsten
  11. Hi Dave, @Milan, @JopieK, that is a very good idea! Way better than frontpaging (which would be of course also "nice" but by far not as sustainable ;) All the best, Thorsten
  12. Wow!!! I am simply stunned. Just turned every page of your document ... Absolutely true! I bet that the level of acceptance of PoweredUp as operating and/or programming environment would have gone through the roof instead of being regarded as too complicated, wishy-washy, unreliable, garbage (just browse this forum) ... as far as I am concerned any such rather complex (and at that time new) environment is just as good as documentation is. Yes, one can "find out" this and that and finally everything - you have more than proven that it works - but generally, people don't have as much passion and skills as you have! I truly believe that TLG massively screwed-up on this one: Proper documentation. To be clear: Your absolutely fantastic work is not outdated at all. It appears to me as if TLG simply cranked out a (really nice!) programmable hardware product line that was in some sort of decent state, hardware- and firmware-wise, that is. The LWP3.0 document they threw onto GitHub (lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs), is still "almost" up-to date ... after >6< years of not being touched at all! But application-wise (the most time-consuming thing in every hard/software development project released to the public or a broader audience) they simply utterly screwed-up. Yes, have read it here and there, small number of people involved, and so on and so forth - same thing as so often seen in other companies as well. And in addition, new software items were added, updated and so on - but still no documentation. As it stands now, PoweredUp is a fully blown programming language with visual IDE and all bells and whistles, as your source code listings clearly show. And still no TLG documentation. Now, after 6 years, we finally have an up-to date, complete, very nicely composed and structured documentation of how programming within the PoweredUp world works. With all the essential - or better, crucial - information in one place. How to pair, advanced pairing, meaning of the colors - even this must be so frustrating for many people not wanting to take a long time to figure it out by trial and error. Your programming examples are excellent choices. Your listing of the (now) almost countless instructions is a marvel. The further information you provide finally explains why this and that was/is behaving in that and this way ... I am really very excited about this document. In conclusion: TLG should compensate you with a LOT of money - as the time you spent on this plus your excellent work is what they essentially just saved in expenses. Plus, I bet their version of documentation would not even come close to what you have accomplished. Thank you very, very much for sharing this document! With very best regards, Thorsten Oh no - did I miss something here? PoweredUp is still an active program, isn't it? Or did they already suggest some "retiring soon" dates??? Hopefully not - I love PUp. Programming it with 3rd party software, that is. Best, Thorsten
  13. Toastie

    Another Newbie

    Welcome, @Stevel Kennevil! almost the same here: I am playing with LEGO for 59 years ... All the best, Thorsten
  14. Hmm - define 8-bit ;) The Hitachi/Renesas H8/300 microcontroller built into the RCX has eight 16-bit GP registers it uses for various things ... https://lisha.ufsc.br/teaching/shi/processors/h8/overview.pdf But yes, as the Zilog Z80 CPU, the H8/300 used in the RCX is considered an 8-bit microcontroller (8-bit data handling). I don't think there was any true 16-bit microcontroller used in LEGO PBricks - the time between release of the RCX and the NXT was so long, that it did nor make sense to use a 16 -bit variety but do it right away with a 32-bit (RISC) controller. Best, Thorsten