Toastie

He is not threatening! He is playing. Maybe like Mr. Bond. Maybe with more than just that. But RELAX. There are folks here who will play it right as well. Just relax. And go with the flow. Smoothly. Best! Thorsten

Come on! This is fun. This is what you will find only in well moderated forums and with this decent tone ONLY on EB. As far as I know, but I don't know much. The scary part comes when they negotiate the numbers! Just relax, sit back and enjoy Jethro Tull! Best Thorsten

I simply don't get it. Is this a Blues Brothers like joke? Jake: How much for the little girl? The women? How much for the women? Customer: What? Jake: Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters. Sell them to me. Sell me your children! Customer: Matre d'! Matre d'! Mr Fabulous: [To Jake] Cut it out. Cut it out. The owners are gonna ask me to call the cops. Jake: You wouldn't do that to me would ya man? Elwood: He just got outta Jolliet, he's on parole. You can't call the cops on him man. Jake: We're putting the band back together. Mr Fabulous: I said no. Absolutely not. What am I missing here? OK, lets assume you bought EB. Whatever it is: A decently fast PC or Macintosh - some Invision forum software - maybe their support for 2 more years, 2 DVDs showing how it all works - and a freebee, that came along with purchasing the PC and or the software - hmmm - a ball pen with "EB Forum rocks" on it. And now what? What is your plan? Buying "the thing" ... man. OK, lets go on. A decent "PC" - 128 cores - 1TBytes memory (in that case you could run full blown fluid dynamics simulations on it; the results sell well(!) and some cool array of 4TB hard disks - make that 20k. The Invision software ... hmm - what 5k at most? So 25k. Now you have the hardware - the domain costs are nothing compared to that. Plus you could host the whole thing for far far far less. Not the point. Who do you hire for moderation and organization? At what costs? How will you generate income? Stupid ads? Or do you have all the money to pay for that as well? Lets assume that as well. What on Earth is your plan, man? What is your idea? The new thing? The making it better way? Or different? Would be cool to learn that as well - and not just all this "How much for the women" talk. Rock on, Thorsten

I completely with you. Well, I don't even have a (smart) phone. Mine is dumb. SMS is max. Reason: I like asynchronous replies or posting. My laptop is quite the machine but that one is not with me wen I am walking the woods. 100% agreed. And still is in my opinion. I briefly looked into other places, saw all that yelling and since then find it funny and rewarding to have the Big Brother filter thingy of EB not catching unhealthy words like "sh*t". Exactly. Plus: Chances are that someone will try to ground the whole thing after the heat to high up. And lastly: How much or many is a quadrizillion? That is a lot, right? As in sh*tload? Or even more? I love this place. And will continue to do so. All the best Thorsten

A bit late to the game (actually not, was following this thread from the beginning). My personal take on this "40th anniversary" train set is: With @Carefree_Dude's modification, it becomes a really nice and true 40th anniversary set. Without, the spacing of the wheels is - well - bad. Really bad. On display, from any angle other than fully sideways, they look like touching. And this, because there are no other wheels. 40th anniversary sets should either have decent parts or - decent solutions. I'll build that little one from parts I have (I don't have any Technic 1x2's with two holes in red, but I can't care less - spacing is so much nicer - and you barely can spot it). Thank you very much @Carefree_Dude for sharing!!! Best wishes Thorsten

Sure, all PF motors don't have any electronics at all in them - other than capacitors. But the plugs are perfect to run PF equipment on PUp - which TLG failed to provide. So what was the fear? Best Thorsten

These adaptors are just for that, aren't they? Operating PF (or any other dumb active 9V device) from PUp? All the smart PUp device have the 6 wire plug, enabling communication, anyway. Or do I miss something? Best Thorsten

@JaBaCaDaBra Wow. I like the way a link can seriously challenge @Mechbuilds reply (the "massive chunk of wasted space" that is - which it is definitely not) The PoweredUp "battery boxes" are migrating towards very powerful BLE devices - having batteries on board as well. The firmware improvements and the approach they are set up is really nicely thought out. So: Why did TLG not do it? Why on earth are they not providing these >damned plugs<? Because we can mess it up? Look, all >stupid< LEGO motors, from the very beginning of the LEGO 9V universe to the end of every PF motor - even including the LEGO 9V train motors, who would have possibly seen that one coming (nife!) - will seamlessly work with PUp - using these freaking nice Chinese adapters. Man. What is going on here? It is all over the internet how to do it - but we don't get the plugs. I will order 50 of those. Just to be on the safe side. It appears as if TLG still believes we are ... not getting it. All the best, Thorsten

@Brandon PeaAnd you know what: I knew that. It was much more in conjunction with what @Aanchir basically said about "time and effort" - and ... uhmm ... "result?" I bet I am wrong here but just from the deepness of her thoughts and very, very carefully balanced replies, I am just guessing. I liked the way you were addressing her - the "what up" phrase: Back in Irvine/CA it took me quite some time, to comprehend what that meant, when Ruben, one of my (American) graduate students back then - making more money that I ever can dream of (less money but SOE is nice though!) - showed up in my office and said: Whaddup man? I liked it really - just from the tone. It sounded cool. And at the same time, Matt showed up (he was seriously surfing in Newport Beach) - "Surf's up, dude" ... man. The good ol'days ... we did some really nice laser ionization wavelength scans later - and played foosball because these scans took forever ... foosball in the lab that is - they asked me, we got one ... good times. I am now back in Germany for 19 years - but there are - for sure - two very nice tournament-quality foosball tables in two labs ... I frequently visit. And only in this particular regard - taking into consideration what her reply was about effort and time - I thought it would be OK to ... challenge you. In a way that we both keep our face - in contrast to the thread that you very correctly pointed to! You know, I like this forum. I like all of you guys. I like the whole shoo bang. All the best and have a nice weekend! Thorsten

Huh??? So how does this work: Try not to disagree? Somebody says something, which I absolutely do not agree on. For example: "Blue is yellow". Then I write: "Your are wrong: Blue is not yellow - that is rubbish". What do you feel is wrong here? The "Your are wrong", the "Blue is not yellow", or the "that is rubbish" bit? I sure hope you mean the first and last bits, right? These are rude. The one in the center is true though ... Example 2: I am saying "I like Friends, because they have beautiful colors and don't shoot all the time at each other, in contrast". Someone replies: "Crap! Those colors are for girls and shooting each other is cool - it's only a game play". Well. You know, I definitely will disagree and get into disagreements here. For the long run. Example 3: Someone asks: "What do you think will happen to TLC, when a virus attack hits Billund". Someone else replies "Nothing". Another: "The end of the world comes close". Well, I don't think so. Should I not disagree? I certainly will. I hope you mean something else: Don't be rude. Don't tell people they are wrong. Or not getting it. I hope this is what you have in mind. Disagreeing is the most powerful route to entirely new ideas. New ways of looking at something. Learning. But disagreeing on an educated level. Maybe as in: "Hmm. I have another opinion that I like to share. No offense here but I don't agree with what you said." In most cases agreeing on everything said results in something with no drive anymore. I leave out all that other rather political stuff. And finally: For "I like City" there is no "What?". The "like" part is >individual<. Things change a bit already when someone says "I like City, because ..." as now apparently some logic meets feelings. And it gets worse when it comes to "I like Technic because it is the most advanced and most successful theme in this spiral arm of the galaxy we live in". Disagreement is programmed into that statement almost by definition. So my take is: Be polite in your answers. But even more so: Don't provoke with your questions or statements. Everyone here on EB and everywhere else has an opinion. Voiced apparently clearly, logically, and yes provocative. I believe it is called "real life". All the best Thorsten

I do what @Peppermint_M, @MAB, and @KotZ have said. As most of the things I build for my little LEGO world are freestyle (either as MOC itself or when placing an adapted set where it definitely not belongs) I mostly buy sets for parts. Either for shapes and/or colors ... or fun. Just now I am "integrating" all the stets not used for parts (ships, minifigs, 4.5V and 12V track etc - that needs a lot of e.g. gray or whatever-color-sand-is plates to build foundations, blue (light and dark ...) for a little water. As I learned about two months ago that there is a rather large BL store (FigsBricks) around the corner (5 miles), I don't do PaB anymore - they have it all. Large amounts from them, all the fun stuff from sets. I never planned a MOC - I just build with what I have. And then put some MOCs into electronic form using MLCAD for documentation purposes. On the other hand: Who on earth is interested in that? Well - I am - it is fun to browse through LDraw files more than 15 years old ... All the best Thorsten

But your wonderful, breathtaking station will survive that one for sure. All the very best! Thorsten

Well. You know, there was just another Corona bit on German (tax paid) TV, two days or so ago; they do a 2 minutes of stock trade updates thing before the bad news hit on 7 pm. The guy literally said: We have so high development costs here in Germany, so we have to make our profits in China. I believe it cannot get more cynical than that. And now corona hits hard - and everywhere in the western world, they are pi**ing in their pants - no, sorry - they are very nervous. What on earth are people thinking? "We think it", "they make it" - for cheap? I can't stand it anymore. I cannot. And the world seem to collapse because the Chinese folks don't produce. My goodness. Where are "we"??? I know. Don't even write it: Stealing ideas, ripping off, copycats, whatever. But then: Make it >here<, where labor costs are >high<, because we live on that. And I know, there are many here that are not in the "wealthiness loop", where we care about ... new lime Technic parts ... than everything else. Put an idea on the web and then enjoy the interest in it. Per se and not per money. Just my two cents. I seem to collaborate with too many people in the third world (NOT including China, as I see them as drivers in every regard, bad or good) Best Thorsten

Both, more "crazy" MOCing than modeling. Crazy as in "building a train tunnel with a green canopy on top" and then e.g. merging in StarWars sets (the ones that fit - as far as I am concerned) and so on. Freestyle Best regards, Thorsten

I >for sure< do!!! Good luck - cross my fingers! Best Thorsten

For sure! In the recent past, I had the impression that the original "Technic & Mindstorms" forum - should be separated - into two. Because "Technic" folks were and are going nuts on what the bricks can do - and the "Mindstorms" folks were more and more diving into what that electronics stuff can do. OK. Historically speaking Mindstorms was always closely tied to Technic (as far as I am concerned) - and the other way around. Maybe wrong. Whatever. I had a very brief discussion with Jim - and he (as far as I know, I just post here!) created the Mindstorms forum. I bet there were elaborate discussion within board meetings. Subforum or not ... and a million other thoughts. Now we have the Mindstorms forum and I believe this was a very, very smart move. I love that place. However: I sometimes feel a notion here on this forum: We are the Technicians - what do we care about the others. Maybe wrong, I give you that, but it was voice here and there. Thing is: I believe that all Mindstorms (EV3, NXT, RCX ... SPIKE?), PUp (Software: PUp App, Control+ App), PUp (Hardware: Actuators, motors, sensors) ideas and developments should go there and all technical (i.e., hardware builds) should go here. And then folks who are interested can focus on here, here and there, or there. In the end, when TLG has figured it out (I believe they are within a Maelstrom of PUp possibilities - and "third party" participant's ideas, programs, and creativity), provided they do ever - these two forums will be the stronghold of "Technical Building". All the best Thorsten

@I_Igor Oh no - I sure hope your dog is recovering well? Our dog had to undergo a similar thing - she is doing well again, after two weeks (she is 16 years old now - a refugee from Korfu). And I hope it was the kind of surgery that really gives hope, when it was "successfully" done! [Covid-19 ... is in part mass hysteria. And in part a deadly disease. I just hope that mankind will "stay reasonable" and "reflective"; it is serious - but it is not the end of Live on Earth. Just because markets go crazy, just because numbers pop up as mushrooms everywhere does not mean it is "real". People are dying by the thousands each day, every minute all over this planet - due to wars, hunger, and crazy people in charge. And nobody notices that. Don't get me wrong: Covid-19 is serious. But so are so many other diseases (and much more so: situations) on this planet. As of >now<. The difference is (I believe): "It" has reached "us". "Us" as in: We were living in peace and freedom and now that. And then folks living in the "Garden of Eden" (US, EU, etc) buy ... forget it, I don't want to go any further. I am in trouble anyways I guess ...] But I will press submit. Again: All the best for you, your family, and your pets - I like to call family members as well. Thorsten

Huh? What is clumsy here? This is brilliant. And mish-mash is what LEGO is all about!!! What else? Very nice monster. And very cool functions. [Cats ... we have two - a Queen and a King, they are siblings. And of the very proud "we are the top of the evolution" type. Got them because they were found in the trash - during the yearly public cleanup season - and nobody said: Yes, of course they can stay in the cardboard box for a couple of hours ... then my two girls (now 23 and 24 years old) saw them in the box - and later in the evening I saw them. About 4 weeks old, 10 cm long, deep blue eyes back then. What was it ... a tenth of a second? My wife said: And I will have to feed them ... we were maybe talking a couple of minutes. And now they are (apparently) not impressed by anything anymore. They are terrorizing the neighborhood, killing mice and some birds ... top of the evolution! BUT: Today was vaccination day. Phew. All that glory gone ... he just couldn't hold his ... whatever. It puts things into perspective though ... ] Congratulations on your achievement! Best Thorsten

@Critical thinker OK. Next question: How does your robot look like? (Hardware setup) Next question then: How do you accomplish the line following task? Classical line follower by scanning left to right and whenever there is a change from bright to dark change direction? Or a more advanced code? Is the floor exactly as shown in your picture? Does the yellow line penetrate the black line or not at all? When you have two color sensors, it becomes much easier: Depending on your robot, the scanning becomes much smoother as you can look at either border of the black line. When one color sensor detects a black/green change -> steer appropriately. And you can look for a black/yellow and/or green/yellow change on both as well; this means you need to branch off and then detect yellow/green changes for steering. But again: It all depends on your robot design and availability of more color sensors than one. Best Thorsten

Hi Jim, perfect review. The photographs alone blow me off. Really everything to the point. [Everything? Technic is entirely occupied by the NewBLEs. Well, not entirely... One small village of indomitable Technics still holds out against the invaders ... (adapted from Wikipedia)] Every time I am posting a question about the Poop, sorry PUp (PoweredUp), stuff, I am a) confused and b) getting some lectures on the nomenclature - which is perfectly fine! I really love to learn. This is what I learned so far: There are no "Control+" parts. "Control+" is the app for controlling Technic sets containing PoweredUp hardware The hub you are talking about (4I/O) is the "Technic hub" The (white/bley) small hub (2I/O), apparently mostly the train heads and some Bat-folks are concerned with, is the "PoweredUp" hub. On the German LEGO website called simply "Hub". The Hub hub. The PoweredUp Hubs are controlled with the PoweredUp App - in contrast to the Technic hubs controlled by the Control+ App. All hardware is PUp hardware Everything is known from meetings, secrets parties, etc. of THE LAN (just learned that we were not talking about wire based high-speed - often TCP/IP - connections, but the LEGO Ambassador Network (are they allowed to use Cannabis over there? I mean, the nomenclature suggests exactly that as we have the BOOST hub as well - in addition to the SPIKE uhmm Prime stuff) And finally: The Control+ app will sooner or later disappear as the "PoweredUp App" is supposed to be the One-in-All PUp App. In conclusion: They do have access to cannabis. Again: Very, very nice review. I am just having fun here. Oh, I forgot: On the PoweredUp App, there is a "power down" button, so your models can be brought to a smooth stop. Just to be on the safe side here. Best wishes and have fun, Thorsten

@Lok24 thank you very much for your reply! Well, I am not in a LUG nor do I plan on becoming a member - time is just one serious constraint that I can't change. So I just go with the flow. What I find a bit of a pity is that all that information is kind of closed loop. The PUp documentation of Github is static since day one of announcing that it is there - Github is rather a development platform than a file repository. But all that is OK with me! Thanks again for the heads up! Best Thorsten

Careful - careful here. Easy. And calm down. Some use the English language with all its wonderful assets (educated native speakers), some just use clear bold wording. Personally I like to "breathe" the depth and width of a language - as I simply cannot phrase things in that way. But it is always nice to read such texts. Of course the return >policies< makes economic sense: People feel comfortable. Plus: The returners feel easy. As we do, when we call TLG's customer service and ask for replacement parts. People here on EB talk about that all the time: "It was so nice" that TLG did this and that without having any obligations. And on average, it is better for TLG and all the others out there to do it that way, because these customers will for sure return - because they feel "no worries". Easy. It has become a lifestyle. And of course this attracts cheaters. It is a natural thing in a world not necessarily balanced that well. What do we learn? Don't go for the cheapest - "best" bargain? Want to be safe? Buy at The LEGO Store. Do you pay more? Sure. But there will never be a broken seal or a nicely prepared box with missing parts. Everything comes with a price. Trying to pull it off and feel fortunate is nice. But hey. This is not how this system works. Sometimes, there will be "tried pulling it off but got screwed". It is our choice. Well. Nobody says "I was trying to pull it off". It is always: "There was this crazy 50% off thing and I actually got it!!!" Best Thorsten P.S.: We may get flak from the moderators - this thread IS old

And where do the developers announce all that? Best Thorsten

Wait, wait, wait - more than what? Several kByte? That is insanely much! Best Thorsten

Well. After/during all these IP battles with knock-offs, their utter failure with e.g. theme parks, along with "naturally" occurring things (once a patent is coming to an end - which may be regarded in a world of competition and imagination as reasonable and good), it appears as if TLG is having a strategy that retains the greatness of the company, don't they? For more than decades now? Dips here and there and growing not anymore as some bubbles suggested - they are making money within a shark's tank. Some here praised the success of Playmobil and Schleich with themes that are also resembling "Classic themes" for LEGO - Castle: In House Space, and Pirates - but in the end, TLG has to secure 5 to 20+ times more of revenue - plus a stakeholder friendly growth rate - to survive in its incarnation that it is and has been. In a form that many of us love. So what could they do to make them even greater as they currently are? Space, Castle, and Pirates? That would make the difference? I sure hope that when they attempt to capitalize on that, that we have the fan base to turn this effort into global growth of the company. Because this is the world we are living in. Some will ask. I also heard some here who said: They could do it - it may cost them a bit - but they are billionaires. Welcome in the year 2020. The entire world rides on the waves of "making more". Not on having fun. When you want to have fun, have it on your own. But don't count on a company of that size. They have to ride the waves. And when we - the AFOLs - recognize a dip, or even a recess, we tend to go completely nuts and tell them to make it great again - with the stuff that worked - decades ago. When we were young. It seems to be a very natural thing - to me at least. "It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin' Sail on, on a distant highway I've got to keep on chasin' a dream, yeah I've gotta be on my way Wish there was something I could say". Boston - one of my favorite songs when it comes to "What do we do now" ... All the best Thorsten