Tham khảo tài liệu 'lego mindstorms - the unofficial guide to robots - jonathan b. knudsen part 2', kỹ thuật - công nghệ, cơ khí - chế tạo máy phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 10 What About MacOS and Linux Currently the software that comes with RIS runs only on Windows. If you have MacOS or Linux however you can still program your robots just not with the official software. The best option at least to get started is NQC which is described in Chapter 4. Appendix A Finding Parts and Programming Environments lists the different packages that are available. If you really want visualstyle programming like RCX Code you can purchase ROBOLAB which provides a similar but more powerful environment on MacOS. There s one final wrinkle if you want to program from MacOS you ll need a suitable cable. The following web page describes the issues of programming the RCX from MacOS including cables http dbaum lego macmind . You can purchase a Macintosh IR tower cable from Pitsco LEGO DACTA for 15US. See Appendix A for details. Expansion Sets Aside from the basic RIS set the MINDSTORMS product line also includes expansion sets. These sets provide additional parts and software to supplement the RIS set. Two such sets exist each selling for about 50US Extreme Creatures This set comes with about 150 LEGO pieces and is designed so you can add decorative jaws and claws to your robots. It includes a light that can be attached to one of the output ports of the RCX. Robosports This expansion set includes about 90 LEGO pieces two balls two pucks and an additional motor. It s oriented towards robots that can play different sports. A third expansion set Exploration Mars should be released sometime in 1999. Among LEGO enthusiasts the consensus is that the expansion sets are not as good a value as the RIS set itself. If you re looking for extra pieces it might be better to buy a LEGO TECHNIC set instead. If you re looking for additional sensors and motors by themselves there are other ways to get these. See Appendix A Finding Parts and Programming Environments for details. Other Sets RIS isn t the only game in town. In 1999 two new MINDSTORMS .
