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 Robotics / RCX / pbFORTH / 241
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Subject: 
Re: pbFORTH needs better uploading, docs
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics.rcx.pbforth
Date: 
Sun, 9 Jan 2000 00:39:43 GMT
Viewed: 
1227 times
  
Well, I can rather agree on the uploading, but I don't find it quite as bad
as you do.  Not as good as NQC, but then NQC still has all the LEGO firmware
limitations.  As for the rest of your comments, I can only say that I
managed to get the communications set up and a first command executed in
something less than 5 minutes.  Perhaps it's due to my background, but after
the firmware load, I just naturally tried 8N1 as the serial protocol at 9600
baud.  It took only a few seconds to drop down to 2400 and get a response
from the brick.

The docs are spotty but the I thought the need for RCX_INIT as well as the
other INIT commands was fairly clear.  I'm a Forth fan and was very pleased
to see it available for the RCX.  To get around the firmware limitations, I
can live with some pain.  It's still early in the pbFORTH lifecycle.

Dave

Ben Jackson <ben@ben.com> wrote in message news:Fo0D76.Iwu@lugnet.com...
So I've just been crawling over some broken glass, ERR, I mean, uploading
pbFORTH text files to the RCX!  It's hard to tell the difference!  At the
least, pbFORTH needs to:

1) accept \n, \r, \n\r or \r\n all as it does a single \r now.

2) have a mode to make it shut up during uploading.  the errors are going • to be
lost anyway, and talking back just forces the terminal program to wait for • long
enough for the longest possible error to be printed so that the IR from • the RCX
doesn't clobber the next line.

Preferably it should have some kind of fast binary upload.

Overall, pbFORTH is remarkably unfriendly:

1)  Took me only 5 minutes to install the fw.

2)  Took 1 hour to figure out the terminal settings (was working from the
standard FW settings which have even parity).  Finally found it by • searching
lugnet.

3) Took 5 minutes to get my first command, `hi', to execute.

4) Took 1 hour to get anything else to work, then I realized I needed • RCX_INIT.

5) Took 5 minutes to write a test program.

6) Took 2 hours to write and test scripts to massage the textfiles and • upload
them to the RCX.

I can see why pbFORTH isn't widespread!  It took me less time to get NQC
running than the standard Mindstorms software!  How is this easier than • legOS?

--Ben



Message is in Reply To:
  pbFORTH needs better uploading, docs
 
So I've just been crawling over some broken glass, ERR, I mean, uploading pbFORTH text files to the RCX! It's hard to tell the difference! At the least, pbFORTH needs to: 1) accept \n, \r, \n\r or \r\n all as it does a single \r now. 2) have a mode (...) (25 years ago, 8-Jan-00, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.pbforth)

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