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@alexGS you're correct. Commodore BASIC requires you to tell it which user port bits are outputs before proceeding. @Toastie I never use Lines so I don't know if it has power control. I could RTFM but you seem to enjoy that so much! :) I do know TC Logo has the 0-7 power control. I wish there was an easy easy to enable this in Applesoft BASIC, which as you guys know is my favorite. (Toastie that can be your next project, after which I'd have to rename my website ... it's nearly more your work than mine!)

Thanks!! I never would have figured that out on my own.

The BASIC files, as raw text, are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P84zJh7h0F3zIllRhx_w0-PxoLbj9YLt/view?usp=drive_link. It's a fact that Lego Lines is written in BASIC. I was curious how they output to 9750. In my own (limited) experience with a Model B, I performed outputs via the user port. First I wrote ?&FE62=63, which tells the user port to set its first six bits as outputs, and then ?&FE60=(decimal-encoded value of the binary total for whichever ports I want on or off, from 0-63). The method works fine and I documented it for the Apple II, BBC, C-64, and PC on my website here: https://www.brickhacks.com/basic.php. But if you look at the main file in the link from my previous post -- the main file being T.LINES -- there's no such output code that I can see. Hopefully someone who knows that computer better than I do, and/or someone who's a better BASIC programmer than me, can identify it. I asked @Toastie for help; he's a bit stumped too.

@BatteryPoweredBricks has a good Youtube channel.

Can someone convert the BBC Micro SSD file for the Lego Lines program into a raw text file for me? I no longer have access to Beeb hardware and would like to examine its BASIC code. The file is here: https://archive.org/details/lego-technic.ssd_202012 Update -- Disregard; I have the text files now.

Scratched into plastic, anyhow. BTW here is my new feline. We adopted him last weekend. I insisted on naming him "Floppy Diskatte" and my wife went along with it.

I approve! Great work. :)

Thanks for explaining. I understand and agree with your concern. I just don't want to be excluded simply because I prefer very old Technic. You could solve this by removing the rule about no studded parts and replacing it with a rule saying, "Entries must be mechanical majority, not just System models with a few small mechanical aspects" or something similar. BTW my winning model was a life-size V8 and transmission. I know I can't use an old model for a new contest, but it does raise the question -- an engine, by itself, isn't a vehicle. Would that count? :)

I have a question about the rules. Why does it have to be studless? Some of us Gen-X'ers love building in the "Expert Builder" theme from the 1970s-1980s. This is what became Technic. As long as I build a non-vehicle technical machine with motors and lots of moving parts, why does it matter if the technical pieces have studs on them? In 2023, I won "Best Mechanical" at Brickworld Chicago (largest convention in the US) for a complex technical model built in Expert Builder, entirely from studded parts. It even used some of the old Samsonite gears.

A contrarian perspective: come to the dark side :) and join the tiny community of us diehards who are programming Lego robotics with 8-bit and 16-bit systems of the 1980s and 1990s. I'm one of the 8-bit folks, programming my Legos with an Apple II, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, and IBM PC. Is it better than the 21st-century versions? Of course not. But is it more fun for us Gen-X'ers? Hell yes!

The blue parts are for my Donkey Kong machine. It's not a secret. Mainly I talk about it on Facebook, in my group called "Square Pistons".

Here is my review of Jason Merrill's Blocko card, which is a replica of the Lego 9767 hardware interface card. Bottom line, it's good!

Gooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllll!

Alex L. was very helpful to me when I discovered this stuff in 2016. Nice guy!

I use a tiny slotted screwdriver. It's safer than a blade.

Aaaah .... December holidays, then. I'm off from work the last week of this year and first week of 2025. I will try to plan something.

Nothing. I'm mostly into classic rock and 1980s music. I am a Springsteen fanatic. But when I build my Lego technical creations (lots of moving parts and plenty of code to write), I like it quiet, so I can really focus on the mechanical engineering.

I started in this with a Laser 128, which I still have, but my current project uses a real //e because it requires more than two cards. I still need to update the 9771 scan on the Internet Archive. It's missing the last two pages, with the BASIC code! I have the physical booklet right here. We should all have a Zoom meetup over the winter holidays. Timing would be a challenge: US, Germany, New Zealand, etc.

Keeping the torch alive: the only correct way to use an Interface A is with a real Apple II, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, or IBM PC. :)

I would be happy to put the Lego Lines for DOS disk image into the Archive.org Vintage Lego Robotics folder, if someone sends me a fresh copy of the disk.

I'm in possession of a Blocko card! It works. I'll have a video review within a week or two.

Yes it has a serial card. I use it for connecting to a PC and running the ADTPro (Apple Disk Transfer) client/server application. This is for moving disk images between the retro and modern computers.

That's not quite accurate. On a real transmission, the selector is what your hand grabs, and shift forks are the pieces that move a gear onto its spline. I don't know if, in Lego, it's all one piece. But there is a technical difference if you were to build a realistic transmission model. You can see mine (it's nearly life-size) at the 3:30 mark of the video here:

@Toastie, that's a good summary. Here's an update for everyone about the new Blocko card. I have been in contact with the inventor and the company selling it. They are mailing me a card to evaluate. It's already in the mail and should arrive later this week. I will make a Youtube video about it.