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Domain: lugnet.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to lugnet.com.

Comments · 118

  1. definitive answers to all questions lego by goon · · Score: 2 · on The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots
    for any questions '/.' readers may have on (Lego) Mindstorms and programming the definitive site to go to is LUGNET . Here's the pointers to the site. It's a true master piece of web engineering and excellent source of information.
    • lugnet - Lego Users Group, main page. Links to all the user groups.
      palm - palm development for Lego mindstorms
      robotics - talk/problem solving about programming, building and designing robots in lego

    a unique feature of LUGNET is the three way interaction between newsgroups using news (nntp), email (using smtp) and the web (using http). You can interact/subscribe through LUGNET by any of the above protocols and the discussions are simultaneously readable via news, web or email.
  2. definitive answers to all questions lego by goon · · Score: 2 · on The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots
    for any questions '/.' readers may have on (Lego) Mindstorms and programming the definitive site to go to is LUGNET . Here's the pointers to the site. It's a true master piece of web engineering and excellent source of information.
    • lugnet - Lego Users Group, main page. Links to all the user groups.
      palm - palm development for Lego mindstorms
      robotics - talk/problem solving about programming, building and designing robots in lego

    a unique feature of LUGNET is the three way interaction between newsgroups using news (nntp), email (using smtp) and the web (using http). You can interact/subscribe through LUGNET by any of the above protocols and the discussions are simultaneously readable via news, web or email.
  3. definitive answers to all questions lego by goon · · Score: 2 · on The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots
    for any questions '/.' readers may have on (Lego) Mindstorms and programming the definitive site to go to is LUGNET . Here's the pointers to the site. It's a true master piece of web engineering and excellent source of information.
    • lugnet - Lego Users Group, main page. Links to all the user groups.
      palm - palm development for Lego mindstorms
      robotics - talk/problem solving about programming, building and designing robots in lego

    a unique feature of LUGNET is the three way interaction between newsgroups using news (nntp), email (using smtp) and the web (using http). You can interact/subscribe through LUGNET by any of the above protocols and the discussions are simultaneously readable via news, web or email.
  4. A brief primer on LEGO robots by The+Cheese · · Score: 3 · on The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots

    There are several kits available from The LEGO Company (TLC) which let you build Mindstorms-style robots; the Robotics Invention System (RIS, the Mindstorms 'basic' set) the Robotics Discovery Set (which has the 'Scout' microcomputer instead of the RCX that comes in the RIS; the Scout doesn't require a PC for you to program it) and the Droid Developer Kit (which has yet another 'Scout'-style programmable brick). These are the three robotics kits available from The Lego Company .
    Available from Pitsco/DACTA is the RoboLab, a LEGO robotics kit aimed more towards the Educational sector, primarily as a teaching tool for educators looking to teach scientific-minded youths the joys of programming and the wonderment that is robotry. It's available from PITSCO/Dacta. I've ordered stuff from them online without having to prove if I'm an educator, but YMMV.

    I've had the Unofficial Guide to LEGO Mindstorms for a month now, and my cats are starting to think I like my robots (Clumsy Pike and Hovis) better than them (Hydrox and Pork Chop, so they don't get jealous)(I think they've got FELUX running on my PC).

    I hope that this is of some use to someone looking for the perfect gift for that geek on their Christmas list.

    -The Cheese, who's next plan is to RULE THE WORLD!

    PS; LEGO also sells a wireless IR remote for controlling the RCX.

    PPS; Check out the online resources at LUGNET .

  5. Do what I did by georgeha · · Score: 1 · on Geek Christmas Ideas

    Have a child, and say they're for your kid.

    Seriously, what is happening to you is that you are coming out the Lego Dark Ages, and becoming an Adult Friend of Lego. Check out Lugnet, the discussion groups may have strategies for admitting your Lego dependence.

    Good luck, enjoy your Lego, I just put the blimp (5956) together on my lunch hour, and it's kewl!

    George

  6. Modern Lego by mattdm · · Score: 2 · on Legos for Hackers
    Check out the stuff in the technic line recently. The traditional stud-type connectors are still there, but getting more and more scarce. The new system relies a lot on a peg system just like you describe. Check out these sets for some examples (or of course, your local toy store -- if you're in the boston area, I recommend The Construction Site). Also have a look at the "Thoughts" section of Eric Brok's Lego site.

    --

  7. solution by mattdm · · Score: 2 · on Legos for Hackers
    Ok, first, there's Lego Shop @ Home. No internet ordering, and no official web page yet, but check out this one at LUGnet. Prices are about 10% higher than retail, but shipping is included.

    Second, remember that you're not alone.

    And finally, the Mindstorms robotics sets are labelled "12 yrs and up".

    --

  8. solution by mattdm · · Score: 2 · on Legos for Hackers
    Ok, first, there's Lego Shop @ Home. No internet ordering, and no official web page yet, but check out this one at LUGnet. Prices are about 10% higher than retail, but shipping is included.

    Second, remember that you're not alone.

    And finally, the Mindstorms robotics sets are labelled "12 yrs and up".

    --

  9. not to worry (and, lego + x10) by mattdm · · Score: 2 · on Legos for Hackers
    Yeah, it is unfortunate that the original software lego shipped is very limited. (The 1.5 version is supposed to be better, but I haven't seen it.) But it's all okay -- there's a lot of reverse-engineered alternative development environments which are all far more powerful. (And yes, a lot of them work under linux.) Check out Russell Nelson's Lego Mindstorms Internals, and of course the ultimate lego fan site, LUGnet.

    As for X10 + lego, it wouldn't be hard to do at all: use one of the utils you can find at the links above + your linux x10 tools, and you're all set.

    --

  10. good timing - mindfest! by mattdm · · Score: 2 · on Legos for Hackers
    Good timing -- the MIT Media Lab's Mindfest is going on right now. It's basically a huge Lego event. You all should come next year. :)

    Seriously, it's very cool -- almost everyone involved in the reverse engineering project is here, plus a bunch of cool Media Lab folks, plus all sorts of wonderfully creative people from all over the world. Plus actual official lego people -- hopefully they'll hear some of what we're saying.

    And of course, there's NELUG.

    --

  11. Re:Interwoven links by Money__ · · Score: 1 · on Legos for Hackers
    legomindstorms.com

    lugnet.com

    www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics

  12. Re:"Unofficial Guide"? Interesting ... by luge · · Score: 3 · on The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms

    Yeah, coincidence. There were some legal issues with the name, as the Lego Group is very protective of their trademark. Check out this post where the author discusses some of the problems.
    ~luge

  13. Re:What about Linux device drivers? by sebliss · · Score: 1 · on Lego Allowing Open-Source OS

    Not Linux, but at least *nix.

    There was a demonstration of a Java/Mindstorms combination at JavaOne. More information (including a link to the webcast and where to look in the webcast) can be found in this lugnet robotics message.

  14. Re:O'Reilly book by Todd+Lehman · · Score: 2 · on Lego Allowing Open-Source OS

    Here's a canned search resulting in bits of archived info on the ORA book, from focused discussion forums about LEGO robotics.

    --Todd

  15. A few geek details (as well as URLs...) by luge · · Score: 5 · on Lego Allowing Open-Source OS

    Since the article is pretty short on details, I thought I'd throw out some notes:

    1) The Lego uses a Hitachi H8-300 chip, which is a target for gcc, so compiling code for the chip is merely a matter of rebuilding gcc as a cross-compiler.

    2) Strictly speaking, LegOS is not an OS but a library, which you compile along with your actual code to give you OS-like features: threading, time management, etc. It also frees you from lego's arbitrary limit on variables (only 32! with no data structures! eww...) and other such problems.

    Umm... that's all the geek info I can think of off the top of my head. URLs:
    The Official LegOS homepage.
    LUGNET, which is a discussion area for all types of lego stuff. the robotics list there serves as the main discussion area for LegOS development and use.
    The Internals page. Already mentioned here on /. by Russ Nelson.
    EmuLegOS. An emulator for LegOS. Gives you a yellow box on your screen, just as if you owned a Lego brick yourself :) Also very useful for debugging.
    My HOWTO. More or less the official documentation. Enjoy.

    Good luck- help Lego back into the black-
    luge

  16. Re:O'Reilly book by luge · · Score: 1 · on Lego Allowing Open-Source OS

    There has been some discussion on the lugnet robotics forums about this. IIRC, they are targeting it for Xmas release. However, as I understand it, Lego is also planning on releasing RCX 1.5 for the holidays, so I'd imagine that O'Reilly might delay their book so as not to be immediately obsoleted.
    -luge

  17. LegOS and Linux by luge · · Score: 4 · on Lego Mindstorms 3D Plotter

    Contrary to some other posts on the list, you can use the RCX with Linux. Markus Noga and some others have written replacement firmware, which allows full control of the motors, IR, and sensors. It's in C, with C++ support. Check it out at
    http://www.multimania.com/legos/.
    there is also a mailing list/bulletin board system at:
    http://www.lugnet. com/news/display.cgi?lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos
    Finally, I've written a brief HOWTO (still very, very beta) at:
    http://arthurdent.dorm.duke. edu/legos/HOWTO/HOWTO.html
    It's not much, but hopefully between the three of those the rest of you can figure out where to start.
    ~luge

  18. legOS is neet. by mattdm · · Score: 1 · on LegOS - Open Source OS for Lego Mindstorms

    You should check out LUGnet (the newsgroups especially) and Lego Mindstorms Internals.


    LUGnet, incidentally, runs on all open-source/Free software.

    --