Toastie

Thank you, Sir! Will download later tonight!!! Best Thorsten

Hey All, a Windows app! Nice. That one does not work by any chance with the 2I/O and 4I/O hubs, correct? Thanks! All the best, Thorsten

Uhmm - voting it out, right? Best Thorsten

Wait wait wait Has anyone of you been on Helium? Maybe not today, not yesterday afternoon ... but at anytime? So: No Porsche with the new Mindstorms sets. Correct? I mean, I am getting confused. Just imagine election day (whoa no not that one, the one for the new Mindstorms sets to be released) comes up in a month and someone from TLG drives in an SUV with the Porsche-Box clearly visible through the window ... that would make a difference! Oh well - have fun folks! Best Thorsten

Hmmm - December 1st ... Advent Calendar related??? That reminds me - need to spin it here - my wife claims from time to time that there are more than enough bricks in the house - but then she orders the Advent Calendar for me (I always go with City) - for more than 20 years now Waiting for it! Thanks for letting me know. All the best Thorsten

The RCX rotation sensor has simply not enough resolution (ticks per revolution) for this task. Upgearing may help to some extent - as others have suggested. However, this injects gear slack into the system. Repeated operation of a system that inherently exposes slack (sensor itself, gears, other tolerances) will always finally result in errors as you describe. I believe touch sensors are more appropriate. You can use two touch sensors on one RCX sensor input in parallel (instead of one rotation sensor), as our program knows what is to be expected: When the program is turning the lever "up", and any of the two sensors fire, you know it is the upper position, and vice versa. Best Thorsten

Don't be sorry at all. You asked and there were qualified replies. Which allowed you to proceed! Does not get any better. Have fun and all the best! Thorsten

This topic is really, really nice, I so love it. Thank you very much @Peppermint_M for bringing this up. It will "reveal" - or better seriously reassure us (and that is in my opinion a most valuable thing, in the days we live) - with such an enormous drive - that every single (I mean that) piece TLG has made will be a favorite for someone. And that is the core of this hobby to me. How could I live without a 1x1? Or 2x2? Never. 1x8 are nice. So are baseplates. Technic plates and bricks; beams, pins, axles, gears, large pieces - everything! My favorite parts are all TLG have ever made. Best Thorsten

Jeeez. I am getting too old and too slow for this Thanks for clarifying! Best Thorsten

What? A Porsche? For a Mindstorms set? A car? At least it has electric propulsion ... Oh well. Makes it easy not to buy that one, but to wait for the Mindstorms parts on BL. Best Thorsten

I believe there is no question. Just do FLL with EV3. Best Thorsten

@Cosmik42 I totally missed this - no idea why. But your move is so incredibly reassuring: We remain to be a real community here on EB - which is entirely not the case in so many other "places" in life. Thank you very very much for doing this. For me it makes the whole difference. All the very best wishes and hopes for your endeavors! Sincerely, Thorsten

Well, where does TLG make them? I don't know, but I would be surprised if not there. So fake yes. But Chinese? Best Thorsten

I am fully with you here - never change a running system. I still do use MLCad as there was no reason to make a transition to other software. However, I believe this is really just a matter of getting used to it or what you grew up with. Learning the tricks and tweaks of new software is inherently difficult without to the detail manuals, which is in turn a pain in the butt to make. But again: MLCad works for me and works - as far as I can tell - flawlessly. Best Thorsten

Oh no: You >will< find it out. And it will be nice. Don't rely on other's people thoughts and thinking: Do your thing! And keep in mind what @Peppermint_M suggested. Find your way here. It is really worth it. This place is (as far as I can tell, heck what do I know) different from so many other web-based places. The folks running this forum and trying to keep it up to the guidelines are really incredible - in so many regards. Best Thorsten

No, not sarcasm. It is: Reinforcing what you just replied! I find that really, really nice! Best wishes and keep it coming! Best Thorsten

(Check this: This is a one icon, no paragraph, entirely serious response!)

(Hell - typed something super smart - sounded totally dumb after reading it, deleted it - so many times now ...) OK - here we go: That said: It is the decision of the folks who reply, isn't it? To be quite honest: Before the shit hit the fan here, I was kinda on the same track. But looking back: I kinda feel it "refreshing". A sentence here, a new twist there. And all the heavy weights - well - weigh in. And then a new push into a new direction. What is wrong with that? Thinking about it: @JintaiZ I like it. I like to be challenged. If it is just a new twist. I do like that. Plus: Your replies are always kind. Got that a little wrong: Please accept my apologies. With regard to the love of LEGO and the notion that being critical is not appropriate: The moment you are not critical anymore (in the true sense of being critical: Educated, aware, awake, constructive ...), chances are you're getting blind. I do love LEGO. But love is not pledging the allegiance to the brick. Love is much more than that. And with that: Best Thorsten Merde: You just posted a second before me ... 2nd Edit: OK, it was 5 minutes

That is certainly true - I was referring though to the "makers" and not the "players". The ones that have all these machines and folks that actually make stuff; electronics, plastics, cars, TV sets - as said - virtually everything. So I just put myself into the position of lets say a person who runs a manufacturing place for PUp devices - just teh electronics that is. He has instructions - signed the hell of a paperwork not to tell anyone, what is going on. Just order stuff put it together, ship it over to the US/Europe/etc. in big containers. That person has multiple vpn tunnels to places all over the world - who has not in a totalitarian system. He knows what the increase in value is, when his stuff leaves his place and shows up at the other side of the pond. And further in the great stores selling the stuff to customers. Or via TLGs online portals; currently 50€ for the 2IO PUp hub. Electronics made for far less than 1$ at his place - including his margin. Somebody else shows up and says: How much for the circuit diagrams? I leave it up to the fair players, the loyal believers in fair trade, the belief in the power of IP, the moral of Homo sapiens to answer with: "Sorry, I am not allowed to tell. Please leave." I also bet that being in his position with what he knows, many in his position would at least give it a shot (just asking - no obligations made): "How much do you intend to spend?" I call that the real world. Oh well. It is what it is. Best Thorsten And that is what I am enjoying pretty much. Your posts included, which I think highly of. As of so many others - the ones I'd like to call (with pride being a tiny little part of these discussions) the usual suspects. It - for some reason - feels good. True, the one sentence answers don't tell much if at all, but the multi paragraphs of the usual suspects do. Best Thorsten

Well, I have an utterly different opinion on that, particularly the last part as justification for the first part - but as you said, we don't want to derail this thread. Sent a you a PM Best Thorsten

Well. Sure. Question is: Why does Lepin not make their bricks in Denmark? Or ... the US? Or Germany? Why do we not get the red-hot orders from them? Even when they make their own "new" stuff, like tanks and other warfare items? We have for some time now a forum here on EB featuring such things, even some of them are frontpaged! 1942 Stalingrad. Repairing the wire. How sick can it get? And every single LEGO bit of electronics will for sure be "Made in China". Best Thorsten

OK, I did not want to point this out - being an old fart as I am. BUT: Ever programmed low level 1MB of flash? 320 kB of RAM??? You can securely autonomously fly to Mars, take samples there, and securely make it back to Earth with this size of memory - on the low level side of programming. And speaking of which: The ads don't suggest that: They do promote moving this and that, blinking LEDs here and there - but that is what an RCX could do as well - provided it was equipped with Dick Swans enhanced firmware (later called the RobotC firmware) and we had the motors to react swiftly to the input sensors. What I see is basically line followers. @Coder Shah has shown a very nice line-up recently. Yes, there is BLE, all the modern stuff to control things. I like to know: What is the major step forward from 1998 to now. I believe, I am missing something. Being able to plug in a sensor into a random port, so that the device figures out it is not an actor is convenient. But not the world of micro-controllers: You tell them what you what the pin should be. On a rather low level. It cost you max. 6 bytes of machine code. Best Thorsten

Huh? Way more durable? You mean the ABS bricks? Never. TLG's bricks will last as long as Lepin bricks do. You know, time is moving on. One thing, that I don't like at all, is underestimating the challenger. Never do that. Has it ever appeared to you that today virtually everything is "Made in China"? And why is that? Because we are all so super-smart over here in the - whatever world? So we make all the plans? But: when you want to actually "make" it: Phew - too expensive here - let us go to China!!! Woohoo!!! Yes, we grant them to "make" it. But beware: THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LOOK AT IT. Just >make< it. CHEAP. So we can make the most profit possible. Man. History tells a different story. We may begin at the age of industrialization. Who stole what from whom ... And believe me: I don't like stealing intellectual property. None-what-so-ever. Preventing it is part of my professional life. It is totally unfair. But you know what? So is the world we are living in. Best Thorsten

That is >entirely< true I believe this has - for some time now - already happened. TLG was/is a global power player - in its market segment. And has tried to expand into many other segments as well. History tells. I also believe they are/were at a point, where they have/had to take this route. A company of this size, with a work force of this size, in a world of true global capitalism - has to perpetually "expand". Using every avenue possible. And as I see it: They try, do, have done. Licensing is one viable route to go. Particularly, when originating from the toy market. Just speculating. Best Thorsten

As @Ragana9289 said: Better than LEGO (can do). Not only the bucket. The entire model (MOC is not really capturing it: It is a "Model", in many regards!). 30 years of experience very, very clearly show - everywhere. 3D printing - even using more expensive devices - would not even come close to the finish of your hand-crafted beauty. Do you do rail-road (or the like) "modeling" by any chance? Whenever I see what these folks accomplish with sheets of styrene cut and glued to perfection, bridges, houses, any "structures": I am blown away. First it is white or whatever color, then an initial coat of something, then several coats of something else. In the end, it looks like a perfect injection molded piece. As your bucket does. This model is truly representing the art of building as well as the art of creating custom parts. Congratulations! All the best Thorsten