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Lou Sortman wrote:
> Thanks for checking this out. This is important to know. I assume, then, that the duty cycles
> are 1/8 through 8/8 as well as off, which would be 0/8. Can anybody verify this (with a scope or
> something)? I have long wondered whether the duty cycles were linear or followed some nonlinear
> curve.
I have checked this out, and if you use the standard RCX firmware (or other firmware
that uses the RCX ROM, then you get the waveforms you are talking about at 125Hz
1/(1ms x 8). You also get polarity information - oh no, I've said too much.
> I thought that NQC used the same firmware as the RIS software, and, therefore drove the ports the
> same way. I guess either the documentation is wrong, or the highest or lowest power level is
> missing.
Dave Baum, correct me if I am wrong, but I use the internal RCX ROM code to
do the motor driving for pbFORTH, and I'm pretty sure NQC does the same thing.
In other words, NQC and RIS use the SAME code to drive the ports.
Seems to me that all of this talk about multi-device control assumes:
1. That you REALLY need to do this
2. That the RCX using standard firmware can process information for you
3. That you use non-LEGO software to do the work (legOS,NQC,pbFORTH)
4. That you want to spend a lot of time and money getting it to work
With all of the talk about RS232 converters, and PWM decoders, why not buy a
single board computer and do everything from your PC?
I've been with the group for a couple of years now, and in my early emergence
from the Dark Ages though it would be neat to make a single board computer
for LEGO control. Then I thought about it a bit (I'm an embedded systems
designer with 15 years exp) and decided it wasn't worth the effort, and then TLG
came out with Mindstorms. I have always maintained that "neat to do" was fun
until it became a mishmash of technology that was hard to get working. I had
fun doing pbFORTH for the RCX because it did not cost me much except some time
over the holidays. Now I can focus on BUILDING stuff, instead of fiddling and
wishing for things to build.
If you still want to do this, go ahead, we'll support you as much as possible.
Cheers,
Ralph Hempel - P.Eng
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Check out pbFORTH for LEGO Mindstorms at:
<http://www.bmts.com/~rhempel/lego/pbFORTH/default.html>
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Reply to: rhempel at bmts dot com
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Why do it? Was: multi-device output controller
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| I think that the solution should also be flexible enough to allow the power to be plugged into either an RCX output port or a battery pack. That way if you didn't want to lug around another battery pack, or if you didn't want to use up another (...) (26 years ago, 26-Mar-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: multi-device output controller
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| Thanks for checking this out. This is important to know. I assume, then, that the duty cycles are 1/8 through 8/8 as well as off, which would be 0/8. Can anybody verify this (with a scope or something)? I have long wondered whether the duty cycles (...) (26 years ago, 26-Mar-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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