
Lego Goes Linux  - urlwolf
http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/lego-goes-linux.html
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minimax
Wow this is pretty cool. I have written some C (NXC, really [1]) programs for
Mindstorms and it was super fun. I built a little rover-like car and wrote a
program that would make the car play with my cat in the living room. It didn't
work very well, but the idea of writing programs where the output was moving
an object in the physical world was novel and very pleasing. I encourage
everyone here to give it a shot.

In order to test out a new program, I had to hook the brick up to my computer
via USB, then copy the program over, then run it by pressing a series of
buttons on the brick. Also there wasn't a good way to get debug logs in real-
time (it's hard to read the screen when it's driving around the living room).
Hopefully with Linux that process will get easier. The idea of SSHing into a
Mindstorms brick, running a program, and watching the debugs logs on stdout is
very exciting.

1\. <http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nbc/>

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drbawb
I haven't heard of NXC! It looks like NXC is basically NQC
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Quite_C>) for the current-gen Mindstorms
products?

(I only got a chance to play with the new Mindstorms kit briefly in college to
setup a small demo, they got about 25 educational kits as part of some grant.
I just used the included software.)

I got to do FIRST Lego League in grade school with the RCX 1.5 and later the
RCX 2.0

AFAIK the rules prohibited us from using NQC at the time. I believe we were
limited to RoboLab [a separate product sold by LabView] and the stock
Mindstorms software. (*Which I should point out is _nothing_ like the current
software. It was geared towards very young users, very "flashy", and quite
buggy. -- It did, however, include lots of media and examples for the robots
in the instruction manual.)

That regulation was probably for the best, as my elementary self would've
probably been frustrated by C-style syntax. I knew it existed only because our
coach and assistant coach were both software engineers.

~~~
colanderman
_Which I should point out is _nothing_ like the current software. It was
geared towards very young users, very "flashy", and quite buggy._

Actually, that's been my experience with the NXT-G language (the "current
software") as well.

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perlgeek
I wonder how many of their customers are kids, and how many are full-grown
geeks like me :-)

When my daughter becomes old enough, that will be the perfect excuse to buy
such devices :-)

~~~
jmj42
I did! My youngest daughter (12) has an interest in robotics, so the excuse
was perfect. I've played with the NXT kit as much as she has, and we're
already talking about getting an EV3 kit for her birthday. (I'm excited).

~~~
bjcy
That's awesome about your daughter's interest in robotics!

I'm a mentor for a robotics program that competes in FIRST competition. You
should check it out and see if her schools have anything like this or if you
can maybe start something yourself so other kids can learn about robotics with
you and your kids.

<http://www.usfirst.org/>

~~~
jmj42
Yup, familiar with the program. I actually spoke with the STEM outreach
director for our middle school about a year ago. She was interested, but
school policies would have made it difficult to get an FLL team up and running
(she had looked into it in the past).

I may take another stab at an FRC or FTC team next year as I now know
(personally) the chairman of the school board. He's an engineering
prof/researcher at UIUC so I expect it to be a fairly easy sell, and as a
school board member, may be able to "grease the wheels" a little.

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ansible
I got to see a demo of this at CES. Very neat. I asked about downloading
custom firmware to the brick, and they said it would be supported. Since is
runs some version of the Linux kernel now, that should really expand the range
of software which can be run. It has a USB port, so WiFi networking is now
also a possibility.

Since it supports Bluetooth (presumably serial port profile), that makes
communication to smartphones easy.

I'm hoping 3rd parties will make more sensors and motors for this platform. I
can envision uses for small solenoids, and maybe stepper motors too.

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speeder
I had a course on using Lego DACTA (lego mindstorms without the mindstorms
brick) when I was in fifth grade. Pure awesome.

Too bad mindstorms are ridicously expensive here in Brazil, I am yet to put my
hands in one.

~~~
diego_moita
> Too bad mindstorms are ridicously expensive here in Brazil, I am yet to put
> my hands in one.

This is a lot worse than it seems. Protectionism in Brazil goes further than
Mindstorms and protectionism in the world goes further than Brazil.

What stupid (and heavy lobbied and bribed) politicians will never get is that
protectionism is also cultural isolationism. By keeping good and inspiring
technology off the gates they are actually limiting engineering creativity and
imagination. They're actually stifling innovation and progress, not
stimulating it.

Brazilian culture grew so much when it imported other people's culture and
modified it to their own. Jazz was imported and became bossa-nova. Soccer was
brought in by British workers in the railways and became "jogo bonito".
Corbousier's modernist architecture was assimilated by Oscar Niemeyer and
changed into Brazilian architecture. If culture was walled by protectionism,
these developments would never happen. Similarly, technological development
will be repressed by protectionism.

~~~
jevinskie
Aren't legit copies of video games especially difficult to find in Brazil? And
when you do find them they are > $120 USD? That is just what I've heard, I
wonder if it is due to this protectionism that you mention?

~~~
speeder
For games it is mostly taxes ( including protectionist taxes )

A congressman here calculated that a videogame may get taxed 273% on its
original import price without shipping costs.

~~~
jevinskie
That number is staggering! Thank you for your input. =)

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larrydag
I can't wait to see the LEGO hacks after this is released to the public.

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mariusbutuc
No, LEGO Mindstorms is not a replacement for an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi,
but...

