Another ~1960 computer kit

From: Max Eskin <kurtkilg_at_geocities.com>
Date: Sat Dec 19 12:14:06 1998

On Sat, 19 Dec 1998 ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
> Hmmm... From what I've seen of the Mindstorms set available in the UK,
> it's not that great. What really annoys me is that it'll do a lot more
> than they tell you about in the instructions (based on the stuff I've
> read on the web). And I _HATE_ products like that.
>
> And don't tell me 'Oh, it's aimed at children who couldn't understand
> things like that'. I would guess it's aimed at 10-12year olds at least.
> At that age, I was designing with TTL, and starting to look at
> microprocessors, and I didn't have an introductory book to help me.

Wait...but doesn't that sort of defeat your own point? Why should these
kids stick to the instructions? They have heads on their shoulders, they
can experiment on their own.

> But worse still is the fact that back in the early years of this century,
> it appears that boys - say about 12-15 years old - were expected to try
> woodwork, metalwork, using a lathe, wiring electric lights, bells,
> telephones, etc, making induction coils, etc, etc, etc. Things that I bet
> few boys ever try today. And yet, today, it could be made a little easier
> for them.

There's little need to make coils these days, and wiring electric lights
isn't very fun when one can play around with things millions of times more
complex.

> There is the secondary issue with the Mindstorms kit that I don't like
> things that are tied to PCs, but that's another matter.

Indeed. Since when do I need to upgrade my computer to use LEGOs? (I would
have to -- the PC software has rather hefty system requirements)

> think) are 2 'toys' that I've kept, and I don't mind admitting I still
> use them...

I've seen many very useful machines made from metal erector sets.

----------------------------------------------------
Max Eskin | kurtkilgor_at_bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor
Received on Sat Dec 19 1998 - 12:14:06 GMT