VT78/MR78/OS78 (was Re: Vintage Computer Forum)

A few years ago, an alectronics shop over here was selling off some educational rootics kits. One was designed in England (and was a thing that reversied if it umped into something), another 2 were Far-Eastern and did much the same thing, except that they used a microphone to detect sound or impact, rather than a microswitch to detect impact only. The English one came as a pre-assembled PCB containing a PIC microcontroller and a motor driver IC. A coupleof pre-assembled motor/gearox units. And the instructions were just to screw the bits to the baseplate and connect the wires. No explanation of how it works or what you were doing. IMHO, Educational value : 0 The 2 Far-Eastern kits came as a bare PCB, a bag of components, a back og gears and axles, and so on. You had to assemble everything. And the instructions explained what the various bits did and why (OK, the explanations were at a simple level, but still fairly accurate). And there was no pre-programmed microcontroller. In fact no ICs at all. Just 10 discrete transsitors, and assocaited passives (the 2 kits, although quite different mechancially, were very similar electroncially). Educational value : Lots. And I find 10 transistors to be a lot more elegant a design than the thousands of transistos in a microcontroller... -tony