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Hello @Napoleon3 and welcome to EB! Absolutely - 32 is a very nice number. And so much more: 32 years of life experience! Ha, nothing wrong with a Swiss accent! These are very pleasant people - I love the country. More than a decade ago, one of my former PhD students got a job in Thun - and got a Swiss passport some years later. When we lived for some years in the US, one Chem1A student said, I sound like someone from Australia. Well, coming from remote Northern Germany, that sounded cool to me :D More importantly: Accent or not, with or without using hands, feet, the entire body: Just do it. Nothing better than people interacting with each other. Have fun around here! Best wishes Thorsten

Holy cow!!! Is this the successor of the LEGO Lines software for the Swedish Compis computer? And it runs on a Windows machine, right? I know this is about Control Lab, but the "LEGO + Swedish schools" story is really interesting. As you certainly know, Paul (from Sweden) has two 640kByte 5.25" floppies with LEGO Lines for the Compis computer, which was running CP/M-86 as OS. Paul has already extracted some files from this rather weird format (however, known to 22Disk!), which he sent me, but you can do nothing with any executable of course, as they needs a Compis computer. This software was specifically made for Swedish schools, as the Compis was. The latter failed rather miserably; not because of its design (it is a beautiful machine!!! See here: http://www.datormuseum.se/computers/others/telenova-compis), but because of some rather unfortunate decisions, the Swedish government made back then. It is a highly fascinating story. Cool! Best wishes, Thorsten

Moin Rolf! As others said: A good number of people here have already left the dirt behind . My past 15 and 1/2 years of experience here on EB in a nutshell: It is a wonderful, friendly place, with an enormous LEGO experience and knowledge base. You will get help the moment you ask for, you can share your builds, or other LEGO related stuff (even rather remotely related, as I can tell ), and participate in many activities - or not! German here as well, and I'll turn 64 in a couple of weeks. Welcome to the club. All the best and have fun! Thorsten

Welcome to the club, very good move! ALL BRANDS - or ABS. I went ABS a couple of years ago - this recently mutated into OLO (old LEGO only) and all other brands only (AOBO) Best Thorsten

Wow - to make you feel even younger, I entered my dark ages when Jerry Ehman found the Wow! signal upon analyzing the SETI data recorded that year by the Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope. I never heard anything about SETI back then, living in a small town in Northern Germany, where you could see the Milky Way as bright background illumination of the sky at night. It took me almost 15 years to regain LEGO traction, way before TLG decided to switch from old to new gray/brown. Here is to feeling younger than ever Best Thorsten

That is all what counts! "Just be yourself - nobody can say you are doing it wrong" (Snoopy/C.M. Schulz). I am still living in physical world - as I model and fix things around our house, my mother-in-law's house, my brother-and-sister-in-law's house ... Yeah, the saying goes: "Wo gehobelt wird, da fallen Späne", which fully applies to me. I have the feeling, though, @aFrInaTi0n is more on the delicate side of things ... Ji OK, I envision this as follows: @Jim (J), @aFrInaTi0n (A), and another high-rank staff is in the EB server room. They have a visit from the LEGO Protection Agency, by the name of Walter Peck (P). The LEGO Police is also present, as well as an LEGO electrical engineer. Due to heavy traffic in the "Unpopular Opinions about LEGO" thread, EB's server power drag has become very suspicious. Here we go: A: Excuse me, this is private property. P: Shut this off, shut these all off. A: I'm warning you. Turning off these machines would be extremely hazardous. P: I'll tell you what's hazardous. You're facing federal prosecution for at least a half 'a dozen environmental violations. Now either you shut off these machines or we shut them off for you. A: Try to understand. This is a high voltage unpopular message containment system. Simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb in the city. P: Don't patronize me. I'm not grotesquely stupid like the people you go ... J: At ease, officer. I'm Jim, I think there has just been a slight misunderstanding and I want to cooperate in any way that I can. P: Forget it, Jim. You've had your chance to cooperate, but you thought it would be more fun to insult me and now it is my turn, wise-megablocks. A: He wants to shut down the protection grid, Jim. J: You shut that thing down, and we are not gonna be held responsible for whatever happens - P: On the contrary, you will be be held responsible - J: No, we won't be held ... P: Shut it off! J: ... responsible. J: Don't shut it off! I'm warning you. LEGO engineer: Uhm, I, I've never seen anything like this before, I don't know ... P: I'm not interested in your opinion, just shut it off. J: My friend, don't be a jerk. LEGO police: Step aside. P: If he does that again, you can shoot him. LEGO police: You do your job pencil neck, don't tell me how to do mine. P: Thank you officer. Shut it off! LEGO engineer: Oh, shit ... And BOOM, things are gone. And now @aFrInaTi0n has to fix it ... Yes, I love Ghostbusters ... All the best Thorsten

Yes, you will. I love this. Making instructions, selling them (why not), writing a book, whatever serves as documentation. After all, this effort is materializing a - thing - from a galaxy far, far away - in this world, hey, even more focused, in LEGO world. The more you spatially focus, the less well-defined is time or energy ... OK, that is just nerd talk. But it is true :D So far. I am watching the progress here in awe. All the best for both of you, make it - in one way or the other - just happen. Thorsten

True. But: "Moving as in the movies" AT-ATs don't exist in 2026. I may be wrong. But for sure not in LEGO universe. NASA had uncountable men and women working on the Apollo mission; according to Googles AI 400.000. As far as I am aware, you guys are down to two individuals, at least in this EB thread. So it may require some ... years. I truly believe it is worth the effort - as long as you have some sort of fun - or energy supply. Personally, I love this project. All the best Thorsten

Absolutely! And I bet there will be quite a number of people who will be interested/purchasing! That would include me ;) How about a little cheating only during the (very complex) construction process, consisting, as you said, of many teardowns and new starts, modifications (be it only a fraction of a plate height), and so on? Maybe you could get more swiftly to a "test rig" instead of browsing BL and other LEGO resources? I'd even go to using screws, if things need to be held in place, but so far there was no way of doing it in pure LEGO world. And then, when the result is satisfactory or considered a step forward, refining it to get it "pure"? I do that in research a lot. One example: Ultra-high vacuum (= ultra clean) environments we are monitoring on weird industrial sites do never tolerate any kind of glue, plastics, grease, etc. However in the lab, when we are “constructing” ("figuring out by trial and error" is a much better phrase) these metrology machines, 3D printed plastic parts are all over the place, superglue here and there ... Once the thing seems to do what it is supposed to do, we go to our machine shop and have it made of stainless steel, millable ceramics, and so on. Well, just my odd and most probably totally stupid ideas. Best Thorsten

Great! When I ran into similar issues (on much, much simpler builds!) I used the #42446 bracket - simply because I have a couple of those. I have to admit though that I usually use very thin 5 mm id metal washers and stack them up till it fits. Yeah, I am on the dark side, I know ... you can also make such washers by drilling 5 mm holes into other thin LEGO parts such as panels and so on ... Actually, I also know this "need to take a few weeks break" feeling very well! And regularly it just turns out to shrink to one night. Not so much of a surprise as time is relative. A night of good sleep (at warp speed) seems to be the equivalent of a few weeks of trying harder (at snail speed). It also seems that seriously threatening the deep areas of the brain with "taking a few weeks off" gets things rolling much faster ;) Keep up the good and creative work! Cross my fingers! Best Thorsten

Holy guacamole. This is ca-ray-zy!!! So, 2026-1-1 @amine pointed me to a totally cool feature of the Internet Archive, I never heard of: Online, browser based emulators, built into the very archive ... I have emulators for all of my (real) vintage machines on my Dell laptop; IBM-XT (MartyPC), ZX81 and ZX Spectrum (InkSpector), Amstrad 8512 (PCW), Atari ST (Hatari), TI99/4A (classic99) - they all work like a charm, and I am using them to get software onto the real machines with Goteks or other devices. But these online emulators - man. I totally missed that feature of the Archive (The Emulation Station; https://archive.org/details/emulation?tab=collection). Thank you very much for that!!! All the best Thorsten P.S.: And of course the BBC Micro (BeepEm), C64 (CCS64 and VICE), and Apple (AppleWin) emulators for reasons @evank knows ;) - I don't have the real things though. Yet :D

What? Old gray and new bley go so nicely along with each other - as they mix to give a feeling of slightly “weathered” walls etc. I mix them all the time, on purpose. Here is to the new and old! All the best Thorsten P.S.: Old brown and new brown - That is my expertise! As being a lill or lill more color-blind, brown is one of my favorite screw-ups! Along with "tan" - pink, lime, ... heck, everything that is not black, old gray, white, blue, green, yellow, red I am actually good on the gray-scale - that is why I mix old and new gray pieces with some fun. Very nicely said! Same here. Sidenote: I am always a bit careful with summoning "evidence", particularly in "modern life", as this life has become so unbelievably diverse (and sure, always was), fast and immediate, as modern information technologies simply render it such. Old life was much more ... "confined" - back in the days, I never knew what happened in the village 6 km away from my own in Northern Germany. So, "I'm sick of people dismissing others for no reason beyond their own personal bias or experiences." All the best and Happy New Year Thorsten

Oh, I don't, belonging to the group of elderly, old, and impaired, or EOI ;) It is >only< about the money. Particularly as TLG has lost its "monopole". No more creative experimentation (OK, maybe some as camouflage), just keep the company above water and the family richer as in their wildest dreams. No, wait, that was Dr. Venkman in Ghostbusters Best Thorsten

Wow! I am not into AT-AT's at all (but follow this thread with close attention), however, this is a very cool technique making strong connections! Have to remember that - well, it is copied into my "this is how you do it right" folder! Thank you very much for sharing! Best Thorsten

That is true. Back in the days, with non-licensed sets, though, we had to come up with stories on our own or even "transfer" something we read or maybe even saw, but that was out of reach for me) into LEGO world. Which may have had some impact on imagination, creativity, persistence, and transfer skills. Oh well, with the immediate availability of AI for everyone having a smart device, these characteristics may not be essential anymore. Best Thorsten

Isn't that a true chicken-and-egg thing? Those who ride the license wave to make a fortune, cause the obsession? Best Thorsten

In LEGO world. When you go beyond LEGO, everything seems to be printable. Yes, I know, we are talking LEGO, but that does not mean, they set any standards anymore. Time goes by. Others thrive. TLG lags behind. When it comes to printed bricks, I just turn them around: Print is gone. Did that even decades ago, when TLG was actually printing on bricks. And sure, with slopes and tiles it is a different story. I totally see the limited stock argument (on tiles, slopes). Once that had become less of an issue for me: No stickers at all. I wouldn't say I hate them; I regard them as totally obsolete. If TLG does not print - well, others do. I simply don't buy >new< >€10 LEGO sets anymore. Recently browsed the shelves in a Northern Germany grocery store (our annual Christmas visit, my two daughters and I) and I >had< to purchase TLG's #77053 "Stargazing with Celeste" (Animal Crossing; Celeste is named Eufemia in Germany ^^) as my daughters played Animal Crossing for hours when they were 15 years younger. €9.99, close to my limit. But that's about it with LEGO for me. Maybe some day in the future, TLG will learn how to print skillfully on oddly shaped parts or even across multiple pieces. As others do today. Man, Pantasy's Winter Chalet is packet with prints - across multiple 4x4 tiles ... So, I am totally on the print side. I have a ton of LEGO and Non-LEGO bricks and pieces at my disposal, though. All the best Thorsten

I am unsure about that - I don't like "focus groups" nowhere at all, but ... Kids so vividly and swiftly "change". Some of my colleagues refer to freshmen and freshwomen (and yes, they complain about that usage of "men" as well) as "kids"; I call them the younger people (or youngest, in LEGO world for the "kids"). As a university chemistry teacher, I am supposed to develop modern chemistry curricula. Not alone, there are the younger colleagues around(!) but still ... I turn 64 early next year, three more years to go. Every semester, I volunteer to teach the equivalent of Chem1A/1B/1C, intro to PChem, intro to Thermodynamics, just "keep in touch" with "change". Getting in touch is no problem, but getting the "change" is. I get older; each semester, the women and men coming in stay at the same age, 17 to 19 years old. However, at the entrance level, Chemistry has not changed for almost a century, but each year, the cohorts surely do. Significantly. So I am mostly looking at how to adjust the way of presenting and more importantly, the way of grading. With AI at your fingertips, classical grading does not make any sense anymore. With regard to LEGO/TLG: The central idea of their product is almost as old as "modern" = 100 years old Chemistry. Sure there is PUp and what not; in Chemistry, we have orbitals and what not ... but essentially it all remains the same: Yes, SNOT is possible. Or: Don't mix Domestos with acidic detergents, or you'll be in serious trouble. My conclusion: Don't let younger+20 to +40 years old people design sets (or approaches) for the 3 to 10+ years old people without asking the latter. Should that be called a "focus group"? In my opinion, never. Just play with them. And they should not make such a fuzz about it. Get in touch, learn from the younger. Develop. Just my 2 cents, I am enjoying the Christmas "break" (Germans ... I know) and in 2026 I'll just continue with sniffing the wind of change. All the best Thorsten

@SpacePolice89 and @aFrInaTi0n, this is simply breathtaking. I don't know what to say - nor do I have >any< idea where the funding came/comes from. I was following the announcement, Christoph's move (yes, others tried too) to save all the content of Brickshelf, the actual shutdown, the multiple responses, the reopening (at that time read only) here on EB, as this is my sole platform for interaction regarding The Bricks. And now this. What a "success story" ... but who is covering all that - I tried "Wall of History", but it seems I am too old navigating this website. Here is to Wall of History and to all the people behind, beside and in front of it All the best Thorsten

Yeah, as always. For compatible PUp device>s<; how many are there? How would I plug that thing into any of the PUp "devices" I own? Nuts it is. But who knows. Best Thorsten

Very nice to know - thank you very much for pointing that out! I never had any such issues with BB yet, but it may of course happen in the future. On the other hand, I had such issues with other brand's sets. Over the decades, there have materialized a lot of LEGO pieces in my universe. And they perfectly click onto BB and other bricks ;) Again: Thank you @Black Knight for your advice! All the best Thorsten

Oh man, I am so sorry for not responding earlier! This was in October ... Did you get that Pocket386? Does it actually expose the ISA bus? If so, I am so "in" ... and your train layout, that would be a nice view!!! Meanwhile, @evank got me in touch with Paul from Sweden, who got hold of a copy of LEGO Lines for the Swedish Compis school computer. This is a fantastic machine, but got grounded up in the 1980s "development frenzy". This beauty operates on CP/M-86, features a 80186 CPU, two quad-density floppy drives ... the story behind that machine is - at least - crazy. It lived for about 2 to 3 years in the teaching programs and then faded away, but TLG made a Lines version for it. So far Paul has secured = copied to DOS a good number of files, but he (we ;) are still struggling to the extent that Paul is going to contact a Swedish museum having a Compis machine up and running. We'll see ... I am really curious about your plans. It sounds really, really exciting! Multiple 9750's, no need of 9771's ... totally cool!!! BTW: Do you speak French? This is all so exciting! All the best Thorsten Same here ... I love your enthusiasm ... and do so share it. Will try it out on DOSBox-X as well as on my XT. As said above, there is another totally "special" version of LEGO Lines for the Swedish Telenova Compis computer - a marvel! The story behind the Compis machine is worth a book. Who, when, why ... CP/M-86 tailored to a very "special" machine. Best Thorsten

That's me Best Thorsten

Hi Ian, depends on which set/series. Yes, BB does it that way in the "BB Special" series. It has been discussed here and there - people developed different strategies to cope with that challenge. Best and welcome to EB! Thorsten

Hi Thomas, your LEGO replica, this wonderful creation of yours, so deserved piloting the original. That is what she is doing, showing BR E18 047 where to roll, right? BTW, where is she going? This is such a nice series of photographs - so nicely illustrating the >perfection< of your work in LEGO world. Thank you very much for sharing. And I love the "5 years later heading" (I always "hear" that with a French accent ... weird ;) What are 5 years anyway, when it comes to pure LEGO art. All the best Thorsten