LEGO TC Logo

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Tom Owad's picture
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LEGO TC Logo
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Image icon box.jpg152.18 KB
Image icon interface.jpg163.83 KB
Image icon card.jpg158.85 KB
Image icon turtle.jpg152.42 KB

LEGO robotics became popular with mainstream with the release of Mindstorms, but there were a number of robotics kits previous to that. Tracing the history back, it's:

2009 Mindstorms NXT 2.0
2006 Mindstorms NXT
1998 Mindstorms
1995 DACTA Control Lab (9V)
1990 Technic Control Center (9V)
1987 TC Logo (4.5v)

TC Logo was available only through DACTA, which sold to schools. When DACTA discontinued and clearanced in 1996, my high school let me purchase one of the kits through them. In my senior year (2000) my high school got rid of their Apple IIe's and I took the computer lab home with me. I have a decent number of interface boxes and an assortment of (worn out) motors and lights. I'm short on interface cards, but they look reasonably easy to duplicate.

Here's the box:

And the interface board:

This is the Apple II interface card:

There's not much on the board besides a 6522 and some logic, so I'm hoping it will be easy to duplicate.

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

For the TC Logo, do you have the software? Was there a physical turtle that was driven by the Apple ][?

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

I have the disks. I haven't used them in a few years, but I found it on Asimov, too. One of the projects is a vehicle, which I think the instructions do call a turtle. It can be configured with bumpers (touch sensors) or an optical sensor to make it follow a line.

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

Does the Turtle hold a vertical pen?

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

Yes it does:

IMAGE(http://www.applefritter.com/files/turtle.jpg)

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

Any action on this project?

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

Just Acquired a Platinum IIe that had the 9767 card and cable installed if you are still looking for cards (and did not make your own)
Also, PM sent

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

This looks like it could be a lot of fun to experiment with.

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

Did you wind up making your own? I have more control boxes than I have 9767 cards, and I was just looking over what it might take to create a workable card. If you have some experience to share on how it went if you tried to build one, I'd be interested to hear. I was hoping I could swap in a 6820 instead of a 6522, since I have a few of those and I think they're compatible. I'm kind of a novice at this kind of prototyping, but I can hardly imagine an easier project to try to start off with.

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

I can't read the lettering, but I'm expecting that IC3 is a 74LS74. The 6522VIA needs some delays on the one of the clocks in order to work on the Apple II bus. There is an Apple Tech Note describing the circuit. I don't know for absolutely sure, but my Superproto board most likely could replace the Apple II interface card, by simply wiring in a header for the ribbon cable and possibly adding a couple of discrete components. The EEPROM on the Superproto could be left off, if you felt you didn't want it there.

regards,
Mike Willegal

www.willegal.net/superproto

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Re: LEGO TC Logo

It is indeed 74LS74, here is an image of one of my cards with more readable lettering:

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/391444/Vintage/apple/ii-peripherals/lego%209750/lego9767.jpg)

I have one of the Superproto boards and was thinking just the same thing -- I could try to wire up something on a bare prototype board, but a lot of the work appears to already be done for me on the Superproto board. It might be overkill (in that the Superproto board seems to be already much more complex than the LEGO card) but at least it would be possibly a faster way to try to get something working. I'd still need to get a cable with a 20-pin connector for the interface box, but this is likely the route I'll take. I'll report back what happens, when I get around to attempting it.

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Reviving this old thread :)

Can't believe I did not notice this thread (and this whole subforum!) until now...

In 2016/7/8 I immersed myself in the mid-1980s Lego robot sets. Also did a boatload of historical research. The result is my (no longer new!) website, http://www.mindsbeforethestorm.com. It's not finished, but there is a lot of information posted.

 

-Evan

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If anyone is still interested

If anyone is still interested in making their own Lego 9767 card I laid out a pcb for it a month or more back.

 

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Yes. If you'd be willing to

Yes. If you'd be willing to share it, I'd be grateful.

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Lego 9767 schematic and gerbers
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Thanks David!    

Thanks David!

 

 

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memories

i just discovered this site from lookimg up specs of the apple //e,  that  my parents bought new back when it came out,   and landed here and to my surprise found your DACTA thread.  I LOVED this lego series.   My mother happened t0 be a child delvopment teacher at a local highschool,  and being that i already had a massive collection of  lego sets ( a roling tub measuring 18in wide 12in tall and 36in long filled to the top,  id sit in my room for the entire most every day for 8 hours  only leaving the room to eat and bathroom,  typically  what would happen would be after i got a new lego set be it tyechnics or regular,   ( up to the age of 5  when dacta came in)   within a week or less,   id end up  teaaring the completed set i just got and afrer a day or so    i wouod  get bored with it,   which led to me coming up with my own lego creations   by taking the most recent sets build instructins and then pullimg out all the other build instructions from all the other lego sets i already had,  and sprawl them out across the floor in my room  and see what elements within each set  would be viable to combine to create a totally  original new lego set, or id improve upon  one set with small elements from another set etc...   soemtimes using as many as 5 or 6 differnt buidl instructions   to create one new lego thing,    I still love legos,   during this time if anyone asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up   i had always one answer  "to work at lego in denmark creating new designs or building  the big  sets that would tour the world during that time going from city to city with thigns built of legos that  might be as big as the door to my room etc    lol    sadly i forgot this desire of emplyment throught 7th grade uo til i graduated highschool   id of loved to of been able to tell my guidance counselors and anyother teachars that asked that question  rather than   "idont know"  loli was born in 1977 so i was atround 5 or 6 when she brought home the first big boxe sets of DACTA which there was a couple different battery boxes,  one was a black box (looked like a huge single black lego brick with grey flip switch for the on off  ( i think it held 3 d batteries,   then there was a technics type battery pasck grey in color and the batteries were configured inline or one behind the other, i think 3 or 2 d's or c's were requierd for that one.  i had that box with the whgite trace routes painted on it,   and there were sthe black box accompanied this regular lego brick style set,   but it incorporated  i believe just lighting  feature it had a bunch or 2 prong 2 wire leads that would plug in to the  the back of these yellow color 4 post square lego bricks which had a clear lens in place directly in front of where the plug socket was    which inside the brick was a lightbulb,  and then the set provided colored clear bricks that youd use to change the light color  or to filter the light,  so you could make a traffic signal light and a vehcile with headlighgts that lit up, or what ever you could think of,  the technics style set of legos that  could utilze the dacta stuff,  came with electric motors aand rubber baands that fit around pulley  spieces that  had a channel cut in the exterior diameter, which wnet back tothe pinion pulley the cool thing was is that  youcould transfer the poweer over to gear driven because the gears and pulleys could be slid on to the same axle piece etc,   there were more i had    the big sets caame in a white box id say about 18 x 24 inches,    i  figured out how to work everythimg without much if any help,  and that was by far my favorite version of legos,   so many good memories.  oh a  lil tidbit ill share  where i was able to at least find pictures of  the lego set#'s and stuff from dacta and the other first gen computer aontrolled lego sets    from not having much luck in regular web searches,    and my memeory  in certain aspects really sucks       you can find   listings on EBAY  most times easier than searching web for reference articles etc    and i just would look at the ebay sellers listing   copy down the lego set# and series title   then go search web with that info  hope this  now rather lengthy reply  was in some way helpfull or at leaast enjoyable to read    it was nice to stroll down memeory lane

my sights have been set on a out of production lego set that i will have at some point i promise that    its lego set #21311        anyways ill 

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