Lego NXT on OS X Lion Mmm..

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3/12/12 12:34 PM

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Lego NXT on OS X Lion

Categories: LabVIEW, LEGO, LEGO NXT by --marc The bundled LEGO NXT programming environment (NXT-G) has had various issues running on OS X Snow Leopard and Lion. So, with some investigation, I found a solution which (1) does not use Adobe Flash, (2) has a most recent NXT Firmware ahead of LEGOs release, and (3) an updated Mac OS X to NXT communications drivers. This solution uses National Instruments LabVIEW. Also, LabVIEW is a good stepping stone to professional grade tools (i.e. better career path training for us kids anyway.) First, if you have valid student/teacher id, acquire the student version of National Instruments ($20). LabVIEW 2011 Student Edition

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Lego NXT on OS X Lion Mmm.. Real World Media

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Without a student/teacher id, then consider the LabVIEW version on LEGOs education website. Caveat: I have not used a LabVIEW version purchased from the LEGO website. Please let me know how this version works for you on OS X. LabVIEW for LEGO MindStorms After you receive a copy of LabVIEW, run the LabVIEW 2011 Student Edition installer. Select the Customize button in the lower left. Uncheck GPIB and VISA. (These GPIB and VISA installers are not 64-bit compliant.) Click Install.

At the time of this writing, NI LabVIEW 2011 LEGO MINDSTORM MODULE for Mac OS X is not included with the OnTheHub downloads. So, you will need to download this module instead, directly from the National Instruments website. LabVIEW NXT Module 2011 Mac OS X Now install both NI LabVIEW 2011 LEGO MINDSTORM MODULE and LEGO Driver in the LabVIEW NXT Module 2001 - Mac OS X installer. LEGO Driver will also install the minimum required NI VISA Driver framework.

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Lego NXT on OS X Lion Mmm.. Real World Media

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After successful NXT module install, you will see NXT Application Browser, NXT Preferences and NXT Terminal on the Tools menu

Plug in the NXT brick to the USB. Power on brick. Open the Tools > NXT Terminal window. From the NXT Terminal window, open the Find NXT window. Click the Scan button. A successful scan should show both the Bluetooth and USB connection.

Select the USB connection to use with the firmware upgrade. Click Close to return the NXT terminal. Select the firmware version. Click Update button.
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Click the Update Firmware button. The available firmware should be v1.31 or newer. (Firmware v1.31 is now months later also available at the LEGO MINDSTORMS site)

Build a simple test block diagram. The block diagram below will start a motor and stop the motor after a couple seconds delay.

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Lego NXT on OS X Lion Mmm.. Real World Media

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Works Rrrr..roaringly well on Lion with either the USB or BlueTooth connection!! and as a bonus, no Adobe Flash. This post has no tag

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