Subject:
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Re: Newbie questions about RIS 2.0
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 24 Dec 2001 16:18:26 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <SJBAKER1@nomorespamAIRMAIL.NET>
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Reply-To:
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(sjbaker1@)IHateSpam(airmail.net)
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Viewed:
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545 times
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Vidhyanath Rao wrote:
>
> My son has been saving for an RIS for about 7 months and we decided to
> put him over the top for Xmas. After I got the thing home, I noticed
> that the min req said Pentium II/233 Mhz or better. I have only a 1997/8
> vintage Dell with 200 MHz Pentium MMX. I was able to download the
> firmware and confirm it. I have not tried any programs yet. But I
> noticed that the response time was irritatingly slow. Is this the only
> drawback? [I also held off on installing DirectX 8.1. Is this neccessary
> for the WYSIWYG prograaming tool?]
I don't know the answer to this - but if your son is 'into' programming
and computers, you could consider just dumping the Lego software and using
NQC. With the Lego environment, you get to "program" by dragging cute little
icons around - and that's what needs the high speed computer. But with NQC,
you write programs as text files (just like "real" programming) - and you
could do it on a 1MHz Z80 - a 200MHz machine is overkill!
The *big* problem with older machines is if you are running Win95 which
doesn't have USB drivers.
You should definitely try downloading the RCX firmware and a simple test
program to be sure that it's all going to work for your son - but if you got
the firmware to download, it's probably all OK and the annoyingly slow
response time is your only problem.
> While browsing the archives (on lugnet.com), I noticed a message about
> IR burnout. Is this a problem only if powering with an AC? In particular
> can I leave the IR plugged into the USB port all the time? [the only USB
> ports I have are in the back. The IR tower is the only USB device I
> have.]
I don't recall anyone having problems with the new USB tower. The old
serial port tower had this burnout problem with (IIRC) Win2k which was
doing something strange with the RS-232 control signals.
> Also, I kept getting error messages about the RCX not responding
> (though it seemd download as indicated by the numbers display) till I
> turned off the lights. Is this normal? [the light was 6 ft away, but in
> the same line as RCX -> IR, with RCX 6in from the IR.]
I've never had this problem - but it's certainly possible in theory.
You might want to try the 'range' switch on the tower - switching it
into the other position sometimes helps.
> Also, I have only a 4GB hdd. I have room to spare now, it is only a
> matter of time before I start looking for things to remove. My son has
> been working through "C for Dummies" (he went through about 70% of the
> "Great Logo Adventure"). so he should be ready to handle using less
> visual means of programming in a few months. So I would like to know
> what is the minimal setup I need to retain from the RIS 2.0 CD. Also any
> suggestions on the visual programming tools mentioned on the Lego page
> on crynwr.com? [I don't have visual basic, and don't plan on getting it.
> But I have gcc, perl and can try to set things up if neccessary.]
Get NQC - if you can write C programs you'll prefer it to the Lego environment.
(NQC is a free download).
----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Newbie questions about RIS 2.0
|
| My son has been saving for an RIS for about 7 months and we decided to put him over the top for Xmas. After I got the thing home, I noticed that the min req said Pentium II/233 Mhz or better. I have only a 1997/8 vintage Dell with 200 MHz Pentium (...) (23 years ago, 24-Dec-01, to lugnet.robotics)
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