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<H2>NQC FAQ</H2>
<H3>General</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#nqc">What is
NQC?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#mindstorms">What
is LEGO MINDSTORMS?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#RIS2">Does NQC
support RIS 2.0?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#firmware">How can
I get the RCX 2.0 firmware?</A> </LI></UL>
<H3>NQC Compiler Usage</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#dos">I'm using
Windows, and when I click on NQC a window with some text flashes on the screen
then disappears. What's going on?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#-Trcx2">I'm using
the RCX 2.0 firmware but get errors when trying to call 2.0 functions (e.g.
SetUserDisplay). What's wrong?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#errors">How can I
redirect errors to a file?</A>
<LI><A
href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#spiritinstall">Where is
Spirit.ocx? RcxCC complains that it is not installed.</A> </LI></UL>
<H3>IR Communication</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#usb">How do I get
NQC to work with my USB IR tower?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#control">How do I
use a computer to control the RCX?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#irusb">How do I
use the IR tower with a USB Macintosh?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#irdebug">Help,
RcxCC/MacNQC/NQC can't communicate with my RCX!</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#irlaptop">How do I
use my computer IR port with the RCX?</A>
<LI><A href="file:///Users/dave/WebSite/nqc/doc/faq.html#irxp">How can I get
the USB IR tower to work under Win XP?</A> </LI></UL>
<H3>Miscellaneous</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#spirit">Why
doesn't NQC use the Spirit OCX?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#vision">Does NQC
support Vision Command?</A>
<LI><A href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#build">What
computers/tools/etc do you use to develop NQC?</A> </LI></UL>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=nqc></A>What is NQC?</H3>
<P>NQC (Not Quite C) is a programming language for several LEGO MINDSTORMS
products including the RCX, CyberMaster, and Scout. NQC's syntax is very similar
to the C programming langauge, so experienced C programmers (and Java
programmers) should find it very easy to get started with. Even if you aren't an
experienced programmer, NQC is relatively easy to learn.</P>
<P>The two primary reasons people move up to NQC from the standard tools (RCX
Code and Robolab) is that NQC is a textual langauge, and it is more powerful.
Graphical languages are often easier to learn (no syntax errors!) but are
generally more tedious to use than a textual langauge. The graphical metaphors
of RCX Code (and to a certain extent Robolab) also significantly limit the types
of programs you can write.</P>
<P>NQC uses the same firmware as LEGO's standard tools (RCX Code and Robolab).
This means it is possible to have RCX Code, Robolab, and NQC programs loaded
onto the RCX at the same time. NQC also benefits from the stability and user
interface (e.g. the View button) provided by the standard firmware. On the minus
side, NQC must live within the constraints of the standard firmware. For
example, since the firmware does not provide floating point support, NQC cannot
provide it either. Other altermatives for programming the RCX (notably legOS and
pbForth) do not have such restrictions.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=mindstorms></A>What is LEGO MINDSTORMS?</H3>
<P>LEGO MINDSTORMS is a series of LEGO sets that use special programmable bricks
to allow construction of robots. The most versatile programmable brick is the
RCX, which can be found in the Robotics Invention System set. A simpler brick,
the Scout, can be found in the Robotics Discovery set. The simplest brick, Micro
Scout, is featured in two sets with a Star Wars theme: Droid Developer Kit, and
Dark Side Developer Kit. Even though it is the most expensive, the RCX based set
is still the best value due to the versatility of the RCX itself. The Scout is a
bit more limited, but still can be programmed (using NQC) to do some interesting
things. The Micro-Scout is extremely limited, and it useful mainly as an
accessory to another programmable brick such as the RCX or Scout. Further
information on MINDSTORMS sets can be found at the official site: <A
href="http://www.legomindstorms.com/"
target=_blank>http://www.legomindstorms.com/</A>.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=RIS2></A>Does NQC Support RIS 2.0?</H3>
<P>The RCX in the RIS 2.0 is nearly identical to the 1.0 RCX. However, new
firmware is used to give the RCX some new capabilities. Fortunately for existing
RCX owners, this firmware is available for download from www.legomindstorms.com
(as part of the RIS 2.0 SDK). NQC supports this new firmware (see <A
href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#-Trcx2">here for more
info</A>).</P>
<P>RIS 2.0 also uses a new IR tower with a USB connection (instead of the
eariler RS-232 based towers). Support for the USB tower under Windows and Mac OS
X is currently in <A
href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/beta/index.html">beta test</A>. Support
for Mac OS 9 will be added shortly and several other people are working on Linux
support.</P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
<A name=firmware></A>How can I get the RCX 2.0 firmware?</H3>
<P>The RCX 2.0 firmware is contained in a file named FIRM0328.LGO and is
installed on your PC when you install the standard LEGO software. It is also
installed as part of the Vision Command software and the 2.0 SDK.</P>
<P>Unfortunately, all previously mentioned sources for the firmware require
software to be installed on a Windows computer. If you are using a different
operating system, then you will need to download the earlier Beta version of the
2.0 SDK which was packaged as a .zip file rather than a full installer. This
.zip file may then be expanded to get the FIRM0328.LGO file. The SDK 2.0 Beta
can be found at <A href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/sdk2beta/default.asp"
target=_blank>http://mindstorms.lego.com/sdk2beta/default.asp</A>.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=dos></A>I'm using Windows, and when I click on NQC a window with
some text flashes on the screen then disappears. What's going on?</H3>
<P>NQC is a command line based tool - normally you run it by typing an
appropriate command into an MS-DOS window. When you double-click the exe file it
launches an MS-DOS console, runs NQC within it, then since NQC finishes almost
immediately, the entire window disappears.</P>
<P>Some people prefer command line based tools because they allow you to use the
text editor of your choice, etc. It also makes for identical behavior under
Windows, Mac, and Linux. In order to use the command line version of NQC you'll
need to do two things:</P>
<P>1) Use some sort of text editor (such as Notepad) to edit and save a source
file for NQC to compile.</P>
<P>2) From an MS-DOS window type the appropriate NQC command. Its usually best
to either put all of your programs and nqc.exe in the same directory, or make
sure the directory containing NQC is in your command path. For example, to
compile and download the program "test.nqc" using the default serial port you
would type the following command:</P>
<P>nqc -d test.nqc</P>
<P>An alternative is to use the <A href="http://www.cs.uu.nl/~markov/lego/"
target=_parent>RCX Command Center</A> by Mark Overmars, which is a familiar
Windows style application that provides a front end to the NQC compiler.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=-Trcx2></A>I'm using the RCX 2.0 firmware but get errors when trying
to call 2.0 functions (e.g. SetUserDisplay). What's wrong?</H3>
<P>When NQC compiles a program it needs to know what kind of programmable brick
you want it to generate code for (this is called the <I>target</I> for the
compile). By default, NQC assumes you are targetting RCX 1.0. If you want to use
RCX 2.0 features, you need to tell the compiler you are using an RCX 2.0 target.
If you are using a command line version of NQC, then add <TT>-Trcx2</TT> to the
command line:</P>
<P><TT>nqc -Trcx2 -d foo.nqc</TT></P>
<P>If you don't want to type <TT>-Trcx2</TT> all the time, then just use the
environment variable <TT>NQC_OPTIONS</TT> - NQC reads this environment variable
and inserts any options in this variable at the front of the command line. For
example, if <TT>NQC_OPTIONS</TT> was set to <TT>-Trcx2</TT> and you issued the
following command</P>
<P><TT>nqc -d foo.nqc</TT></P>
<P>NQC would behave as if you actually typed</P>
<P><TT>nqc -Trcx2 -d foo.nqc</TT></P>
<P>The specifics of setting environment variables depends on your operating
system and shell. For example, under Windows you could type the following in a
command shell:</P>
<P><TT>set NQC_OPTIONS=-Trcx2</TT></P>
<P>If you want to always use RCX 2.0, then you can make this setting permament
by editing the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and adding the above command to the end of the
file. This way, the variable will get set every time Windows is started.</P>
<P>If you are using a GUI based version of NQC (such as MacNQC), then there
should be some preference setting for the target - just make sure it is set to
"RCX 2.0". Unfortunately, RcxCC does not have an "RCX 2.0" setting, but there is
a workaround. Leave the target as "RCX" (which means RcxCC won't specify any
target information and just rely on the fact that NQC defaults to RCX), then use
the <TT>NQC_OPTIONS</TT> environment variable to specify RCX 2.0 (as described
above).</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=errors></A>How can I redirect errors to a file?</H3>
<P>Compile errors are written to stderr, not stdout. This is to allow the
calling program to separate errors from the program listing (-l option) that
appears on stdout. The normal redirection facility of a shell only redirects
stdout, thus the errors will still be printed to the screen. Most shells have
additional syntax that allows the stderr stream to be redirected (use
"option->" in MPW, or "2>" for WinNT). I do not know of any mechanism to
redirect stderr in Win95 command.com.</P>
<P>In addition, nqcc now supports (verion 1.1 b1) the ability to route error
messages to stdout with the -E option.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=spiritinstall></A>Where is Spirit.ocx? RcxCC complains that it is
not installed.</H3>
<P>NQC has never used Spirit.ocx, but RcxCC used to require Spirit.ocx for
communication with the RCX. Lego no longer supports Spirit.ocx as of RIS 2.0,
but fortunately RcxCC has been updated to no longer require it. In addition,
RcxCC has been renamed to BricxCC (due to trademark concerns from Lego). You can
download the latest version of BricxCC <A
href="http://members.aol.com/johnbinder/bricxcc.htm" target=_blank>here</A>.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=usb></A>How do I get NQC to work with my USB IR tower?</H3>
<P>Presently, USB towers are only supported under Mac OS X and Windows. I will
be releasing Mac OS 9 support shortly. Some other developers are working on a
Linux solution.</P>
<P>USB support is in beta test and requires version 2.4a4 of NQC.</P>
<P><B>IMPORTANT</B>- you need to tell NQC that you want it to look for a USB
tower, otherwise it assumes you have a serial tower and uses the default serial
port for your operating system (e.g. COM1 under Windows). Add <TT>-Susb</TT> to
the command line or set the <TT>RCX_PORT</TT> environment variable to
<TT>usb</TT>. When adding a command line option, put it near the beginning of
the command:</P>
<P><TT>nqc -Susb -d test.nqc</TT></P>
<P><B>Windows only:</B> NQC uses the USB driver installed by the Lego RIS 2.0
software, so you will need to install the RIS software and run it once with the
USB tower connected in order for the driver to be correctly installed.</P>
<P><B>Mac OS X only:</B> NQC talks directly to the USB tower. There is no
driver, so you'll never see the tower show up in /dev.<BR></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">FreeBSD (unoffical port):</SPAN> As of NQC
2.5 a5, the USB tower is supported when running a FreeBSD build from 02/28/03 or
later (the upcoming FreeBSD 5.1 will work).<BR></P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=control></A>How do I use a computer to control the RCX?</H3>
<P>There are two basic ways to do this: send raw commands to the RCX, or send
'messages' which are then listened to by a program running on the RCX.</P>
<H4>Sending Messages</H4>
<P>This is generally the simplest way to interact with the RCX. First you write
a program for the RCX that continuously checks for received messages (using the
Message() and ClearMessage() calls) and then dispatches the messages
accordingly. The messages may have any value between 1 and 255. There is no
predefined meaning for these messages - your program can do whatever it wants
with each message.</P>
<P>There are several ways to send the message. You can use another RCX (or a
Scout) by calling the SendMessage() function. You can also use the nqc command
with the -msg option, for example to send message #3:</P>
<P>nqc -msg 3</P>
<P>You can use the LEGO remote control to send messages 1, 2, or 3. It is also
possible to send the message by sending the appropriate command packet (see
below)</P>
<H4>Sending Raw Commands</H4>
<P>Sending raw commands gives you complete control over the RCX. The commands
(a.k.a. opcodes or bytecodes) and the general packet format are unofficially
documented at <A href="http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kekoa/rcx/"
target=_parent>http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kekoa/rcx/</A>. For example, to
make the RCX play system sound #3 (upward tones), you would send a two-byte
command (shown in hex):</P>
<P>51 03</P>
<P>Messages are just a specific type of command - F7 followed by the message
value, so message #4 would be the packet</P>
<P>F7 04</P>
<P>If you are using NQC, you can let NQC take care of all the details of packet
formatting, getting an acknowledgement from the RCX, and retrying if a failure
occurs. You do this with the -raw option, which takes a single parameter listing
all of the bytes (in hex format) for the command:</P>
<P>nqc -raw 5103</P>
<P>If you are writing your own program, you can build up the packet yourself. A
suitable packet (for the plays sound command) would be:</P>
<P>55 ff 00 51 ae 03 fc 54 ab</P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
<A name=irusb></A>How do I use the IR tower with a USB Macintosh?</H3>
<P>Since a USB version of the IR tower doesn't exist (yet), you will need a USB
to serial converter (such as the Keyspan TWIN adapter). If the adapter provides
a 9-pin serial connector, then you should be able to use the standard Mindstorms
cable between the adapter and the IR tower. If the adapter provides mac-style
serial connector, then you will also need an appropriate cable as desribed <A
href="http://www.baumfamily.org/lego/macmind/cables.html">here</A>.</P>
<P><I>Note: I have heard several reports of the Palm USB adapter not working. I
am not sure if this is a problem with the adapter itself, or some unusual
interaction between it and the OS. If you have been able to use a Palm USB
adapter with MacNQC or NQC, please let me know. I would like to get a definitive
answer on whether this adapter can be made to work. Personally, I use the
Keyspan Twin adapter (USA-28X), and I've heard that both the Keyspan PDA adapter
(USA-19) and Xircom PortGear USB also work.</I></P>
<P>If you are using MacNQC, then the popup menu in the Preferences dialog box
will list all available serial ports (including those provided by USB
converters).</P>
<P>If you are using the MPW version of NQC, then you will need to specify the
serial port either on the command line (using the -S option) or in the RCX_PORT
environment variable. Both methods require that you know the name of the serial
port driver. The easiest way to make this work is to use the adapter's control
panel to configure the serial port to "emulate the printer port". This will
cause the serial port to be named "B", thus you could do either of the
following:</P>
<P><TT>nqc -SB -d foo.nqc</TT></P>
<P>or</P>
<P><TT>set -e RCX_PORT B</TT></P>
<P><TT>nqc -d foo.nqc</TT></P>
<P>If you choose the second option, the <TT>set</TT> command only needs to be
executed once per MPW session - adding it to a Startup file will make life
simpler.</P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
<A name=irdebug></A>Help, RcxCC/MacNQC/NQC can't communicate with my RCX!</H3>
<P>In most cases, problems like this boil down to a configuration issue, bad
cable, or dead battery. Here are some troubleshooting tips.</P>
<P>If the program says it cannot open the serial port, then this is almost
certainly a configuration problem. For MacNQC, make sure you have a valid serial
port selected in the Preferences dialog box. For NQC, make sure you have
specified the appropriate serial port name (default is modem port, "B" is the
printer port, see <A
href="http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc_old/doc/faq.html#irusb">above</A> for USB
based macs). For RcxCC, I suggest trying once with auto-detection, and if that
fails, then manually set the serial port in the RcxCC program.</P>
<P>If the program reports that it cannot communicate with the IR device, then
either the program is talking to the wrong serial port (see the previous item),
or there's a problem with the cable and/or battery. Make sure you have a fresh
9v battery installed in the IR tower, and if possible use the cable supplied by
Lego.</P>
<P>If the program reports that it cannot communicate with the RCX, then
communication with the IR tower is probably OK, and the problem is between the
tower and the RCX.</P>
<UL>
<LI>Certain light sources (bright sunlight, certain projection TVs) can cause
interference...try using a towel or other item to shield the IR tower and RCX
from other light.
<LI>The tower and RCX should be about 6 inches apart. Tty the switch on the
front of the tower in both positions - some people report better success with
"near" mode, and some with "far" mode.
<LI>Make sure you have firmware downloaded into the RCX. If the display only
shows "1" on it, then firmware isn't installed yet...download the firmware
using the Lego software or the -firmware option for NQC (the firmware itself
must be copied from the Lego CD or downloaded from <A
href="http://www.legomindstorms.com/"
target=_blank>http://www.legomindstorms.com/</A>). Once the firmware is
installed you should see something like "00.00 1" on the display. </LI></UL>
<P>If you have a terminal program (e.g. HyperTerminal for Windows, Zterm for the
Mac), then you can check the IR tower directly. Open up a session to the
appropriate serial port at 2400 baud, 1 stop bit, odd parity, and 8 data bits.
Turn off local echo. Start typing a few characters. A green LED on the front of
the IR tower should light up, and the characters you typed should be echoed back
to the screen (with an occasional mistake depending on how much interference
there is).</P>
<P>If you are using the command line version of NQC, then you can have it log
any serial communication. This is helpful in trying to isolate where
communication is failing. A good general-purpose test is</P>
<P><TT>nqc -v -raw 10</TT></P>
<P>Please include the output of this test in any e-mail to me regarding IR
communication problems.</P>
<P></P>
<HR align=left>
<P></P>
<H3><A name=irlaptop></A>How do I use my computer IR port with the RCX?</H3>
<P>You can't. At least not easily.</P>
<P>Most computers use the IrDA protocols for IR communication. The RCX uses a
proprietary protocol developed by Lego for communication. Quite simply, these
protocols are incompatable.</P>
<H4>What about IrCom? Doesn't that let me use the IR port as a regular serial
port?</H4>
<P>Yes and no. From an application's point of view, IrCom looks like a serial
port (complete with hardware handshaking and control lines). However, the IrCom
layer actually resides on top of normal IrDA communication, so what appears to
the application to be async serial communication, is in fact a bunch of IrDA
packets getting sent back and forth. Since the RCX doesn't understand IrDA
packets, it can't understand IrCom either.</P>
<H4>What if I access the hardware directly?</H4>
<P>Even if you bypassed the IrDA protocol stacks on the computer and somehow
managed to control the hardware directly (a task that is likely to be different
for different computer vendors), it still may not be possible. The Lego
protocols encode bits using a 38kHz carrier frequency. This frequency is
generated an filtered in hardware. IrDA doesn't really use a carrier frequency,
and the actual specs on bit times provide a lot of lattitued to device
manufacturers. As a result, it is difficult to get generic IrDA hardware to
generate the required 38kHz carrier reliably. Filtering the recieve side is even
more problematic.</P>
<P>I would hesitate to say that this problem is "impossible" to solve, but
people have been asking about this for over a year, and to my knowledge no
general solution has emerged. There are, however, specialized solutions for
specific pieces of hardware (usually PDAs or other handled devices such as a
Palm III).<BR></P>
<HR align=left>
<H3><A name=irxp></A>How can I get the USB IR tower to work under Win XP?</H3>
<P>There appear to be some timing related difficulties when using NQC with the
USB tower under Windows XP. If you are having difficulty downloading
programs, open the LEGO USB Tower control panel, select the Advanced Tab, and
set the Read Timeout to 300 msec. This generally fixes the
problem.<BR></P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
<A name=spirit></A>Why doesn't NQC use the Spirit OCX?</H3>
<P>The Spirit OCX is only available on the PC. My personal preference is to use
a Macintosh, so I needed to have a platform independent means for communicating
with the RCX.</P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
<A name=vision></A>Does NQC Support Vision Command?</H3>
<P>Vision command programs run in two places...all of the image processing
software runs on the PC, then sends messages to a program running on the RCX.
The messages that are sent are ordinary RCX messages, and by using Message() and
ClearMessage(), NQC programs can respond to them. Mike Gasperi calls this "<A
href="http://www.plazaearth.com/usr/gasperi/vcsensor.htm" target=_blank>Using
Vision Command as a Smart Sensor</A>".</P>
<P>Note that I have never tried this myself (Vision Command doesn't run on Mac),
so I can't really help if things don't work as expected.</P>
<H3>
<HR align=left>
</H3>
<H3><A name=build></A>What computers/tools/etc do you use to develop NQC?</H3>
<P>All of the NQC development takes place on my Macintosh PowerBook. I use
Metrowerks CodeWarrior to write and debug the code as a Macintosh
application.</P>
<P>The Code Warrior project also has targets to build the MPW version of NQC as
well as the Win32 version. Regression tests on the compiler are done on the PPC
version of the MPW tool (via a couple of MPW scripts and a bunch of sample
programs). Some minimal testing of the Win32 version is done from within Virtual
PC - I just make sure that the build went fine and that the serial port works
since that is really the only code custom to Win32.</P>
<P>For the source release, I boot into Mac OS X, copy over the NQC source tree
and build it (using make, gcc, etc). A simple test (again just to make sure the
serial port code for Unix is working) is performed. I then use a shell script to
create a source release tree, strip out any unwanted binaries, and package the
entire thing up as a .tar.gz. Recently, I've also been packaging up a Mac OS X
binary version.</P>
<P>So there you have it...development for Mac, Windows, and Unix all done on my
trusty PowerBook.</P>
<P></P>
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