From: cxtdm@eiu.edu (Tim McCollum)
Subject: Red Rover and Macintosh
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 20:26:25 -0500
Hi PTK'ers,
For those of you who want to incorporate the Red Rover simulation
into your LFM activities, but operate within a Macintosh environment,
here's good news.
Through local foundation grant funding, I ordered the Lego Dacta
Control Lab Kit. I then recruited a team of ambitious 7th and 8th grade
students to commit several after school hours to build the rover and learn
how to "drive" it using the Lego software. My instructions were basically
these - "Here's the box of materials and software, there's the computer,
now YOU figure it out and then you can teach me." Well, as you can
imagine, by the third day they had it rolling across the classroom
floor...working headlights in all!
We then mounted our Connectix QuickCam to the rover with hopes of
getting a ground level view. My biggest question ( and one I recently read
on the discuss-lfm list ) was whether or not we would be able to open BOTH
the Lego window and the camera window at the same time. Success! We
plugged the Lego interface box into the MODEM port and the camera into the
PRINTER port and both work just fine - simultaneously.
Next we'll build the Martian terrain. My ultimate goal is to have
the students create a QTVR clip to add to our web site.
It's not true Red Rover technology and it can't be driven from
other sites, but it works just fine for us. Hope this helps those of you
with the same questions.
On to Mars!
Tim
..............................................................................
Tim McCollum 217-345-2193 (school)
Charleston Jr. High School 217-345-8121 (fax)
920 Smith Dr. cxtdm@eiu.edu
Charleston, IL 61920
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cxtdm/macsci.html
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/nie/summer/tmccollum/