Toastie

Oh, be rest assured, I saw that. What I was trying to (implicitly) say was: I never ever thought about these things, and I am simply not good as these things. And I am truly amazed by such an assessment! See, I am a chemist. And when somebody lays out things I never think about, I say: Wow. I did not say, there is something wrong about that!!! I am sorry when that came not appropriately across!!! Here is to feeling good: All the best, Thorsten Upps - just saw your reply to @alois - it was not about liking, it was about not knowing virtually anything about it. I am a live-long learner. And I believe in go where things may not be in your universe. To possibly expand. Or at least get a grasp. That was all.

Wow. I play with LEGO. Best, Thorsten

Wonderful - and absolutely my way of thinking, believing and doing. With regard to playing and creating with LEGO ;) Nothing more to add. Those who want to make money out of stolen stuff: Just do it - if you can live with it - I could never. It is a shame. Those who are really upset about this "stealing" and then looking at how these folks make money out of that: Once something is in the public domain and not protected in any way other than claiming "this is mine" - welcome to capitalistic reality - >including< getting and paying a lawyer to defend that action: May work, may (almost certainly) not, provided you have the money. Yes it is yours, and yes you have the rights - so in capitalism, go get a lawyer and fight this through. Money-wise. And that's it for me. Best, Thorsten

Reasoning about it makes absolutely sense. Per se, I'd say. BUT: It does not make any sense when mocking - or painting, or modelling, or - you know, the art of creating. I also believe that it is not XYZ country, culture, history etc. that is attracting you - it is the style of the locomotives of such countries. There may be reasons why they do it the way they do it - so what? If I want to paint "something", I paint what I like to paint. Maybe in "Freestyle" which - for me is leaning towards Surrealism, maybe Bauhaus-style, or Impressionism - who cares? That is my little universe. And you know why? It is also rather easy No - don't worry at all. Just do it. I like German steamers a lot - as I admire American diesels. Well, these are the ones I have seen in real life - and they impressed me. I am not the world traveler, so I have not seen many others ... the TGV (nice!) ... some Danish trains (nice!) ... yeah, and elsewhere (nice!) No, don't worry, Not when you create what you like to create. Best, Thorsten

Yeah - pretty much arrived at the same conclusion - I am almost tempted to say that my interest in TLGs more recent stuff has reached minuszerodegrees (nice website btw). Pulling the plug on Mindstorms the LEGO way was another push into that direction. As a side effect, I am saving a lot of money ... Best, Thorsten

Well, yes and no https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocking Best, Thorsten

Yes. Yes Yes Yes And that is the point. However - they just need to fire up their public relations department, render such super special pieces as sort of NextGenThinking, SuperbBuilding, UltimateExperience, NeverSeenBefore, RestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverseType, you know, the 2022 way of introducing just another piece of dead cheap ABS. OK, the Restaurant thing won't work, I guess. Then have all boxes of sets using these breathtakingly creative and innovative pieces colored in black. Wait, we had that. In dark, very dark blue. With a bright yellow but very thin line representing TheNEWWAYOfThinking, ending in a glowing neuron. Whatever. I simply go to the DarkSide and order these pieces, make my own (ABS and superglue, along with a razor sharp Dremel circular saw bit and a nice file, they like each other), and more recently, have them 3D printed. I came to the conclusion that it is ultimately stupid to wait for a piece popping up in LEGO universe. Did that for a couple of decades. Being stupid, I mean. I still am, but not with regard to reasonable pieces, TLG does currently not make, because it would either ripple through the LEGO universe or they just need to come up with new stuff - or the customers get bored. It's a wheel in perpetual motion ... making the customers all excited about ... a new piece. Or two. Best, Thorsten

So ... 2021 - Time ... as Pink Floyd put it - on the second last verse (... just skip all the preceding text, it is frustrating ) : Home, home again I like to be here when I can And when I come home cold and tired It's good to warm my bones beside the fire @dr_spock called me out, when I was - again - blabbing about "back then stuff" on a thread that deals with Mindstorms coming down in flames - as per TLG flak. Now, in this thread, we are discussing >really old< stuff. Nobody is >really interested< in And: I started this thread, so I can necro-bump it, la la la ... @Milan forgive me ... OK, this is what happened: Checked on stuff to be trashed, as we were hiring new faculty, and these folks need space. I won't comment on space as in the Last Frontier ... not relevant: Faculty in Theoretical Chemistry, say no more. Next, "storage rooms" tend to convert into dumpsters - provided there are enough of them ;) So ... I had a look. What I saw were Amiga's, VIC20's, Commodores, telephones, a cell phone from the Neanderthal age, DEC VT XY terminals (OH MY), modems (with these soft shell covers) - and beware and hold your breath - an IBM 5160, IBM Color Monitor, IBM keyboard, of the variety you can use to hit a baseball out off the park. 2 x floppy disk drives at full height - no hard drive. With a sticker: 1985. And this was the system, my wife learned "intro of using a PC" in 1985 - as part of her industrial management curriculum. They had IBM PC's with 256k memory, color graphics card and monitor, 2 x 360k floppy drives - and these clocked in at about 10000 D-Marks in Germany - I was just sitting there in the classroom (after carefully asking her whether I can have just a look) - and of course I did not touch anything. And since then, I am dreaming at night - you know, when I come home cold and tired - of that system. Since 30+ years. Fast forward: "It" is now in my attic. And I will try (as in seriously try) to get this thing to do any sort of BASIC - providing access to the serial port card it also has. That very moment, I can get access to all my trains with the help of an ESP32 and LEGOINO, as already posted. So far, it boots off from an original IBM (= Tandon) 360k drive, leaving me with 6 programs - two of which asking for time and date. I am working on this. And will post any irrelevant progress here. You have been warned . Best, Thorsten

Yes - good call. I almost forgot Best, Thorsten

I do go along with that hypothesis. Plus hidden stress. Best, Thorsten

Well, yes and no - it took me awhile, as Google did >not< (Holy Molly!!!) respond to these "three pin" Tantalum capacitors IBM soldered in (really, I tried sooo hard ), but just finding out that on the IBM board the outer pins are in parallel - so two pin capacitors will do (and yes, there are references to that on the internet :D). BUT!!! Much more importantly ... ... your diorama with the NXT and the ... cross is so cool. I truly love it. Man. It is so nice to be here around with you guys ... and particularly with you @dr_spock All the best, Thorsten

I believe not due to gravity, but maybe unforeseen or even "natural" shear forces and the like? Every build has these because of the tolerances you mentioned. At what temperature? But even when low or high - ABS is not prone to water uptake. I believe it must be some mechanical stress. Not at all illegal connections, no, just some stress due to the overall weight/final alignment, when put aside. But who knows ... Best, Thorsten

Yes, provided that the end of the support of an app is the end, beautiful friend. This is the end, my only friend. The end of our elaborate plans. The end of everything that stands - as The Doors put it. As with all hardware and software, they'll eventually die. Motors live rather long, dumb electronics maybe a little less, smart electronics even lesser - and hardware dependent software, like BLE 5.x or software dependent hardware like a BLE5.x server = PUp hub, live as long as folks come up with something new. I had a 2.4 GHz only cell phone from a couple of years ago - well, done with it. 5GHz is the new standard. So out with it. This is how it is today. And the way out with LEGO? Keep a cell phone or two up and running just for the LEGO hubs. Not the $1000 thingies that can do whatever these do, no, the dead cheap ones, but with BLE5. And keep the apps. Chances are, they will work in the future, but who knows. Make backups. Keep them in a safe place. This is simply how it is with software. And old hardware. As it was since these "pairs" became mainstream - in the 1980's I'd say. Try to fit a modern 5 1/4" DS/DD floppy into a current Win11 computer equipped with a 2TB SSD. The latter sells for about $50. Sure, could happen. It could also happen that a new pair of actuators (motors, LEDs) + drivers/servers (smart hardware, as were PBricks and now are hubs - these are all the bloody same) plus matching clients as cell phone apps or remotes pop up in LEGO universe. They have done that since the day, electricity was funneled into their sets. So with all the old Technic sets, C+, City, Boom and Bang: Swap the motors, swap the brain, make appropriate changes to the model, fire up any current client - maybe of the infinite improbability variety, and off you go again! All is good. Now back to my beautiful IBM XT from 1985. I cannot get this thing to boot DOS3.3 ... it has 2 x 5 1/4 360k floppy drives. And boots to cassette BASIC - and that one does not know floppies. It also has the cassette interface removed (it is an 5160) but IBM needed, as per contract, to equip their PC's/XT's with BIOS resident MS DOS at that time. So: I can write BASIC programs, but not save or load them . And all I have here is a stupid DELL Precision laptop with 32 gigs of RAM and a graphics card that may even be able to beam stuff ... and some other "modern" computers ... simply because I did not keep selected critical infrastructure But there is hope, as in: University storage rooms, which exist because they exist! Some people don't even want to go in there ... You won't believe what people stored over the decades ... maybe I find an "old" ISA mother board, you know, the weird stuff from back then, when there were jumpers and intact Tantalum capacitors ... Best, Thorsten

Hmmm ... these are two worlds, aren't they? Parts jamming is an observation of a maybe complex matter, gears cracking is a clear cause. I'd say dust - never. Hair - sure, but when there is no hair, then this is out. Permanent deformation? Absolutely - but this means there is mechanical stress on the relevant parts - otherwise they won't deform. May lubrication help? Yes, but "jamming" means friction has become so large. In that case: May repeated and careful actuation (using things like screwdrivers etc. in remote areas) of the mechanism remove the locking? Then lubrication is the way to go. Best, Thorsten

There is: At least put some detergent into the water. Any kind of grease removing stuff like dish liquid will do. The water takes care of things that like to dissolve in water (dried mucus for example ) but the grease needs more than that. When you want to get to "hospital clean", add some oxidizing agent to the water ... >some< bleach is OK. You can even add bleach as well as dish liquid - they won't do any harm to ABS. Best, Thorsten

Yes. Your entire post - as you said before. But it is always good to reiterate on a forum, as things tend to be buried - sooner than later. It is what it is. Looking from an above perspective. Best wishes - and thank you for bringing this up (again). Thorsten

This is a very nice station!!! <1000 pieces, but still (or better because of that!) a really nice station. Hopefully the folks over at Train Tech get a glimpse of your fantastic model! Best, Thorsten

PoweredUp is not Technic - it can be used with Technic. Technic are beams, pegs and pins - PoweredUp is used throughout the LEGO universe. A PUp motor is not a Technic motor - as PF motors never were. They had Technic holes, sure, but that was it. Same with PUp. 9V is not supported anymore since ages - but it still works - as washing machines do. Even with PUp, if you are willing to grab a soldering iron. When you want to have PUp running forever, get enough PUp stuff, keep your current smart device(s) with PUp software installed, or branch to PyBricks, and keep all that in a safe place on your computer. As it is with all software stuff. And with hardware as well. Hey, we were all laughing at Microsoft when they kept going and going and going with DOS compatibility - and when they officially pulled the plug, all essential things still work ... you can still format a 720k floppy on Win11, provided you kept the hardware. TLG won't do that, for sure. They are good at making plastic pieces, others then assemble. No, PUp will not stop working if you take care of things. It is the same with Mindstorms. This is at least my take. Best, Thorsten

I wouldn't be so disappointed at all! See, what I tried so say before is: There are still (and I believe will be for long) these die-hard total nerds, that for some reason believe, making an old machine work or just getting "vintage" stuff going, is awesome, cool, mesmerizing, fantastic, unbelievable, electrifying etc. etc. You can get the full suite of LEGO stuff, beginning with the RCX at much better prices than the original sets, plus the whole suite of original as well as third party software essentially for free. Yes, that needs tinkering. But there are references here and elsewhere how to get all that going on even Win10/11 machines. It really "all" works. Getting it going is fun. The complete old sets are just totally overpriced, I would not consider that at all. Get the bricks you need separately, as well all the PBricks you need. You can still do all that without TLG giving you one step per page instructions! Just go for it!!! Best, Thorsten

(sucking in air ...) Left as in left for you - or as in left for making someone happy? Best, Thorsten

Sounds pretty much so. Also explains a lot; telephone sanitizers and management consultants are usually not that good at writing software - well, that's what I heard Best, Thorsten

Mine as well. Which means: Should I gamble, I would make a fortune: +winning +!OE cost. I never bet, though - which comes down to !OE cost. And that will allow me to look for some good DS/DD floppies for my IBM 5160. Win-win. Best, Thorsten

Well. Mixed, very mixed feelings here ... 1998 not only ended my dark ages by literally blowing away any blinds from the many LEGO windows, that I had in my head since 1965; it beamed me back into creativity world. It was the RCX1.0 that finally made it come true, what I always wanted to do with LEGO: Sense, think, act. The Scout and MicroScout completed that line, along with NQC (and BricxCC) and RobotC. For me that is. It was always 3rd party software though - and hardly any of TLGs "attempts" in this regard. In my opinion, they always - well - basically failed, when it came to "operating" software, IDE's and so on. Not their firmware(s), but this is again close to the hardware. And to be honest: The hardware was always nice. RCX, NXT, EV3 ... really cool. I don't have an EV3; simply because I still have not figured out, what an NXT can't accomplish - and RCX' are my workhorses. As are Scouts. Yes, the phasing out of these product lines kills many things - but there are still beyond-hope-nerds out there, and I certainly do count myself in. So EV3's did not make it here - CFO Ms. Toastie was a lot of help in this regard. As she was with Spike - to be honest, I completely lost the naming at that stage - and tried PUp. And with PyBricks (again third party software), Mindstorms was deemed to be phased out, as now PUp "hubs" essentially replace PBricks. Yes, there are differences. But adding, for example, memory is next to nothing on the hardware side. So far, with TLG's apps, PUp was "just" remotely controlled stuff using bidirectional communication between hub and smart device. With PyBricks, PUp hubs become autonomous. Why use PBricks??? I am shocked that the Mindstorms program is dying. It changed a lot in my life. But hey, that's nostalgia, because ... ... the Mindstorms idea lives on - and hopefully will do so - in PUp hubs or whatever the marketing folks at TLG headquarters come up with for the next line of electronics, when they change all the plugs, and make all the new devices incompatible to PUp. I got used to this, when they made the NXT - and after decades, 9V cables became essentially incompatible (yes, there were adapter cables, but hey, I was close to call it quits on the hobby. I felt betrayed ). Goodbye, Mindstorms. And thanks for all the fish. And: Tipping hat, a very, very deep bow - to all the people in the Mindstorms developer team: You made VERY BIG CHANGES in the LEGO universe. Here is to you Sincerely, Thorsten

It sure is! The thing though is that the HogEx was not designed for train fans that like to see moving trains, it was for Harry Potter fans. I blieve the #HP fans is >> than the #train fans. And then they have very well invested wisely into marketing etc ... the disaster is a disaster for train fans, but who cares, when all the HP fans are happy ... I don't know about the Orient-Express ... I believe there are many fans out there as well ... so again, TLG would rake in ... At this scale I am, for some reason, skeptical about the self-propelled thing; that would need even more expensive LEGO gear. We'll see. Best, Thorsten

No chance - Ms. Toastie (CFO here) will not approve that. Best, Thorsten