NXT Memory concerns/complaints
There have been some recent posts on other Mindstorms forums about the on-board memory of the NXT brick. One forum posting in particular concerned the FLL challenges and the size of the NXT-G programming language files - the concern being whether the files were so large that the brick would not be able to hold enough programs to finish all the challenges.
I would like to offer up a prediction, not based on any insider-info: I believe that sometime within the next 6-9 months, LEGO will make available a USB add-on that will look like a normal NXT sensor (in size and shape) but will simply function as a pen-drive/flash-mem device. This will most likely require a new firmware update, but that's another discussion :) It will connect via a USB cable to the USB port on the brick (not stealing a sensor or motor port, if that's even possible, which I doubt) and can thus be mounted to your bot just like a sensor and not require you to build around something plugged directly into the USB port.
Again, just a guess...
I would like to offer up a prediction, not based on any insider-info: I believe that sometime within the next 6-9 months, LEGO will make available a USB add-on that will look like a normal NXT sensor (in size and shape) but will simply function as a pen-drive/flash-mem device. This will most likely require a new firmware update, but that's another discussion :) It will connect via a USB cable to the USB port on the brick (not stealing a sensor or motor port, if that's even possible, which I doubt) and can thus be mounted to your bot just like a sensor and not require you to build around something plugged directly into the USB port.
Again, just a guess...
Comments
eric
nxtasy.org
-Jonathan
Meaning you can't really connect anything to it?
If you could, then you could just use about any memory stick... or your external disk drive
But even if that's not possible, I suppose there are a lot of other things possible - hey, why not use your bluetooth cell phone as external memory to start with?
--
Brian Davis
> As I said, it won't be easy.
It is not possible to make the NXT into a "USB Host", controlling the USB bus.
>I think that altering the firmware (or getting
>another version) is going to be a solution.
The NXT is immutably a "USB Device"; a chunk of electronics in the CPU package, (Atmel AT91SAM7S256, as detailed by Jurgen Stuber), is dedicated to listening for data requested from or sent to its USB address.
The alternatives for an external memory are to make the memory module a USB Host, or to use the digital signalling on the sensor connections. The first option will be expensive to develop, the second may not be possible.
Regards,
Tony
(I have previously designed USB hardware, and written the software to drive it.)
Sorry.
> What is the piont of sticking on a USB
Pretty well every laptop or desk PC has some USB ports already. If not they are fairly cheap and easy to add.
The advantage for Lego is that none of the budget for the kit is spent on a IR tower, or IR parts for the NXT.
USB cables probably cost less than $1 (one US dollar) in quantity, and the USB connector in the NXT around 10 cents. Estimates are just to give the scale, whilst the cost of the custom parts and assembly of an IR tower is probably at least 10 times larger.
The advantage of USB for users is a much, much faster and more reliable communication link. In a school class you cannot accidently install your program on another group's robot.
I am sure that there will be lots of imaginative add-ons being developed as more people get their NXT kits.
Tony
> What is the point of sticking on a USB if only for communication with a computer!
- It's much faster and more reliable than IR.
- With the AT91SAM7S microcontroller it is almost free.
Tony, hoping to have a NXT by the weekend
Since the NXT allows BlueTooth messaging, use the PC to do all the heavy data logging/number crunching/processing. If memory serves correctly, that's what the guy in the video presentation was saying when he talked about "data contracts". (Hum....can data sources enter into contracts? Rhetorical question at best.)
Well, anyway, the idea is to treat the NXT pretty much as a dumb terminal and offload the processing to Robotics Studio. (hummm....did I really say that?) Great for Microsoft - only messaging through the BlueTooth channel might be somewhat, how do we say, band limited?
http://themacview.blogspot.com/2006/08/20th-anniversary-labview-820-released.html
Perhaps LEGO will soon follow?
If it *is* possible to enable it to read USB flash drives, you could program it to retrieve, manipulate, and initiate up to 64 GB of additional programming via these little thumb drives: http://www.myzipzip.com/