Takeshi Miranda

Ah, OK. Lately, I have been having the strange idea of applying (for a job) at TLG as an embedded systems developer (firmware development) for the EV3 team, such as the people making the circuit board inside the intelligent brick, without knowing what the salaries are like. It's only a strange idea that my wife believes it will never happen.

Hmmm. So, it would be OK for me to post my MOC built with mostly Classic and Police minifigs (3 Police + 1 Dog) into the LEGO Town section? Or, only if I include the SUV from the Police Starter Set?

Hello, World! Over the past seven (7) years, I had hand-built about four dozen microcontroller development boards (like what is used for the "programmable brick"), like "Arduino", but I have expanded way beyond Arduino. LEGO Classic Large Brick Box (10698) Using my LEGO Classic elements, purchased in January 2017, is it possible to add mechanisms to make my MOCs "animated"? I am still a newbie at LEGO and I don't know where to search for my answer. My previous Google searches gave the outcomes focused on train projects. I did see some stuff at Lego.com that might work, but I have no real clue if that's what I'm looking for. Because I could not find what I'm looking for, I'm guessing that LEGO is purposely discouraging my MOC idea to promote the EV3. I'm not planning on building complex MOCs, such as a walking robot, however, I would like to build something with 5VDC stepper motors and the needed gears, such as a robotic arm with calipers. I may only need the "accessories" as I can purchase the stepper motors, locally. What I've seen online, are stepper motors already attached to accessories. Though I can build what I want without using any LEGO elements, I just know to know if it is possible to use my LEGO Classic elements in a way to act like a Mindstorms product. Linux Development By the way, I am GNU/Linux developer with almost 20 years of GNU/Linux experiences and almost 28 of programming in C. I am just wondering, if my own technical skills can be used to invent unique LEGO MOCs that are animated under a GNU/Linux environment. I desperate need inspiration to build MOCs, too! Thanks for Reading! By now, after reading my posts, one could probably guess that I want to build my own, specialized MOCs, which is true! I'm one that is not gifted with money and I do know LEGO products are expensive, so in the event I do buy another LEGO product, I want it to be a "main ingredient" to my MOC projects. Thanks for Reading and Have a Nice Day!

LEGO Mindstorms/NXT without the Programmable Brick? After reading my previous comments to my original post, I am thinking that I could probably "get away" with a LEGO Mindstorms/NXT product without the programmable brain, but using one of my hand-built microcontroller development boards. What makes LEGO Mindstorms expensive? As of this writing, I do not know what exact component makes Mindstorms expensive. When I see the contents of the EV3, I feel it is "overbloated" to what I really want to experience. When I see other people's Mindstorm MOCs in action, I have wondered if I will ever experience that. Does a Minimal LEGO Mindstorms product exist? With the hardware I currently own, I would be interested in making a programmable car with front-wheel turning, though I am not sure if that's possible since Mindstorms is more robotics than vehicles. On the other hand, I would be interesting in making a robotic arm with Mindstorms without the programmable brick.

Thank you for replying. :) Based on the links you've provided, I have realized that I don't require the "programmable" brick, as I have already built the alternatives via my embedded systems development projects. It seems the LEGO "programmable brick" is only redundant to what I already have built. I could probably "get away" with having a Mindstorms/NXT without the "programmable brick". Thank you for the insights! :) On the other hand, if I did obtain one of those programmable bricks, I would probably end up "hacking" it... making my own firmware, programming software, etc. Thank you for your reply and input... However, I don't rely of Windows... This coming July 2017, I will be celebrating 20 years of GNU/Linux experiences; I was thinking of working a programmable brick within a Linux environment. As for the EV3, I have already found a site that explains how to run Linux on the EV3...

Hello, World! As a veteran computer programmer, I tend to start off my (often boring) posts with "Hello, World", despite being a retired webmaster and blogger. Which Forum do I post my Hybrid Classic - City Police posts? My primary LEGO theme is Classic. My secondary LEGO theme is City with the sub-theme, Police. I could not find the "Classic" forum; maybe because I am still a new user in Eurobricks and have not written the required 10 (or so) posts. Presently, my LEGO photos are posted in my LEGO DeviantArt gallery; I haven't yet discovered how to "hotlink" the photos into Eurobricks since photo hosting isn't allowed. My DeviantArt site is "primary" into receiving 99% of my digital art posts (the remaining 1% are my profile photos and backgrounds). My plan is to soon include my radio scanner ("Police Radio") hobby with my newly founded LEGO hobby. Since I am still learning LEGO Classic, itself, I plan to include my three City Police minifigs. (My real-life radio equipment were made in Japan!) My "CyberSecurity" interests may be part of my LEGO Classic - City Police hybrid posts! Though it is only an idea, it is an idea I am thinking of doing. Thanks for Reading! As usual, I am and was never known to write numerous posts within a short timeline. I tend to write a couple or a few posts, in which the content of each post, varies between mid-range to huge. Most of my posts take some time to write because of the arthritis that is inside my hands; I have to frequently take breaks when writing every post. Thanks for Reading and Have a Nice Day!

Wish to delete

Thanks for replying. I know LEGO is an expensive hobby. Unfortunately, now that I live in the Philippines, originally from USA, importing goods risk 300% taxation. Thanks for replying. Presently, I had no exposure to Mindstorms nor NXT products from LEGO. Before I could seek a job at LEGO for Mindstorm Development (embedded systems development is a specialty of mine), I really wish to experience 30-60 minutes (bare minimum) of operating a Mindstorms product; that will decide whether or not I would be interested in developing firmware for Mindstorm's "brain" brick. Here in the Philippines, LEGO, as well as, Mindstorms are super expensive. In the local group, I have seen no evidence of anyone possessing a Mindstorm (or NXT) product. In January, I visited Singapore a second time, and saw strangers (people I don't know) working a Mindstorm/NXT product.

Hello World! Though I am a New User of Eurobricks Forums and a Newcomer to LEGO®, I am still wishing for LEGO® MINDSTORM despite it will never happen during my lifetime. Starting off, I do not want to sound like a beggar (or some other negative adjective), so I have updated my Eurobricks Profile with additional details about my LEGO® avocation. To summarize matters, I am an old (almost 47 years old) disabled person with ailing health and receiving tiny disability income. My avocations, with some professional experiences, in the fields of computers and electronics, originally started in 1983 (in the USA) when I was 13 years old. That includes my computer programming experiences, which is why I have painful arthritis in my hands today. My wish for LEGO® MINDSTORMS began in January 2013 during my visit to LEGOLAND Malaysia.(along with my wife and nephew). Due to bad legs and feet, I could not enjoy the themepark. When I saw the MINDSTORMS exhibit, I went to the employee and asked if I can "check it out" as I never experienced MINDSTORMS before. Sadly, the employee refused to allow me to go near it because I am not a teenager! That was the exact moment when my interest in LEGO® vanished! Since January 2013, my hobby work with digital electronics increased! Using my long-term experience with the C Programming Language, I had learned how to program a variety of microcontrollers, such as Microchip PIC, Atmel AVR (a.k.a. "Arduiino") and TI MSP430. A Good Samaritan in the USA had donated the BeagleBone Black to me and my hobby work in embedded systems deverlopment exploded! I had experienced new skill that I never thought I would ever experience in my lifetime; from blinking LEDs to customizing LCDs to foreign language speech synthesis. Sadly, from 2014 to 2016, my life had crashed! To make a long story, short, I experienced severe depression from my Filipino dad become a stroke patient and my relatives backstabbing/betraying me, forcing me to purge my technical hobbies off the Internet for good. And then, unfortunately, I have experienced my worst nightmare! (Long Story!) As a result, I was forced to launch my contingency plan which designated LEGO® as an official avocation for me. The LEGO® MINDSTORMS box cover is the closest I got! In January 2017, when I was visiting in Singapore, I was able to hold the box for the EV3, however the pricetag forced me to put the box to where I picked it up from. In early February 2017, while visiting a LCS in Philippines, I saw an assembled MINDSTORMS product through a glass display case and was able to touch the empty MINDSTORMS box; yes, only the box! So far, as of this writing, I have never experienced what a MINDSTORMS product feels like! In my experiences, money is required before I can even touch a MINDSTORMS product. Will My LEGO® MINDSTORMS Fading Wish be Granted? I have not yet written to LEGO® HQ in Denmark nor in the USA, asking for a sponsorship; the fact is, I do not know how to ask! I don't know how to look for a Good Samaritan, either. It seems I require money I don't have before someone would consider sending me a MINDSTORMS product. I don't require a brand new product; I would even accept an old, obsolete model. I have no interest in profiteering! I just want to experience programming a MINDSTORMS product and witness the outcome of my created program. As of this writing, my wish for MINDSTORMS is fading away! Thanks for Reading! Though I probably will never receive a MINDSTORMS product in my lifetime. Thank you for reading my post. Have a Great Day, Everybody!

Thank you very much! I just discovered "Multi-Quote" feature! Anyways, I closed down my blog and move my LEGO page to my Eurobricks Profile... Have a Great Day, Everybody!

Hello World! I am Marcos "Takeshi" Miranda! I used to live in the USA and now living in the Philippines! On July 21, 2017, I will be celebrating 20 years of GNU/Linux experiences. On January 18, 2017, I officially escaped the Dark Ages for not working LEGO in four decades, when I bought the LEGO® Classic Large Creative Brick Box (10698) and LEGO® City Prison Guard Key Chain (853568). I also have the LEGO® Brick Calendar (853195) since January 2013, however, my wife builds & rebuilds it (the calendar) almost every month. My first, physical LEGO MOC build was on January 19, 2017, and was done during my second visit to Singapore. I've done two more before returning to the Philippines. Then, on February 5, 2017, I bought the LEGO® Bionicle Lord of Skull Spiders (70790) and LEGO® City Police Starter Set (60136). My wife built 60136 and I built 70790 at 2AM the next morning. I think I have done nine (9) physical LEGO MOCs by now and they're posted in my DeviantArt LEGO gallery. I know people don't like clicking on URLs (links) but that is the only site where I am publishing my LEGO MOCs, both physical and virtual builds. Though I am already building LEGO® MOCs (from my LEGO® Classic Large Creative Brick Box), I am not a LEGO® Addict! I'm just a simple LEGO® Purist that randomly builds for the sole purpose of making digitized LEGO® Art. Though I have countless hours available, producing a LEGO® MOC (physical/virtual) is not a priority. I have recently added LEGO® Digital Designer and LeoCAD to my collection of digital art development tools. For those building LEGO® MOC police themes, please let me know by using the tools available on Eurobricks. Thank You! Law enforcement is one of my multitude of interests. Marcos "Takeshi" Miranda

Good Evening From The Philippines! Working WYSIWYG editors is kind of FUN! Only IF I had this type of editor when I was learning HTML back in 1995; there probably was, but it wasn't free! I think, being a retired webmaster is a curse! With my own final blog and arthritis pain in my hands, I will probably remain a New Member of Eurobricks Forums for a very long time! Marcos "Takeshi" Miranda Not an LEGO Addict, Just a LEGO Purist!