Toying
With Technologysm
Toying
With Technologysm
NQC On A PC
1. Installing USB Tower - USB Tower Only
Skip this step if you are using a serial tower (no drivers needed).
3. Placing Firmware on a Computer
4. You are now ready to program your RCX. We suggest by starting with our Introduction to Not Quite C.
References
At this point you need to decide which IR-tower you will be using (USB or Serial). If you will be using serial you do not need to follow these instructions and may skip to the Firmware section.
Place the Mindstorms 2.0 CD in your drive. When the window pops up asking if you want to install say no.
Goto My Computer and right click on the CD drive and choose Explore.
Now double click on ReinstallUsbTower.exe, this will install the drivers necessary to use your USB tower.
Note: RCX 1.0 and 1.5 will work with the USB tower and the RCX 2.0 will work with the Serial Tower.
Download: Download this file. You may save it to your desktop. (Brick Command Center version 3.3.3.7, NQC version 2.4.1)
A compressed file was created during the download process (it looks like a file cabinet and is named bricxcc.zip). The file will need to be uncompressed before using it.
You
will need to download WinZip from
www.winzip.com to
decompressed the file (skip to step 5 if you already have WinZip on your
computer).
Double click on the winzip icon and simply follow the dialog boxes for a successful installation. Restart your computer after installation.
Right click on the bricxcc.zip file and click on Extract to Folder ... This will decompress all the files, so that they may be used.
Now you should see a folder on your desktop called bricxcc. This is not a very convenient place to keep a program file. Move this folder to the c drive (Go to My Computer, C:\, drag the folder into the C:\).
Now make a shortcut to Not Quite C on your desktop. Go to My Computer, C:\, bricxcc and drag bricxcc.exe to the desktop - this should make a shortcut and not move the file (make sure this is true).
Restart
your computer after installing, then you may safely delete the compressed
file (briczcc.zip).
To understand programs and other information the RCX needs firmware, which is
the equivalent to an operating system (i.e. Windows 2000) on a computer.
Download: Download this file by right clicking then selecting "save target as." (Firmware version 3.09 - available within the developers' package at http://mindstorms.lego.com/sdk2/default.asp )
Moving
File: Place this file within the firmware folder that is inside of
the RcxCC folder on the hard drive for later use.
First Usage: If this is the first time you have used your RCX you will need to install the firmware on your RCX.
Tower: Connect your Lego Tower to your computer using the serial cable.
RCX & Tower: Place your RCX in front of the tower (Infrared ports facing each other), turn the RCX on (the tower is automatically turned on by the computer the switch is for a high or low beam of IR - on serial tower only).
Open Software: Double click on the RCX Command Center icon (robot with hands in the air).
Searching: When you have successfully opened the RCX Command Center you will see a
small screen saying it is searching for the RCX.
Make sure Automatic is selected on the left, and MINDSTORMS is selected
on the right.
Path: Goto Tools, Download Firmware, then locate the firmware file on your computer and press ok. This will take up to three minutes.
You are now ready to program your RCX. We suggest by starting with our Introduction to Not Quite C.
References:
NQC, John Hansen, http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nqc/
RCX Command Center http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/lego/
Bricx Command Center http://hometown.aol.com/johnbinder/bricxcc.htm
LEGO Mindstorms: http://mindstorms.lego.com/