Software for old Lego RCX

[sanddrag]

I found some of the old yellow Lego RCX kits that I may want to incorporate into my class if I can find software for them. I currently have none. I see Lego has the ROBOLAB site license on sale for $130, but I'd like to explore what free options are out there. I came across BricxCC which seems decent. Can it be used without the RIS Software? Does anyone have any experience with this or other software?

[PAR_WIG1350]

If you want to run java on the RCXs I would suggest LeJOS RCX. It replaces the firmware on the brick so RIS is not needed.

[Joe G.]

I have heard nothing but good things about brickxcc's Not Quite C (NQC). I don't believe that it requires RIS programming to use.

However, for the kids, I would suggest investing in the RoboLAB license, because it is FLL-legal. If any of them want to go further and compete in FLL, its nice if they don't have to learn a whole new language. Additionally, RoboLAB works almost exactly like LabVIEW, and transitioning from robolab to FRC LabVIEW isn't that difficult.

[sanddrag]

I forgot to mention this would be for the high-school level.

[Tristan Lall]

NQC is good (or at least it was, about 8 years ago, when I last used it).

There's also an ActiveX control you can use to issue commands to an RCX over the infrared port (from a computer's serial port). It can issue any command to the RCX (including telling it to a program stored on the RCX), so you can use any familiar programming language.

[flameout]

I'll post just to confirm that NQC (and Bricxcc) do not depend on Lego's software.

Try out Bricxcc -- personally, I recall finding it to be a good development environment, although I haven't used it in years (i'm on Linux now, which the NQC compiler and uploader works great on, but Bricxcc wasn't designed for).

I hope this helps.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Sandy,
The old RCX was difficult to run on certain computers. There is a lot of software if you search on the net. The basic is easy to use.

[DAVECOS]

The LEGO hardware is not dependent on the LEGO software. Some 3rd party software provides their own Firmware some uses the LEGO FW. The RCX sets and elements are no longer supported, but LEGO will still help you find Firmware, drivers or the old software if you are attempting to install it on a Windows XP machine.

Feel free to call LEGO Consumer service they WILL help you!!

Regards,

David