NXT compatible with RCX?

  I read in an article on NXT in the current issue of Wired that it
isn't backwardly compatible (Feb issue, P110) with v2.0, I'd recommend
reading the article though.

G.
--
Graham J. Platt
graham (a) bowhunter (d) demon (d) co (d) uk
TRA #10112 L3
UKRA #1264 L3 RSO

A converter cable will be included with the educational version of the
NXT: http://legoeducation.typepad.com/blog/transition/index.html
Yes, each type of brick will have different software etc. (hough I read
that NQC will be usable on both).

I would wait until the NXT comes out to buy a MindStorms set now,
especially since Lego has stopped manufacturing the original sets
anyway, so you can only get them second hand.

Bill DeWitt wrote:

Thanks for the info about compatability and I have another question on that
subject.

If we end up getting a used one while waiting for the new one, will the
lessons he learns be directly applicable to the new one. IOW, is the
programming language the same, will there be the same method of forming
loops and conditional statements?


--
Bill DeWitt
The one function that TV news performs very well is that, when there is
no news, we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.
David Brinkley (b. 1920) American TV journalist

If you buy RoboLab (the programming language used in schools for
MindStorms), then things should be fairly similar with the new brick.
Otherwise, no.

Bill DeWitt wrote:

Orkie" <"orkie[removethis] mentioned in passing :

Thanks Orkie. I found a demo page for Robolab and the demo was totally
graphical, do you know if you can get past that into the written language?

--
Bill DeWitt
Everybody is a nice guy, underneath it all. What we become when the
world is through messing us over is something else. - Hagbard Celine

Lego only has only made one non-graphical programming tool as far as I'm
aware and that is MindScript, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you want a
decent text based programming language which uses the official firmware,
take a look at NQC: http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nqc/
It is free, C-like and very powerful. Most people who use MindStorms use
it now since all the official programming environments are too limited.
Furthermore, the author has announced that they will be porting it to
the NXT meaning that any existing programs should run with little or no
modification.

Hope that helps.

PS: A good IDE for NQC can be found here:
http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/ . It saves you having to use the command
prompt to compile all your programs as well as allowing you to remotely
read raw sensor values etc.

Orkie" <"orkie[removethis] mentioned in passing :

    Thanks! That looks like exactly what I wanted, it might make it worth
buying a second party RCX based set.

--
Bill DeWitt
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.

If you want to use a "written language", give lejos
(http://lejos.sf.net ) a try.

Personally I like lejos more than nqc :)


Regards
Cat.

Bill DeWitt wrote:

leJOS is good but it is at lower level than NQC, which would be my only
gripe with it as a first MindStorms language.

catratcat@googlemail.com wrote:

Orkie" <"orkie[removethis] mentioned in passing :

    I have not had more than a preliminary look at both, but I was a little
concerned that leJOS did not seem "done" yet, in that routines for some
hardware were still being developed. Was my first impression from their home
page wrong?

    I did like the idea, whether deserved or not, that while learning leJOS
we would also be getting some introduction to JAVA. Is this a reasonable
interpretation of their web page info? Their FAQ page (
http://lejos.sourceforge.net/faq.html  ) is not working for me.

    I won't have time to actually take a closer look at all this stuff until
the weekend, so I appreciate any conversation and opinions. Of course... I
don't even have the mindstorm in my hand yet.

--
Bill DeWitt
The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up
there. - Robert M. Pirsig