Toastie

Hmmmm Are we going to sue them (as in Ghostbusters, when Peck shows up in the fire station pi**ing off Pete?)? Just kidding … Best Thorsten

Don't think so. Maybe carefully knocking them with lets say the hand piece of a screw driver "loosens" the locking?

It is old tech, but it is not that straight forward (as the RCX knows when it rotates clockwise or counterclockwise): See Philo's detailed information on the sensor. Best, Thorsten

Really? I wasn't aware of that (I am not too much into the recent train stuff from TLG). But: Back to the roots I guess. Are they also color coded as they were in the blue/early gray era? Best Thorsten

They sure do (and this is the only way to couple them). These are dipole magnets - with a North and South pole. I have the feeling, the magnets inside the casing do not flip that freely and they may actually temporarily be geometrically "locked" in a wrong position. Repeatedly moving two new couplings to and from usually breaks that lock. The old magnets were allowed to rotate freely around their main magnetic axis - so there was no such issue. With regard to coupling strength: That scales non-linearly with distance between magnet surfaces: Small distance is tolerable (as in the new encased magnets). So putting an ABS barrier between them makes things less strong, depending on the thickness = distance. Best Thorsten

Well I don't. All I know for sure though that this is one of finest pieces of equipment TLG has ever released. As simple as that. The dial, the charging behavior. Perfect. I have no clue why they discontinue that box - maybe someone has swallowed it. Or found a way to blow out the LiPo. I have no clue. I have several of them and they rock. All the best, Thorsten

I don't know - your "model of Earth" is - to me - so much more than that. When I saw it the first time, I was … overwhelmed. Much more than that. It is not "just" the LEGO bricks. It is more. The colors. The details. The missing parts that you turned into the way she really looks. This is the most beautiful LEGO model I have seen in my life. Thank you very much for sharing. All the very best, Thorsten

Hi, looks good! Could you explain the Boost "tracked" function? Thanks, Thorsten

Hi Emanuele, what can be possibly appended. This is absolutely stunning. You are walking us through the real world process - wonderful. Well. Why am I not surprised … at all. All the very best, Thorsten

Hi @Pentomind, this is a really nice solution! I never thought about such issues - but this is how it is, when the stuff they make simply works for me. Thank you very much for sharing! All the best, Thorsten

This is so well phrased! That is my world.

Well, personally I truly believe that "not paying attention" to things that simply happen around you, and Leppin >is< happening, is - well - IMHO - arrogant. Sorry to phrase it that harsh, but such developments have to be faced. And openly discussed. The weaknesses have to be pointed out. The strengths as well. In history and surely presently in this world too many "developments" deserve attention and awareness. And not looking away. "Support" is something totally different. I am not talking about support at all. Attention and discussion is - as far as I am concerned - the core of the matter. Not paying attention from a supposedly "better" or "higher" perspective never makes things go away. I believe: In contrast. We need to pay very close attention. And then take measures. Just my 2 Cents. Best Thorsten.

Hey, a professional trip maybe fun. At least this is what I always try to pull off. Was on such a trip the past few days, just to meet a couple of apparently highly engaged people who - for some (to me) unknown reason - can't find a spot in their schedule to bloody talk to each other. I am in this as well - so I suggested that I take the train, travel 500 km towards them,, we meet in a restaurant and talk. And then all of a sudden - it worked. And it was good. And the best part was my - what is it called nowadays: executive time? - around that dinner. Hope you have some executive time as well! All the best, Thorsten

I don't know whether or not this is of any interest in this context: My BLEClient (VB6) crashes when I press the power button on the handheld (only the handheld) when connected. No subscriptions, just a connection. But this may be just my very own problem. On the other hand, only the handheld's power button does that. Best, Thorsten

I think you can make them even smaller in footprint/minimize parts used - can't tell from the "photograph" (did not watch the video yet): A while ago, I shared this link; it contains a number of similar drives using different motors. There are 4 png graphics files with the mpd's. The design principle (using 3 technic axles on two 1x4 technic bricks (with 3 holes) to confine the rotation angle) is an ingenious design by Ben Coifman. It was shown in RailBricks issue 9 as Reverse Engineering Challenge and revealed in issue 12. I just played with the design, reducing the brick count. There are >30 on my layout. Driven by PF, technic varieties, and MicroScout motors. Best Thorsten

Yes, I can see that. I don't hear anything from TLG other than what is officially available and even there I am not well informed. Maybe I should thus be a little more careful when phrasing things However (there is always a however when it starts like this, isn't there?), what happened to plain vanilla "thinking"? Just plain, straight thinking? When wanting to create a PF reversing loop, you have to be at least a little creative. It's not that easy to do. You also need quite some components. And then: When the stuff breaks, you broke it. It is your fault. What happend to that line of thinking? I fried 9V switch point(s) myself - easily done with a reversing loop. It said on the instructions: >>>DON'T<<< do it. Then instructions may get lost or "thinking" evaporates into nowhere and then you literally can see the meltdown on the point. But: I was thinking: You (as in "me" and not "you") >idiot<. I never thought: This is all TLG's fault. It was mine. Oh well, times change, I know. And I can surely see what you are saying. In 1980 there were two 12V train plugs for "the kids" - and most of them (including me) didn't blow 12V stuff to heaven although it was much easier with the 12V/2A power supply back then. But yes: Today is today and not 1980. This is interesting though. When any 9V power supply can create shocks it is not a 9V power supply anymore. The safe rating for not getting DC voltage shocks goes up to 42V. So maybe the power supply was faulty. But then: We can start suing TLG when they sell power supplies, e.g. for recharging: They may break. The chances are next to nothing, but the nothing is not zero. Thus, when they want to be on the safe side: Batteries only. But even then: Batteries may start to leak. When you swallow the amount of leaked stuff from lets say 1 PuP hub and 1 PuP remote (=10) batteries, its gonna be nasty. So better no batteries in PuP stuff. Which means no PuP stuff. I know. This is not funny. It is meant to read funny (but it is not). I do really see what you are saying. Everyday when I wake up I just am wondering, why did I survive the years I was a kid. Best wishes, Thorsten

@Mr Hobbles: Even that does not work on any of my four hubs. The notification reply is: [0x05, 0x00, 0x05, 0x81, 0x06] Does that mean anything to you? Thanks and best regards, Thorsten

That is very exciting. Particularly because it does not create that significant amount of BLE traffic. Looking forward to read your updated document! Well - as Mr Hobbles said: The LWP documentation does not document all the commands very well. the 0x60 command isn't even mentioned. Same here. My Hubs No. 4 don't do anything when using the "advanced" LWP protocol message byte coding (I believe). I am using the MS Bluetooth Explorer for that, which does a fairly good job (at least I believe) ... All the best, Thorsten

@Mr Hobbles: Thank you very very much! I was rather frustrated when I could sort of handle the properties of the characteristic using the LPW document but virtually none of the output messages. May I ask one more question: In @Cosmik42's software, upon releasing the power slider, the train motor(s) begin to accelerate for a certain amount of time and the slowly reach the final power setting. It appears as if this is what the LWP section 3.27.3. "Output Sub Command - SetAccTime (Time, ProfileNo) [0x05]" and section 3.27.4. "Output Sub Command - SetDecTime (Time, ProfileNo) [0x06]". This is a very nice feature particularly for trains. Is that implemented in the Hub. No4 as well? Or is a rapid succession of plain [0x60] messages from the client required to do that? Thanks a lot in advance! Best regards, Thorsten

I really do see and share your point. It is/was/will be my criticism regarding TLGs >support< (and not the actual release) of electronic hardware. Not the brick stuff. I am 57 years old. I do have (OK refurbished but still with original parts - almost all) my first train set form 1965 on a shelf. Bricks from 2019 attach to the bricks from 1965. This is incredible and almost unprecedented in the world we are living in. So TLG achieved something that no other profit driven (toy) company has, as far as I know. There are AEG ovens and Bauknecht washing machines (I am German) and all have become Whirlpool devices - but they still do run and they are supported. It is a pain in the butt to get support, but in the end it works out. When you are >persistent< and call them again and again. In the world of electronics things are a little different. But: I still can order 74XX chips, when I try really hard. I may even have to salvage old stuff (believe it or not, we tore down a mass spec from 2001 today - was worth 0.5 Mio back then - and I found tons of 74XX chips inside. On sockets - so these will find their way in to my drawers. And believe me, my grad students believe that I am from another world - and old world). What I want to say is: TLG produced extremely well designed and powerful electronic devices over the decades. Code Pilot, the RCX (1998), Scout, MicroScout, NXT, EV3, Boost, PuP (PF2) stuff … And: When you try really hard - THAT IS THE BAD PART (TLG DO YOU HEAR ME?) - you can all of this stuff get to work. It is up to you though. I have said it before here on EB: I am a VB6 totally amateur programmer. VB - Oh my God 6. It was officially depreciated by MS in 2002. Give or take a couple of years. But: It still works. Was a lot of work, but it works. And it works with the new BLE stuff from TLG. It is not about a stupid handheld or even more stupid App TLG gives us. It s about finding out how it works, take steps to conserve that functionality and make it sustainable. What I find so … no words here … that the "community" and individuals have to do that. TLG is sailing on - they will come up with something even more sophisticated any time soon. Simply to cash in. They will put incompatible connectors onto these devices. Simply to cash in. It is all about money. Within all that money world though they can hire smart people. Endless numbers of smart people. The PuP BLE stuff >is< cool. Really. But you need to discover that yourself. Because TLG in all their glory and arrogance don't do that for and with us. They release a cryptic document here and there - and then tech-gurus know how to read it - and share that knowledge. And that is the difference: They do, here on EB and elsewhere. So, in conclusion: I would like to join @andythenorth's challenge and throw in another €50 (chances are that I may not make it till then …): Yes, when you really want, BLE will be in you world then. All the best, Thorsten

Dear all, I need a little help in further understanding the BLE protocol stuff. What I did so far was using @treczoks documentation (which is my preferred reference) for getting access to the PuP Hub/Handheld. In first instance I am using the "Bluetooth LE Explorer" "App" from the MS store - it comes for free. Works very well. After connecting and discovery etc. and having access to the "00001624 -1212-EFDE-1623-785FEABCD123" characteristic I writing the value: 0A 00 81 00 00 which is the first "fixed length part" as referenced in the official LWP 3.0 documentation. These bytes mean: (1) Message length (0x0A) - (2) as of now always 0x00 (3) Port Putput Command (0x81) - (4) I/O port - (5) startup and completion byte (encoded as bit field ssss cccc = 0000 0000 for "buffer as necessary" and "no action"). So far all is well. But then @treczoks states: (byte 6) "Always 60, like the 51 for the RGB LEDs. If you change this, the command will not be executed." And that is true. Regardless of what I tried: 60 or nothing happens. Nowhere in the LWP 3.0 documentation "60" appears as any valid op-code or the like. Further, the sequence following "60", which is: (7) 00 (?) - (8) Speed byte (I understood the encoding) - (9) ?? and (10) ?? need to be there or nothing happens. In total the byte message "0A 00 81 00 00 60 00 XX 00 00" sets the motor on port A to power XX. That is cool. But why??? When following step by step the LWP 3.0 document this isn't even implemented??? Also: There is this "51" subcommand that works on he handheld but apparently not at all on the hub. I know that I am not comprehending what is going on. @Cosmik42's software uses the "3.27.3. Output Sub Command - SetAccTime (Time, ProfileNo) [0x05]" (right? the motors smoothly accelerate to the final power setting in your software - is this the mode you are using?) But without the (undocumented) 0x60 byte#6 I am not getting anywhere. Any help is appreciated! Best Thorsten

Sorry - the handle part is handled by my client control (It "discovers" the handles and assigns "IDs" for it - these contain the 000b and 000e part as well … did not know that these were handles. As said, I guess they made this contrl for dummies) But: Nice that is works! Best Thorsten

@MajorAlvega: And this is all what counts, isn't. I like this attitude the most. It is my way of thinking with regard to Life, the Universe, and Everything. All the best and have a very nice day! Thosten

Yes, I can see that! And I believe that. Just because we had a serious and lively discussion about "OS total failures" in my group (there are a few hardcore programmers - mention Microsoft, and it begins - the volcano eruption type of discussion …). I like to trigger that from time to time, just for fun. It >always< works. The ActiveX BLE control for VB6 I am using (from /n_software) does behave very, very nicely though. I do only own 4 real "Hub No.4" and one remote. The control (implemented as control array in my VB6 programs), i.e. a dedicated instance for each Hub/Handset/BLE server, works like a charm. Just for fun I extended the control array to 50 and told BLEClient(50) to connect to one of the hubs (by letting BLEClient(0) scan for mac addresses, let it catch the one for this hub and then pass this info to client #50). At least it appears as if the Win10/64 bit OS along with this ActiveX control for VB6 does do a decent job. It may also be that with more than 5 BLE servers actually present (and not just the control array producing the 50 instances) that this all goes belly up. So far though, things are looking very good - despite the fact that this is all Microsoft stuff. @Cosmik42 is doing his superb programming in C# … and his software is beyond believe, IMHO. I cannot imagine how much traffic his software produces - and it simply works. Have my copy of his software here for sure, learning from that as much as I can. So. I have to admit: I do like Microsoft stuff. Which puts me into a bad position, I know. Never really learned anything else - because there was no need. Did CP/M and MP/M in the 80's, Unix/5 in the 90's, played with Z80's and 80XX families on machine code level, loved the Sinclair ZX81/Spectrum "computers" (I still have them - but the analog TV sets are dying out …) and then came Win3.11 onto my radar screen. And Word and Excel (and all this horror software, I know) in the late 90's. I am still using it today. Since 20 years … and now they gave me an ActiveX control for VB6 and I just drift on through programming heaven … before December 2018 I did not know that BLE even exists. As of today, 4 BLE Hubs automatically connect to my VB6 train control program, which is additionally handling 10 PF, RC, and RCX controlled trains, and 30 switch points. And this is Microsoft Windows crap. No that bad, I'd say. Why did I write up all this? Don't even know. Maybe it was todays discussion. I am not affiliated with Microsoft at all. None. I am a chemist All the best Thorsten

Oh I see! Thank you very much. Now, would it be than OK to not crank out the posted requests at highest possible speed but in a more controlled manner? For example, it does not make sense to change the power setting within ms as the device (lets say a hub) propelling e.g. train did not even have the chance to accelerate the vehicle to the new setting. I am just curious about the overhead traffic generated with acknowledgements - this has to be somehow handled in the BLE stack/dongle whatever, right? Best Thorsten