Toastie

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/&do=findComment&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

Well, this like going into an old school library and claiming that reading books is more popular than before. Best, Thorsten Particularly, when you are color-blind, like I am Best, Thorsten

I said the original LEGO idea, not LEGO. Just the "you can arrange four 4x2 bricks in sheer endless combinations" thing they like to advertise when it fits. Everything else is OK with me - I am with you. All the best, Thorsten

Yeah - it's me ... edited my post the moment you posted Just subscribed to your wonderful channel! All the best, Thorsten

Oh, I can so see that - beautiful!!! I happen to have more space, I believe, but that is absolutely not the point, it is - as you said - "when the mindset is there" Any chance to see that as well? Spotted it! For some silly reason, old Commodore's = C64's for me ... my bad! (Yes, I am old, forgive me, but this is my world. Never had a C64 then but now. Need to fix it, but that seems to be doable ... I love old stuff, because I am old. New people love new stuff, and that is as it should be) So nice! All the best, Thorsten

As they pump out ... even less different StarWars sets - yes, I know, the StarWars theme is perpetual, as the incoming LEGO build force wants Millenium Falcons, version XYZ, as well. Hmm, in Technic they do that also - at least regarding their super cars. Even the cranes fade out. And many other things ... But wait: Could it be that when it comes to popular, i.e., best-selling themes (rather than the ever propagated unlimited ways of connecting bricks and plates) that the "stage" narrows quite a bit? Could it be that "themes" simply have far less popular brick-realizations? When "slightly different" becomes close to boring - or better: Less selling? What to expect from a theme? I don't know. There are so many - new themes, no, rather individual sets: Shoes, flowers, a type-writer, a camera, Nintendo box, ... etc. pp. They apparently sell well, at least judged from them being there, for a short time. Themes however, I don't know, but are bound to what is currently hot = license. That is all good with me. But the entire LEGO idea is fading more and more into oblivion. Also fine with me. Used LEGO is good LEGO. Just my weird thoughts. All the best, Thorsten

@Bliss Now we are talking! That is one hell of a project - this will be very exciting. Whoa - hell NO! Nothing is forgotten! Too many old farts still believing in The Bricks . OK, I am joking. No, I am not. Well, sort of not. Serial protocols: In essence, there are many. For sure, the SCOUT PBrick. This is one is very nice, has only 396 bytes RAM, so you better be smart when programming it, but has a large built-in library of features, e.g., it can control the Code Pilot and MicroScout PBricks via VLL (the LEGO Visible Light Link). Then there are the Cybermaster PBricks. These use essentially the same protocol as the RCX's and SCOUTs do, but via a serial RF tower. Cybermaster PBricks have two built-in motors, and one 9V output that is freely available, plus sensor inputs. Then there are the NXT and EV3 PBricks. They are accessible via serial over BT. The latest line is PoweredUp and Spike (BLE) of course, but I guess this is going too far ... Some time ago, I made an ESP32 based communication hub for interaction with the old line of PBricks; you may find the protocols interesting (or not). I am trying to keep all that up-and running in my attic - because we do not forget : https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/188584-mulpi-a-multiple-lego-remote-protocol-interface/ Just thinking about it - serial - that may also include #9750, TC control, the 4.5V world. The only thing required to go serial is a little Arduino interface: 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=3580886 That would also be very nice to include, as far as I am concerned! The serial protocol is dumb: Serial in -> parallel out, that is all. EDIT: It is also parallel in -> serial back, sorry! This will be a very exciting development project you have initiated!!! I shall follow your updates closely. Thank you very much for all your efforts! All the best, Thorsten

@Mr Hobbles, no, just tried, NQC can't find a USB or serial port - device manager tells me that the tower does not have any driver. I guess, on Windows, it simply wants a 64 bit driver for the tower. But that is OK; I have the USB tower running on my Toshiba 1998 laptop and the serial tower on my Win11/64bit laptop. Best, Thorsten

Hi @Mr Hobbles Holy cow! How on Earth could I have missed that? My goodness. I updated BricxCC regularly (back then until 2011) just to learning now, the NQC was not necessarily updated within that package as well - I thought it was. Stupid me. However, I guess the missing 64bit driver for Windows remains an issue using the USB tower on my computer - at least I believe so. I never found a suitable 64bit driver for that tower other than building my own using NI software - but that miserably failed, partly also because I was unsure about permission to do so. I gave up on that many years ago. EDIT Wait: You are saying it works without additional driver? Ohh, I shall try that! Thank you very much for that link!!! All the best, Thorsten