Subject:
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Re: Request for info on the Control Lab Interface.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics, lugnet.technic
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Date:
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Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:23:25 GMT
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Viewed:
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7349 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Rob Doucette wrote:
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In lugnet.robotics, Jordan Bradford wrote:
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Just today I got one of these from an eBay auction, including the original
cable in a sealed plastic bag. The ROBOLAB software wasn’t included,
however, so I imagine that I’ll need a driver of some kind to use it.
Does anyone have a driver?
(This might be a good opportunity to learn to write a device driver. That
might be fun.)
Also, I have some general questions.
1. Is this interface a simple I/O device that passes sensor inputs directly
to the PC?
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Yes, programs are executed on the PC.
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2. Vice-versa: does it store programs like an RCX, or does it just perform
simple output commands the PC instructs it to (set power for an output, turn
on an output, etc.)?
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Nothing is stored on the device.
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3. To summarize those two questions, does a program I write to use it reside
on the PC or within the interface itself?
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It resides on the PC.
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4. Can I write programs for it in NQC? Can I use leJOS or BrickOS? Or must I
use ROBOLAB?
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AFAIK, you will need a newer version of ROBOLAB. The older versions (forget
which) did not support ControlLab.
If you’re up to the task, many of us would be very happy to see ControlLab
support in NQC.
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That’s it for now; I’m sure I’ll have more questions once I get it home and
play around with it.
Thanks!
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Good luck!
-Rob.
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Thanks for your information!
I was also sent via email a very helpful page:
http://troyda.eas.muohio.edu/paper2.html
His Research Page has source code,
which was also helpful. In fact, his ActiveX control might be useful for NQC. I
had trouble getting it to connect to my interface, so I moved on to my real
goal:
Using these resources I wrote a simple C# app that can initiate communication
with the control lab interface, get its response back, and send a command to
turn on some motor ports.
I’m happy it was this painless. No driver was needed, but I will need to write a
robust control class. I’ll still get my fix of bit-twiddling and byte buffers .
. . I can’t wait!
Once my DLL is finished I’ll certainly share it with the community.
Quick aside: I read someplace that more than one of these things can be used at
the same time. Is this true? Can you daisy-chain them, or do you just use a
separate COM port for each device?
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