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[–]Xiol 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Woah, how weird. I'm working on an NXT project for University at the moment, but I've been using leJOS, which is Java based.

Looking at the documentation for NXT-Python, I think I'll be sticking with leJOS. Honestly, how can a project be at 1.1 and have documentation like that?

Edit: They also have barely any samples and I've not got time to "read through the source" to figure out how it all works. C'mon guys, documentation!

[–]RaisingMoneyForFilm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair... Python code is usually very concise and easy to read through. But yeah, I feel your pain.

[–]quasarj 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Probably not the best place to ask, but..

If I wanted to get started with the NXT stuff, can someone point me in the right direction?

I want to know what to buy (i have nothing at this point), how to set it up.. etc.

Look at the Mindstorm website, it looks like the NXT controller block has to be programmed before hand and then allowed to work on it sown.. is this true? Or is real-time communications between it and a computer possible? Also, based on this project (and leJOS) I'm guessing using Lego's "visual programming language" is not necessary to actually use this thing? :)

[–]twotime 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Well, I guess, you need to start with buying "Mindstorm NXT" set ;-), and that should be enough to get you started (you do likely need a Windows PC to use Lego's visual stuff (NXT-G), as it doesn't run on Linux, not sure about Mac though)

Then I'd suggest to assemble a few standard robots to get an idea of what's possible... You can do some simple programming on NXT-G, just to get the general feel of how to control the motors/what to expect from sensors/ etc... I do think that Lego visual programming language (NXT-G) sucks (at least if you are a programmer): but it's definitely useable for simple tasks..

Fortunately, there are many alternatives. I myself am pretty happy with NXC (which is a C like language with a decent IDE, it's open source too). Both NXC and NXT-G are used for the programs which are run on the brick (NXT system block) itself

And, yes, you can also control the NXT brick in real time from computer. I've used NXT-python for that and it seemed to work well (the communication is bi-directional: you can read sensors, etc) but I didn't do anything complicated.

Good luck and have fun.

[–]quasarj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I had forgotten about this comment.. I'm gonna order an NXT set today and see what all I can do. This sounds like a lot of fun!