Subject:
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Re: LEGO Purism
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sat, 10 Aug 2002 14:47:26 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.STOPSPAMnet>
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Reply-To:
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[sjbaker1@airmail.]antispam[net]
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Viewed:
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1768 times
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There are good, rational reasons for most of these decisions:
> Personally, I wouldn't cut pieces...that is sacred to me.
That makes good sense - because once a piece has been modified,
you can't use it for it's intended purpose again.
> I will use stickers.
That also makes sense - because it's purely decorative - and it's
reversable.
> And maybe modify it with paint from time to time.
Getting more dubious to me.
> However, I will only stick to Lego and not use rival clone brands...
There are very good reasons for that - most (if not all) clone brands
are made of very inferior plastic and they wear out to the point of
becoming useless after just a couple of uses. There are also suggestions
that this harder plastic could also damage genuine Lego parts that you
connect them to.
> As for robotics go. I think its another matter of personal preference.
> I like using the Lego firmware, because it was designed to be used
> for the "young and inexperienced" robot maker in mind.
>
> If others find it too constricting or childish, fine. I haven't taken a
> lot of programming courses, and what I've seen of programming, I can't
> understand it, so that's why 3rd party software isn't for me.
You can rationalise not using the Lego programming environment because the
end result of using (say) NQC are the exact same bytecodes you would have
gotten by using the Lego environment. In a sense, NQC is just a different
construction technique - you are still using the same Lego parts in the
final model.
The DIFFICULT dilemma for purists is buying parts like leadscrews and
radio controls for non-Lego sources. I don't do that - but I find it
hard to justify.
* People say - "If I use outside parts, I'm diluting the challenge of
building something within a limited scope" - but where do you draw that
line. ZNAPS? Duplo? Bionicles? Cutting up the Lego box and using
the cardboard for something?
* People say - "If I use outside parts, other people can't reproduce my
models easily." - but if you used a Spybotics part and I didn't buy a
Spybotics set - then I can't reproduce your model without buying that
set. If you used a lead-screw from a non-Lego source then I'm in the
same situation. I can reproduce your model if I buy that part. So long
as the source of the part is just as easy to order from as real Lego,
what's the problem? So long as these add-on electronic parts use real
Lego for their enclosures and not cheap clone parts with inferior plastic,
it's hard to say why this is a problem.
* People say - "If I use non-Lego parts, they won't be in LDraw and we won't
be able to exchange build instructions electronically" - so just make a
library of LDraw models for whatever unapproved parts you are using.
* People naturally want to stay loyal to the Lego company - but if they aren't
serving our needs and we slavishly buy their product even though it's not,
then there is no incentive for Lego to make things that we like.
I still prefer to stick with pure Lego solutions because I love the *SPIRIT* of
the Lego system - but I'm finding that position increasingly difficult to justify
when the Lego company itself is straying so far from that tradition.
----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
Mail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
URLs : http://www.sjbaker.org
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: LEGO Purism
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| (...) That's nice... what is the underlying issue? Is it not being true to Lego form? I think the overall concept of being Lego Purity is a personal decision. What levels you are willing to go may be different to what the guy down the road, etc. If (...) (22 years ago, 10-Aug-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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