dr_spock

Eurobricks Archdukes
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Everything posted by dr_spock

  1. dr_spock

    Powered Up 'M' Motors?

    One PU Simple Medium Motor was able to drive the Crocodile locomotive with 5 short 2 axle cars on level track. It was no speed demon. I think the recommended motor for the Crocodile in the instructions is the PU L-motor. I think it would not be a bad idea of have one of each motor types on hand to test what works for the MOC. There are many variables to consider.
  2. I think you can also use a worm gear for slow.
  3. You could install and run Windoze 95/98 in a VM using the Linux version of Oracle VM VirtualBox.
  4. dr_spock

    Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

    You could get a small UV inkjet printer and color scanner for around $10,000. Scan sticker sheets and print your own bricks. It is not quite pad printing quality but good enough. UV inks have shelf life of about 1 year depending on environmental condititions. Something to keep in mind as the inks are not cheap.
  5. I think you have to go up to a Mindstorm EV3 running ev3dev with a bluetooth 4.0 BLE USB dongle. With NXT, you need something to act as a middle man between old bluetooth and newer BLE.
  6. dr_spock

    [MOC] pirate brothel

    Ye not be bothered by brothel. All members are 18+ (unless they lied). We've done naughty Black Saily stuff before.
  7. dr_spock

    Help needed with Arduino ESP32 and 9v train

    Can you put up pictures of your setup and/or circuit board and/or diagram onto an image hosting site and deep link them here? The AnalogWrite is to provide a PWM signal to the motor driver IC. 110 divided by 255 is 0.43. Run the train motor at 43% power.
  8. dr_spock

    Lego stores

    Didn't LEGO buy back Merlin a few years ago?
  9. dr_spock

    Lego stores

    Population density may be a factor. We have 3 stores. We also have AFOLs who would drive an hour and half to shop at those stores.
  10. Looks good in yellow. It would be more in line with a "rescue vehicle".
  11. I have some 35 years-old ribbon cables and used that. Funny, it is still good compared to my LEGO 9V cables. I had to adjust the spacing of the individual wires. I wonder if old flat 4 conductor telephone cables would work too.
  12. dr_spock

    60197 train issue

    Check that your wheels aren't pressed tightly against the body of the train motor. It'll cause additional rolling resistance and increased current draw to overcome. You can turn the wheels by hand to feel for resistance.
  13. Thank you very much for the snippet of code and links. The RTS-CTS is good to know. I have a "North America" version of the Minitel. The keyboard feels pretty chiclet-key. It was used in a Bell Canada service called ALEX. It has a DIN 6 RS232 port in the back. I think it could be used as a serial monitor for the Arduino boards too. Maybe display messages from a Mindstorms EV3 with a bluetooth to RS232 interface?
  14. dr_spock

    Powered Up question

    You can use variable blocks to keep track if the extension or retraction has been set. It'll depend on you paying attention first time you operate the bridge after powering on the Powered UP to set up the bridge into a known state. Then you can use logic math blocks to compare and flow blocks to allow the extend or retract buttons to work or not.
  15. Good questions. I guess mimic RS232 IR LEGO Tower. I have a RS232 port on my old Thinkpad. I ran ScoutTool.exe in Windows 98. It's looking for ghosts? I received an order of MAX232 chips today. Going to turn an old Minitel into a serial TTY terminal for the 3D printer. They might be useful for a RS232 tower too? All this old hardware is a slippery slope, eh? Thanks.
  16. I think they might be single color surface mounted LEDs. I haven't seen them changed colors in the short time I played with the Scout. Nice work. A long, long time ago I mounted a Commodore 64 300 baud modem to a slot cover after converting it to work on a PC for friend. I used a slot cover that already had a cutout for a DB25 connector. I have a UNO too. What routines do you have?
  17. dr_spock

    Making sand red 1x2 plates

    Avast, LEGO hacking. A Dremel tool can also be mounted to a mill (or 3D printer) for an exact cut every time.
  18. Thanks. I should check with my LUG to see if anyone wants to part with their IR tower. Maybe it can be made using an Arduino Leonardo with IR LED and IR receiver? I found a copy of the Scout SDK and Scout Tools. I have an IBM Thinkpad T20 with Windows 98. Love those old IBM laptops that you can easily swap out the hard drives with different OS on them. Cool, it's alive. I thought the IBM PC XT came with 5.25" 360K floppy drive. Do you need an .img file of the IBM DOS boot diskette? Old hard drive magnets make good fridge magnets. :-) I can only get the top view. The circuit board negative contact pad is so corroded that I had to solder the battery negative terminal to what tiny bit of copper left on the PCB. The PCB is no longer removeable to get to the bottom side.
  19. dr_spock

    Do you tend to stick to your nationality?

    Build what you like. The folks with issues can kiss your caboose.
  20. They do not when brand new. "Batteries Not Included" is on the packaging. Buying used LEGO can be different.
  21. I use 99% to clean PCBs for soldering. Don't store your electronics with batteries inside if they are not going to be used for a long time. It's good idea to have sellers show you the battery compartment when buying used battery powered LEGO.
  22. I think fishnet nylons might be better.
  23. dr_spock

    Lithium or alkaline?

    Working better with 2 motors sounds you might be kicking in the over current protection with single motor. One way to find out is hook up an amp meter and see what's going on. It's possible to run two PU train motors by creating your own profile for it in the Powered UP app.
  24. I still have a copy of IBM DOS 3.10 copyrighted 1985. 128K RAM recommended. Back when a Bill dude said you didn't need more than 640K of RAM. I finally picked up that freebie SCOUT. It had issues with leaked alkaline batteries. I guess Duracells. Took apart to clean. Replaced the broken negative terminal with a spring Threw some Dyson power at it. It can run my PF motors with a PF extension cable. What else can it do? What software is used to program the SCOUT? I don't have a serial IR tower.