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Subject: 
Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Mon, 2 Sep 2002 13:23:15 GMT
Viewed: 
715 times
  
Yeah, serious business huh!

I will investigate the Pitsco source, but I have a feeling that it may be
limited too. I think TLC are quietly pulling the plug on their whole 9v
system. You can't buy 9v train connectors anymore, you now can't buy these
regular motor/sensor kinds of wires, they sold off their RCX supplies at
half price, they currently have light sensors going out on discount on the
S@H website and they are promoting Spybotics as a viable alternative to
Mindstorms.

I think it would be foolish to try and ignore the writing on the wall. I
hope they continue to find a way to support all the educational
organizations from schools to colleges to universities who bought into the
whole Mindstorms things as a teaching resource, otherwise those institutions
are going to have a job replacing worn and damaged parts.

And yes, I totally agree with your final conclusion - its time to take
seriously the whole issue of what has to be provided to take the place of
what TLC started - and somewhat sooner than I had anticipated the need to.

And now, it appears there's less reason to keep the interconnect system Lego
compatible, since there obviously won't be anything to be compatible with.

JB


In lugnet.robotics, sjbaker1@airmail.net writes:
John Barnes wrote:

I was very upset to discover that LD have withdrawn 5111 worldwide, when I
recently tried to place an order for more.

Yikes!

Please note that this puts an end to 3rd party sensors :(

No - surely not.  I noticed that the 2002 Pitsco Dacta catalog (which
dropped into my lap just last week) still has:

  * U779898 : 1x10' (!) lead - $13.50

  * U779897 : 1x11", 1x21" 1x51" leads - $13.50

  * U779911 : Touch sensor + 1x11" + 1x6" leads - $11.95

  * U970041 : 3x leads (unspecified length) - $10.00

Not cheap - but still available.  Even at $3.34 per lead - that's
only $1.67 per sensor - so I doubt it'll destroy the 3rd party
sensor market for as long as Pitsco continue to sell them.

Beter buy a good stock of them while you still can!

Well, I guess this is an added incentive to think about a complete third
party replacement for the RCX!  (er - and the motors - and the Lego sensors,
lights, sound element, etc)

   :-(

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
Mail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net>   WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
URLs : http://www.sjbaker.org
       http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net http://tuxkart.sf.net
       http://prettypoly.sf.net http://freeglut.sf.net
       http://toobular.sf.net   http://lodestone.sf.net



Message has 4 Replies:
  Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
 
John Barnes wrote: > I think it would be foolish to try and ignore the writing on the wall. I > hope they continue to find a way to support all the educational > organizations from schools to colleges to universities who bought into the > whole (...) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.robotics)
  Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
 
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Barnes" <barnes@sensors.com> To: <lego-robotics@crynwr.com> Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 9:23 AM Subject: Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available (...) What will they replace it with? 12V? Any (...) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.robotics)
  RE: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
 
John, I'll have a peek at the Specturm educational warehouse and see what they have in stock. I'll keep you posted. (...) I agree that it looks like 9V is undergoing some changes. The Spybots run on 4.5V and seem to be pretty strong. I agree that (...) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.robotics)
  Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
 
(...) Non-robotic type speaking here: It seems to me that some enterprising individual with, say, access to a CNC machine, a pantograph, an injection molding machine and some spare wire could really fill a niche here. Might make some money at it as (...) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.robotics)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Service pack 5111 - Wires - no longer available
 
(...) Yikes! > Please note that this puts an end to 3rd party sensors :( No - surely not. I noticed that the 2002 Pitsco Dacta catalog (which dropped into my lap just last week) still has: * U779898 : 1x10' (!) lead - $13.50 * U779897 : 1x11", 1x21" (...) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.robotics)

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