Toastie

Yeah, you are right. So we settle on 2A max. for the Interface B 12V AC juicer transformer? Best, Thorsten

Just let me know what I have to install on my side - no, no wait, the Star Trek folks teleported without any device present on the target site. OK, tell me when you need some free space/area, I clear that. Best, Thorsten

It is good to know that. Because then I won't use bloody numbers but names or "descriptions" (as good as I can, I am wildly guessing here) when asking you for a favor or suggesting some things. Which is so easy to do. You know, every now and then, there are students in my classes having diverse health issues, and every time we (together) have worked out something to get them trough. Time - is relative. I love "success" (define success - it is a myriad of things that may or may not - evolve). Regardless of time. As far as I have read your messages on EB, you have provided so much insight, I would have >never< ever figured out. Hey, like to come over to Germany and have fun in my group? I'd hire you right away. And I am not joking (as I enjoy so much to do under other circumstances). All the very best, and with a bow Thorsten

There is a L78S09 as 9V regulator = 2A max. or it will limit current. So this is it, I guess: 2A. No fuses, just the active power controllers (78** and H-bridge chippies). It is the same in 9750 - the MOSFETs can do 10A each, but the linear 4.5V power driver is a BDX34B = 10A max. The Interface A is one power monster - totally dumb, "just" a TTL driver (plus ingenious sensor circuits), but so nicely designed! I believe they had to do it as a) the olden days were better and LEGO was unbreakable and b) 4.5V motors easily stalled. Best, Thorsten

OK, then your hobbyist level in your world is guru level in my world! 8485 = Control Center II, 9750 = Interface A, 9751 = Interface B ... for some reason I can recall numbers and images - nothing I am proud of, it simply is what it is. Sorry. Best, Thorsten

The MLX 10402's have current limiters inside the chip. Best, Thorsten

On another thought: The LEGO PSU for 9750 is also a joke, considering what they soldered as MOSFET drivers into the output circuits: 2x MTP3055's ... they can handle >10A each ... I guess they just wanted to be on the safe side. I mean, a 12 Wall wart just bends over when currents go crazy ... but the box can handle more, I believe. Best, Thorsten Lotsatraffic here Nice photograph! You'll find the data sheet on Philo's pages as well (https://www.philohome.com/motors/mlx10402.pdf) - they do 500 mA each; x 8 = 4A max. Best, Thorsten

Well, fortunately, we have our hardware guru @Gunners TekZone at work: What type are the H-bridge drivers inside the box? As I don't bet: I think they can deliver more than 100 mA each? Best, Thorsten I totally agree! My take as well. Best, Thorsten

Well, then I sure hope it does fit! I am planning to go partly wireless (Bluetooth) on all my control boxes (2 x 8485 CCII, 2 x 9750 and 1 x 9751). So far, my modified 8485 (), which behaves more or less like the outputs of 9750 has currently such a BT thingy (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/192941-lego-interface-a-97509771-–-lego-technic-control-1-tc1-referenceideas-thread/&amp;do=findComment&amp;comment=3734005). 9751 also does 9600 Baud. Why don't you hook up an HC05 directly to the TTL RX/TX lines (with a 1k/2.2k voltage divider on the TX=input from 9750, HC05 are 3.3V, but tolerate 5V VCC; and the RX of the Siemens chips will be happy with 3 V TTL input)? The 5V are available inside 9751. Result: No more cables, just the power cord of 9751. Well, I'll try and report back ;) All the best, Thorsten Hmm. The brain, for sure, but 8 x 9V motor outputs? ... maybe two motors stalled - that would add up, doesn't it? Philo's page suggests it would. I just replaced three "12V" AC wall warts (they generate anything between 12 and 16 V of course) with one 12V, 8A old-fashioned incandescent Christmas lights PSU weighing a ton, which I got from my neighbor - he said, it may be of value to me . That one powers my 8485, 9750 and 9751 boxes. I would not so much have my laptop providing motor power via USB, but I could work, of course! Best, Thorsten

@Gunners TekZone CONGRATULATIONS! I knew you could do it (provided the Siemens 1001 feet chippie wouldn't be in Chip heaven). Really nice to know. So that means the built-in serial to TTL chip has gone bye-bye, right? Did you need to take that "away" from the RX/TX lines of the microcontroller? Very nice!!! All the best, Thorsten

@aFrInaTi0n Thank you very much - so tomorrow morning, I can enjoy the newspaper as nothing ever happened! All the best, Thorsten

Hi Alex, thank you for the flowers! Yes, that was the same in Sinclair world - and the reason I could crack copy protection of video games, which made my fellow chemistry students happy in the 1980s. I guess they can't cancel my SOE on that ... I never played video games. A nerd I am. However, the strange thing here is, that only a few lines of code are in assembly. Most of the program (featuring quite a number of CHAIN statements for switching between (sub) BASIC programs. I also believe BBC Lines does not have the power setting 0-7 or did it? That would need assembly for sure, doesn't it? But once again: I love the way Beep's BASIC allowed to code assembly: "[" and off you go, with line numbers and assembly mnemonics(!), no CHR$ poking ... nice! All the best, Thorsten

Of course it does! It is your very personal opinion, that may rightfully stand forever! Maybe it does even so universally, who knows. I don't. And it does not in my world - all is good. I am simply getting nervous when "truth" (as a globally voiced thing) comes into play. As if it were proven. That is always the case - in my university, at home, with friends, with not friends. There is no universal truth, there is speculation, guessing, projection, extrapolation, calculation, of one individual, but truth - quantum mechanics bashed that word out of my mind. But in your personal world? Of course there is truth. And right or wrong. For me, it is absolutely the same! Everything I am writing in public is my personal opinion, projection, speculation ... Just my very personal take. As all other comments are in this forum: Personal views. Best, Thorsten

You are very welcome! I like to learn, and I really appreciate that you do get me in touch with all these wonderful machines, I never heard of back in the days. The Beep BASIC is really, really cool - handling of machine code is fantastic! All the best, Thorsten

@aFrInaTi0n Of course it is!!! Thank you very much for your efforts! Don't overdo it though - if not then not, as we say in Germany Best, Thorsten

@evank After browsing through all the files, hoping for some nice BASIC lines , I think I found at least the initialization you are looking for; however, it is of course done in assembly - and I am terrible regarding 6502 assembly. It is in file T.TITLE as @maehw speculated/suggested, beginning at (editor line 187 =) program line 930: "DEF PROC assem". Assembly begins at line 960 - there is repeated access to SHEILA: According to the BBC User Guide, the following code does access the direction register of the 6522 VIA (copy/pasted, here in italics), making all 8 bits/lines to outputs (&FF = bin 11111111): LDA #&97 LDX #&62 LDY #&FF JSR &FFF4 would write &FF into location &FE62. An OSBYTE call with A=&97 will write to sheila. The base address of SHEILA is &FE00 and to this is added the offset in X (&62). The value written is contained in Y. The net effect is to write to the 6522 Data direction register and to cause all the PB lines to become outputs. This is in the T.TITLE code at program line 1120: 1120 LDA #&97 1130 LDX #&62 1140 LDY #63 1150 JSR & FFF4 Which should write &63 (bin 0011111) into the data direction register for port B of the 6522 VIA = lower 6 bits outputs, upper 2 bits inputs. That should be it, right? Best, Thorsten

Yeah - as you said, with some power restriction. Bluetooth is there as well, DECT phones, WiFi, and hey, microwave ovens running at 800W output power. So don't tinker with the interlock of your microwave, it may adversely interfere with a good number of your smart home and not so smart home gadgets. Oh, they did and do: Bluetooth is running at 2.4 GHz - that would be the LEGO NXT PBrick - as well as Bluetooth Low Energy, which is the carrier for TLG's PoweredUp & Co line, sometimes called Control+ in this forum. So yeah, they actually can ... Best, Thorsten

Truth - whoa, big word! Now, with regard to revision (I take the freedom of interpreting your phrase "revisionist rose-tinted glasses" in terms of "historical revisionism" ) - and I go with Wikipedia in that regard: "The process of historical revision is a common, necessary, and usually uncontroversial process which develops and refines the historical record to make it more complete and accurate." Just making fun here - looked at that LEGO book ... TLG is also sometimes leaning toward historical revisionism, but again: All is fine with me. Skål fra Danmark Best, Thorsten

Just because I finished 10 minutes ago a little 4.5V thingy (4.5V battery box, motor, old school Technic bricks and plates, rubber bands, pulleys, gears) as a gift for a very close friend, who turns 70+ tomorrow, and I am invited to join the free food/beer event tomorrow - OK, I have to lecture Friday morning, so I will behave): I am colorblind, but I do see all shades of gray, knowing from the parts make, that they are gray. There were sooo many shades - just for old light gray. Maybe ... 6? Or more, depending on age? Some 1x16 Technic bricks had even a nice transition from lighter to darker light gray. How on Earth can you guys tell apart differently aged shades of ... uhmm ... dark tanish green? Or whatever? Don't these season as well? I am just curious - I have a box full of !standard color pieces ... neatly organized of course into bricks and plates and other things, I only use for (very privately ) trying out stuff. Best, Thorsten

Dear Mods, every morning, my wife (she gets up early, I go to sleep late - but do prepare breakfast for the early bird before calling it a day) gets the newspaper into the house. I have no clue, how these folks delivering the newspaper can survive ... it must be 3/4 am when they begin their "tour" ... Nevertheless - the one thing I learned from my parents was, that newspapers are ... important. They are telling the truth ... Not relevant. Much more relevant is that "my" old fart tag = the newspaper tile is gone. THAT IS TERRIBLE. I love newspapers. As in paper. What can I do ... so my question is: Does that mean, EB is going full electronic? No more paper? Oh crap ... Rock on folks, Thorsten Edit from @aFrInaTi0n: Edited the title of the topic to allow for others to identify they might be affected even if unrelated to newspapers.

That would be really cool! Total freedom ... ... and boom. Freedom limited by the battery lifetime of the motors, I guess? They should suckup the most power when operated? So motors are better freely accessible for attaching USB-C cables. Hmm. We'll see. Should the motors be as smart as the LEGO LiPo, then each motor needs a USB-C cable/charger for prolonged stationary operation ... and will work for some time, when the power goes out. Hmmmmm - I guess this is then more for - well, as promoted, the educational sector? That sounds "doable", doesn't it? It's all in there ... We'll see! Very interesting. Best, Thorsten

How about the trainers = you? Best Thorsten

Yeap - but even more than that, I am pretty much impressed by the architecture of the Beep. What a cool machine! The olden days were definitely better - I mean: Which machine calls a particular part of its memory SHEILA? Unfortunately, Beep's don't need any custom interface to talk to #9750 - they can do that out of the box. I did already feel it (you know, this "inner unrest") but then read that a 6522 VIA is in charge, port A for the printer, B for the user, both accessible from BASIC and - swooosh - inner unrest was gone. So Ms. Toastie will not suffer another crisis when more "old trash" (NOT MY WORDS!) populates the house . We'll see. Let's browse the files, Evan provided ... Best, Thorsten

Oh NO! Merde (EB's Watch Your Language Police or WYLP has never caught it - in contast to shyt with i ) But you are an expert in fixing Interface B's! Totally dead does not mean totally dead - so much for the logic - but that could be a power supply/regulator failure ... cross my fingers! All the best, Thorsten

Hi @Bliss, glad you wrote "haha" - first: I am so much more amateur than you (I am a bloody chemist) when it comes to programming, believe me. Second, what you currently achieve with your Python approach is more than amazing!!! So - let us amateurs do what we do: Having fun! Absolutely true. TLG called the enveloped byte along with the byte code "msg" a "message" (3 byte preamble to "heat up" the IR tower LEDs ;) then the byte + complement stream + checksum). You don't need the preamble, works without, but is safer. Such a fully wrapped message (which is net only one byte) which is sent 2400 Baud needs some time to transmit. Thus the delay, as there is no buffer in the RCX; a new message replaces the old one. At least as far as I know. This is what I do on my train/technic layout: Each RCX/SCOUT (there are may) has an "ID", which is just a number. My control program (VB6 ^^) generates a two byte (sometimes three byte) message: ID + payload. Once an RCX recognizes it is addressed, it tries to do what the payload tells it to do: Turn on/off the headlights of a train, turn on/off PID speed control on a train (the train motor sucks torque-wise at low power; it always bothered me), or changing PID parameters while it is running on the track to optimize speed control when the load changes significantly (carriages added = new optimum PID parameters). If you are interested, I'll simply copy my train control program to my Brickset folders. Yeah, see above. Other RCX'/SCOUTs do control bridges (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/156326-lego-train-bridges/), switch drives (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/154740-moc-lego-switch-drive-controller/) and so on and so forth ... MulPI can also emit RF codes for simple 433 MHz home automation devices (e.g., from Intertechno); I just gave the ESP32 controlling MulPI several internal ID's so it can switch on/off lights etc. in the room. I am using very simple IR <-> RF transceivers, which I made 14 years decades ago - well the breadboard version is 2 decades old ;) - they work fine with RCX & Co as well as with PF devices. Here is an old overview regarding my train layout, where an NXT did all the work, not MulPI, as it did not exist back then (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/153260-train-layout-control-nxt-operated-pf-and-rc-trains/) and here is the IR <-> RF transceiver stuff: (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/62616-extending-ir-range-with-rf/). Today, the VB6 program looks even crazier, as I have incorporated BLE as well - the /n software people gave me their BLE stack for VB6 for free - I believe it was in ... 2017? Here is a post that has (hopefully some links still work) that summarizes how to get old LEGO stuff going on modern computers, but I am sure you have even better links (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/157550-lego-history-programming-20-years-old-mindstorms-rcx%E2%80%99-on-modern-computers/) I am happy to share any NQC or RobotC programs, if you want them. Here is one example of my RCX train control program (RobotC: https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=340234). Just let me know! This will be very exciting, when you elevate RCX programming to the next level using Python!!! Have a nice day and all the best, Thorsten