??? 28/10/2002 6:29:33 ??, ?/? Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ??????:
> >On Mon, 28 Oct 2002 at 21:54:36, Malcolm Cadman wrote: >(ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > >> >>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, >>Dave P <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >> >>>On Mon, 28 Oct 2002, Norman Dunbar wrote: >>> >>>> I suspect you'll find that scholls nowadays are all 'mainstream' in that >>>> they have a pile of PCs running Windows. They are, after all, training the >>>> 'yoof of today' to be able to work in the offices of today, or the next >>> >>>Maybe I wasn't clear... :o) >>> >>>Old PC XTs used to be able to share some of the functionality of the beeb, >>>but now we have these superfast, PCI-only (no ISA) PCs, they just CAN'T do >>>a lot of the things they used to, without very very expensive cards. We're >>>not talking about computer departments, we're talking about >>>technology/engineering departments, where robotics, data >>>acquisition/control practical work is done... >>> >>>> I'd love to see the QL 'bounce back' but I'm afraid I'm very sceptical when >>>> ideas are put forward to get it going as a 'mainstream' computer. I'm sad to >>>> say that the QL - and its derivatives - are more than likely destined to >>>> remain a hobby. >>> >>>I agree with you on this! The QL will not be making any kind of >>>resurgence. However, elements of the QL can go forward in other things, >>>and in such a way that the community benefits. If we had a really compact >>>embedded board with serial/IR keyboard/programming in BASIC (a bit like a >>>super BASIC STAMP module, but more powerful ;) it could sell by the >>>bucketload. >>> >>>It's all a case of what can we convince people to buy, and still benefit >>>the community from. >> >>Yes, there is a market in this kind of specialism ... provided it can be >>programmed from any 'mainstream' computer host. >> >>The Lego Mindstorms 'brick' is a popular one right now. >Yes - the 'RCX' >It is desperately unsophisticated of course, only 3 I/O lines, very >inaccurate clock, and not dirt cheap. >There is C like (NQC - 'Not Quite C') language support for them - which >Ben (my 12 yr old son) uses. > >IBOX - the thought in the mind of me and Stuart, went a fair way down >this route. I even started building a prototype. >It was planned have Minerva/68xxx/pic. For which I had found 3 clients at the time but never materialised... Nonetheless, a Dragonball based machine that Nasta Proposes, should be relatively easy to build and cheap.... and perfect for that sort of work... why don't ya all sit down and produce it? BTW Tony, loved the plumbing at Bill's house ;-) Mighty nifty as my wife says :-) Phoebus
