Toastie

Hmm - yes I did. It says "fan". Hey, I am a LEGO fan - my attic is literally >full< of it. But I am not a LEGO fanatic who excludes the entire alternative ABS world. I am also a fan of certain alt.bricks. Same thing with, e.g., beers: I am a true Flensburger fan - but I also like Super Bock. And about 50+ other types of beers. Best Thorsten

Aha! I am a nerd - I don't know such serious terms. Well, in binary system, even with just two trailing zeros, the financial oversight committee here would be very nervous. With three trailing zeros - over and out. Well, I have a C64, know how to fix it, have a working 1541, and the SD2IEC (internal) ... and three Int.As. No, I am not serious Best Thorsten Forgot: And made "The Cable" for about $10.

Well I believe @amine is already all over it, right? He is also in Europe ... Best Thorsten

@amine - I agree! Did you contact him? Totally unrelated - do any of you guys follow the YT channel of Dave Plummer (Dave's Garage)? This is a really cool channel, he was with Microsoft back in the days. His tutorials and other videos are just mind-blowing. (OK, they blow my mind ...) This is for the elderly in this thread: Ir is as here were 1:1 describing my early computer years in Northern Germany (I had to download the transcript of this video - it is too good to just see or hear it. I reformatted it by hand and not ChatGPT ): He talks a lot about BASIC, @evank! Best Thorsten

Hi Evan, very good to hear that it all went well!!! I was thinking of you (OK, as if this makes any difference for your show ...) That is the reward for good and hard work! Congratulations - you have really earned it. Man, how I love, what's on the screen - this is the real thing. Speaking of which: I really don't know. Very good for development, very good for travelling, but I believe you'll need maybe much more time to "convince" people that this is all "real" - as in ancient? Not only the LEGO stuff, but everything on the computer side as well? On the other hand, running your authentic GWBASIC (hey, try QuickBasic!) in the DOXBox-X emulator in full screen mode may work as well. Hmm. If I were attending, the Apple would catch my attention and then the LEGO. As you are on LEGO shows, this will certainly be the other way around - so - yes, the "modern HW approach" could work as well! Once again: Very well done! All the best Thorsten ESPs have arrived, the frenzy may begin :D

That is a really wonderful story! Thank you for sharing! Well, the mods will be after us pretty soon, I believe ... but: I can surely and happily live with that (>here<). Best Thorsten

Can confirm: Yes, that worked/works as well! Cool. Best Thorsten

Oh yes!!! Another long term discussion here in the family. OK, now that we are at it My wife is so much into plants that attract bees. Because bees do things to/with plants. Everything on our property are "botanicals" that are interesting for insects. There are some that can sustain periods of droughts, there are (many) others, that - so far - can't. We are planning on changing to such drought resistant plants as much as possible - and want at the same time as many insects spending time here. For the wild bees it already worked; there are about 15 or so lill' "houses" (equipped with these "pipe type rooms"), all occupied. For quite some years now. And all fruit plants are doing well. I know how crazy that sounds, but it seems to work. On a larger scale, it is ridiculous, I know all that. However, family members seem to wanting to take that route as well. With all they have at hands. So yes, cactuses will survive droughts - but are totally uninteresting to insects. And >me<: We have an about 2m high (it started as a 20 cm IKEA wonder) monster in the living room. I am entertaining the idea of opening up the (cardboard) ceiling, giving it +50 more cm. And this one is tough: When relocating it for window cleaning ... leather. So: Totally derailed this thread. Yeah. It's Eurobricks. Here you can do that. And I want to. Best Thorsten

Was waiting for that OK, there are flowers hanging from the walls, on drawers, on desks, actually also from the ceiling. Yes. Can be done. The piping alone will be interesting to design. And yes, there are these "containers", delivering water at a certain rate. The latter are all done, for the big ones ;) Tell that automation frenzy (I was so ready) to a loved one who is into the "Theory of Languages". Which I have become also madly in love with, as I have learned at lot about the importance of "language". Best Thorsten

NICE! Mailbox messages are LEGO Blockly to NXT, and NXT to LBlockly, correct? As I can compose outgoing NXT messages also in BricxCC, I can read the reply in LBockly, right? Best Thorsten

I am so with you. Nice write up, I read your previous posts as well. Enjoyed them. Uhmm ... my daughter lives for her PhD studies in Manheim. In an attic style flat, 5th floor. Average indoor temperature 36°C++ during the lasts weeks (or were it months?). Her real "botanicals", and there are a lot, are suffering, and the moment she leaves for two days or more with no one around taking care of watering, they are close to dying. She never made it into LEGO (and always says I am not an idiot playing with these), but I sent her some small stets over the spring and summer - only to make her feel less miserable about "not caring". It worked . So as always, special cases need special attention ... other than that, I am totally with you. Best Thorsten

True So, I saw the first photograph and thought: Nice box, I like it, but it is ... a box. Well, better than a car Then I read on and then BOOOOOM - I was completely blown away. That is crazy! Unbelievable. You know, this thing looks great as a shelf queen for adults relishing the CD decades ... but when you open the hood, it is a Technic wonder!!! Wow. Yes: Technic and System do >very< well together here. No blue pins, no bullet holes ... Congratulations on this really marvelous achievement!!! And thank you very much for the offering of free instructions. I am very much looking forward to getting these! All the best Thorsten

I fully share your disappointment, Jim. Yes, asking for the opinion of people, regardless of the setting, be it a faculty meeting (these are the worst!), discussing with students the possible format of an exam, public meetings w/ discussion about -> fill in any theme here <-, community meetings, what-ever meetings, will eventually lead to such expressions. Even if there is a majority of 70+ %, some of the 30% will have hard time accepting the outcome. The thing is: So many have voiced that they are fine with whatever the outcome is. Unfortunately, the negative voices stick. They echo back and forth, and sound so "loud". The positive voices are recognized but they don't resonate as much. This is my experience: 10 people tell me how great a talk was, one says: have been there, nothing new ... and this tends to stick in my head. The real award of the approach you took is the entire multiple pages long discussion and engagement in/of the community. The proposal some made. Opinions were given. Activity was shown. Care, energy, willingness to discuss, even controversially. When you first ask for opinions (of any audience) and then have to make a decision, it will inevitably happen. The trick is counting your blessings: The entire EB team has simply done absolutely great in this case. And this is why I am sincerely thanking you for asking the EB community for opinions. This is absolutely not a given. Yours Thorsten

Uhm ... line 1 in this quote does contradict line 3, doesn't it? Yeah, I agree! That sounds like me (and you): The (super) nerds I can truly and happily live with that. Best Thorsten This is so not offtopic: Thank you for doing that, Christoph. I highly appreciate that! Best Thorsten

Fine, if this is where "people" are. It is good! I am glad that you rock your social Italian/worldwide media! And this is not meant to be sarcastic, or in any way negative. In contrast! I really see that. But: Your theme was the ever popular Harry Potter. I can see that as well. However, where is YT, Fb, X, TikTok Instagram to let >me< find out, in an educated way, how to connect to a LEGO Cybermaster PBrick? How to run an RCX using legacy software? How to ... I'll stop it. Where do I find that? And where do I find, how to use the various >LEGO< legacy communication protocols to connect to an RCX, SCOUT, Cybermaster, Spybot, Control Center I/II, Interface A/B, NXT, PoweredUp, Spike, PF, RC, ad so on and so forth in a "modern" world? On Instagram or Tiktok? Sorry. No. Even worse: No chance. It simply does not "count". Is it relevant to LEGO legacy? I absolutely think so. Once again: If your being depends on counts, and people counting, do the social media. If it is about knowledge dissipation, and conservation, do forums and the Internet Archive. Just my take. Best Thorsten