Subject:
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Re: legOS
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 30 Nov 1998 21:38:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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2448 times
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Lageson, Tom wrote in message <813599F6EBBFD011B40400805F310615DD6B9A@dcnts05.tennantco.com>...
> Pardon me for butting in on this thread, but hasn't Markus written a new
> operating system that doesn't use the Lego firmware? Isn't he operating
> against the chip? As long as Markus didn't copy the firmware, his operating
> system should be able to have the same functionality as Lego's firmware,
> right? Isn't this how one chip base (intel) can have multiple operating
> systems (OS/2, Linux, DRDos, etc) running on the same chip that provide the
> same essential functionality?
>
> The way I see it (and I am no lawyer), Lego sold me a H8/3297 chip wrapped
> in a hunk of plastic compatible with Lego blocks. They also sold me an
> operating system (the firmware) and a development environment (the cute
> building block software). If I decide that I want to install another
> operating system on that chip (legOS) and use a different development
> environment (NQCC), how could they stop me? It may invalidate my support
> from Lego if I have problems when the alternative operating system is used,
> but isn't that a risk that the consumer can take?
This is, in fact, the nub of the question at hand. If I buy ANY single
board computer with proprietary firmware on it, I can choose to replace
the firmware and as a consequence lose any support the vendor may provide.
I don't really think the legOS situation is much different. As long as
substantial reverse-engineering and plagerism is not done, then there is
no real issue.
A close parallel springs to mind. The older engineering types among us may
remember the HP41 and the "synthetic programming" we could do on it. There
was even a magazine and special ROM devoted to hacking this calculator!
In any case, the group made it clear that the activity was NOMAS, which
stood for NOt MAnufacturer Supported - if you fried your HP41, too bad!
In fact, Hewlett Packard gave some unofficial support for the project and
the HP41 users group wish list was considered when the HP48 flagship
was designed.
Which brings me to my point. TLG has a golden opportunity to capitalize
on the dedication of the legOS developers and even release an "advanced"
product - although the support might be a bit hairy. I can't see teaching
university level real-time programming with the Mindstorms interface, but
a professor could use the RIS and legOS as a great intro to realtime with
not too much trouble.
Hmmmm - is anybody thinking the same kind of thoughts......
Cheers,
Ralph Hempel - P.Eng
------------------------------------------------------
The train stops at the train station,
The bus stops at the bus station,
So why am I sitting at a work station?
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Reply to: rhempel at bmts dot com
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: legOS
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| (...) Hi, I have been thinking this. It seems like an official Lego release of the legOS system would be quite beneficial to TLG, especially since I read in the wired.com article that around 50% of the MS sales goes to adult men. In response to (...) (26 years ago, 1-Dec-98, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: legOS
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| (...) In fact, my University in Germany is starting to think aloud whether they should buy some 20 Mindstorms for an introductory robotics class ;-) (26 years ago, 1-Dec-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | RE: legOS
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| Pardon me for butting in on this thread, but hasn't Markus written a new operating system that doesn't use the Lego firmware? Isn't he operating against the chip? As long as Markus didn't copy the firmware, his operating system should be able to (...) (26 years ago, 30-Nov-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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