 | | Custom Firmware, IR Problems, and Dead RCXs (long)
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The following information is my own opinion and not endorsed or verified in any way by LEGO. That being said, I think that now is the time to relate some experiences I've had over the past couple of months with my RCX and IR tower - and it boils (...) (25 years ago, 26-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx, lugnet.robotics.rcx.pbforth, lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos)
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| | Re: IR Tower Use
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(...) Not really -- the tower uses its own proprietary communcations format. It's similar enough to that used by remote controls that learning remotes can pick up the signals, but I haven't heard of anyone going the other way around. (25 years ago, 25-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | IR Tower Use
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I know this may be a bit off topic, but didn't know where else to post, I own an IR tower and remote control, and was wondering if it is possible to use the IR tower for other things. eg using PC + tower to control stereo/TV, or using IR remote to (...) (25 years ago, 25-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | Dead IR Tower
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Well, after months of flaky IR comms between my tower and the RCX, I can finally say that the tower has died. :-( I've forgotten who first suggested it, but using a videocamera to see if the IR led is still functional is brilliant! I confirmed that (...) (25 years ago, 22-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: Dead RCX
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(...) Thanks for the response. I tried bending the tabs to ensure they were making contact with the batteries. That didn't work, so I opened the case and confirmed that the 9V (actually 9.6V) was reaching the voltage regulator. It was, so I know (...) (25 years ago, 19-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: Dead RCX
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(...) Hi Matthias, normally I'd call LEGO service. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the power connection is lost. That shouldn't happen to an unopened RCX, but who knows. The power connection from the batteries to the mainboard is by (...) (25 years ago, 18-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: Dead RCX
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(...) It's completely and utterly dead. Matthias Jetleb VA3-MWJ (25 years ago, 18-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: Dead RCX
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Completely dead? no response of any kind when you push the ON/OFF button? I ask because if battery power is off for too long, the firmware evaporates and the RCX is pretty non -responsive. But the LCD is not blank. If this is the case, download the (...) (25 years ago, 17-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Dead RCX
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Has anyone had an RCX just plain die on them? - Brand new - used manybe 30min total - Fresh batteries - Nothing hooked up to it at the time - Did it's usual beep on startup as my son switched it on and off to listen to the sound I assumed he had (...) (25 years ago, 17-May-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: HELP, has anyone ever seen SPIRIT.OCX events ??
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Thanks Chris, I was just looking for that confimation. There are more bugs in the spirit.ocx, ever tried to read the sensor mode ? Well you'll probably get the sensor mode multiplied with 32. I've just reported these bugs to Lego. I've also asked (...) (25 years ago, 28-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: HELP, has anyone ever seen SPIRIT.OCX events ??
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(...) I just hacked together a quick-n-dirty C++ program to talk to Spirit.ocx. It unlocks the brick and downloads new firmware into the RCX, all using the public methods exposed by Spirit.ocx. I sink events from the .ocx, and I don't get any COM (...) (25 years ago, 27-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: HELP, has anyone ever seen SPIRIT.OCX events ??
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(...) I mean the active-X events, like "ondownloaddone". I've never seen an active-X component for which you should enable the events. So I presume spirit.ocx will fire an "ondownloaddone" event, when it's ready with the download. But spirit (...) (25 years ago, 25-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | RE: NEED TOUCH/LIGHT SENSOR HELP FAST!!
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(...) OK, I'll chime in..... First, this should go to lugnet.robotics.rcx, so I'll post it there and leave the reply in build, but follow up to robotics, please. Without sample code, we can't help, but that's a bit much to ask anyways. Start small, (...) (25 years ago, 25-Apr-01, to lugnet.build, lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: HELP, has anyone ever seen SPIRIT.OCX events ??
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(...) Have you enabled the events? You need to both define an event and enable it before it will work. --Ian (25 years ago, 25-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: RCX and IR Range Characteristics?
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hi Ralph, I think I'm lucky. I just did some experiments with a modified IR-tower. The modifications were: the "keep alive trick" from John Barnes and my own trick to add a few more diodes to get rid of the 9V battery. Without a batttery in the (...) (25 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | RE: RCX and IR Range Characteristics?
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As expected Jeff Hazen and John Barnes sent along a few itmes of interest. (...) Jeff asked if the diffuse cover of the tower had any effect at all. From my experiments, Jeff - the answer is no. John Barnes suggested that the bit-balancing act that (...) (25 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: RCX and IR Range Characteristics?
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(...) SNIP (...) SNIP Not experience, but perhaps the location of the IR diodes in the tower is effecting it's peformance? As other people have noted before, the diodes are not located behind the smooth molded "windows" in the tower, but lower, (...) (25 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | RCX and IR Range Characteristics?
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Hi All, A while back, Ben Erwin asked about other user's experiences with the IR tower and range. I'm trying to characterize a persistent problem with the pbForth serial library, with respect to message reliability. It seems that even in high range (...) (25 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Re: CD-ROM Sample for Creative Projects with LEGO Mindstorms!
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I liked your book, "Creative Projects with LEGO Mindstorms". We need more books like yours on the Mindstorms market. I've always spun wheels thinking I've got to build a robot that does something like sweep the floor... or maybe that was just (...) (25 years ago, 23-Apr-01, to lugnet.books, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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| | Question for John Barnes
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hi John, Some time ago there was a discussion about keeping the IR-tower alive. I want to keep the IR-tower alive, for fast data transport from RCX to PC. You mentioned that you had drawn the circuit diagram, but you never published it. Do you have (...) (25 years ago, 22-Apr-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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