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 Robotics / RCX / 1981
1980  |  1982
Subject: 
Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics.rcx
Date: 
Tue, 18 Feb 2003 22:01:25 GMT
Viewed: 
2770 times
  
In lugnet.robotics.rcx, Pat LaVarre writes:
Is there some trick I need to learn to run BricxCC on Win XP?

For me BricxCC hardly ever works.  I tried un/installing the last three
available versions.  Always I fail to connect via serial via IR with my brick.
Lego RIS talks no worries, javax.comm talks no worries, but not BricxCC.

Which COM port is RIS using?  Can you describe exactly what BricxCC
says/does when you try to get it to find your brick?  Does the tower light
come on at all?  As was suggested already, try choosing the same COM port
that RIS uses rather than have BricxCC automatically find the right COM port.

Maybe then I'll also try a download of NQC, to have a fourth flavour
of comm software to try.

BricxCC uses a direct port of NQC code to communicate with the brick so I am
very interested in hearing whether NQC works or not.  If you have BricxCC
then you have a copy of NQC already on your machine.  Open a command prompt
and try the following procedure:

1. cd "\program files\bricxcc"
2. nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -watch now

Of course, specify the right COM port with -S.  Let me know via email or
here what NQC has to say.  If it works there isn't a good reason why BricxCC
should not also work.

I did see BricxCC work once or twice.

I started to believe maybe BricxCC ran ok only if run after a Win XP boot
before ever I launched Lego RIS or javax.comm ... but as I worked to repeat
that result, again I lost the ability to make BricxCC work at all ever.

This suggests to me that something on your machine is opening the COM port
and is not closing it.  But it is hard to say.  Are you running ActiveSync
with a Pocket PC by any chance?  ActiveSync normally holds open the COM port
and BricxCC will not work while it is running (and it is often running in a
manner that can be hard to notice).  But that would, I have to imagine, also
impact RIS and javax.comm.  There may be a sharing issue here.  I'm trying
to open the COM port exclusively (shareMode = 0).  It may be the case that
some other software has already opened the port with FILE_SHARE_READ or
FILE_SHARE_WRITE.  If that is the case then it might explain why RIS works
(if they open the port with a compatible share mode).  If you would like to
try a test application that opens the COM port I can send you one that uses
sharing.  That seems like a worthwhile test to me.

When my brick did connect, then I was permitted to see BricxCC has a two octave
Piano keyboard that invisibly records notes for playback, I think that's great
fun, though I wish the recording appeared as sheet music.

I like the idea of showing the notes on sheet music.  Unfortunately, its not
an easy task.  I may yet incorporate something like what Stef has in his
JalCC piano.  It lists the notes by name and duration in a listbox and lets
the user move forward and backward through the notes via a slider.

Let me know if you would be willing to test a program that opens the COM
port with sharing enabled.

John Hansen



Message is in Reply To:
  BricxCC on Win XP how
 
Is there some trick I need to learn to run BricxCC on Win XP? (...) For me BricxCC hardly ever works. I tried un/installing the last three available versions. Always I fail to connect via serial via IR with my brick. Lego RIS talks no worries, (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)

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