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The Amazing Lego DAT Tape Changer
lizardboy writes: "This is for the Lego loving computer geek with large backup needs. The Lego DAT Tape changer. It can be interfaced with any platform supporting Lego mindstorms. I have used it with OSX and Linux using dump and NQC with some custom shell scripts. It also works under a Mac OS 9 using Retrospect and RCX."
... the lego Rubik's cube solver : that thing was so cool !
Where are the little Lego people? This is cool, but it seems a more effective presentation would include the little lego figures into this contraption. Put some on the lift, some with construction gear, some at the base with the control unit in lab coats working on mini control panels. Some at the local coffee machine or guiding a tour, etc.
:P
Still a very cool way of setting up a changer, but it would be more fun to add some realism to it
From the looks of this thing it also loads a DAT tape of the inventor snoring, and waves a fake arm around in the bed, if his Mom turns his bedroom door handle when he's taking a day off...
...Oh god how many Matthew Broderick references can slashdot handle in a single day!
:)
Yeah, but that one is a DDS-2 and it is limited to a 4 tape cartridge. His is scalable as far as he wishes to go with it. He can change the tape drive (go for a DDS3)or number of tape drives without any concern for the size of a cartridge for tapes, or the type of tape that it takes given it is 4mm and can be hooked the way he's grabbing tapes.
That said, I know some idiot will probably trip over his autoloader one day and he'll have to answer for the downtime to put the lego system back together. That will be one impressive interoffice memo (yes, our data recovery system is crippled until we can bring in some third graders to reassemble it...).
bbh
Wouldnt it be cool if lego made actual tools that werent marketed towards kids. Such that they would be designed to do things of this nature, all purpose reusable engineering kits. Not that I'm too cool for lego's or anything...
http://drew.corrupt.net/lp/series1.html
The Loader
From the right
Load and unload slides
Tape being unloaded
Arm loader from the rear
system to eject tape
Back of loader
Lifting system
Lego is obviously good for prototyping these sorts of products, but it would be cool if there was a Lego compiler that would scan the completed model and produce parts by eliminating all but the minimum number of inter-connections required for efficient assembly, and replacing the Lego connectors with more permanent ones.