Select what firmware to download

[maehw]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently, there's only one firmware that can be downloaded to the yellow programmable brick (the RCX). The user may blindly download the firmware without knowing what it was specifically. - Which is probably OK für 95% of the user base.

FYI: It's firm0328.lgo, i.e. LEGO's official firmware version 3.28.

There's other firmware available, see https://pbrick.info/index.html-p=74.html
Not only other official versions (3.09 and 3.32) but also from Dick Swan and alternative firmwares to be used with leJOS, pbFORTH and legOS BrickOS. Probably even others - if we can still find them in the WWW of this MINDSTORMS legacy.

Describe the solution you'd like

I'd like to have a selection dialog for the firmware. LEGO's 3.32 official firmware should probably the default so that no background knowledge is required. Choosing another firmware could be an advanced feature which is not directly visible ("expert mode") so that user's can't to something "wrong" (unintended).

Describe alternatives you've considered

Make the firmware files available and let the very advanced user use their web browser development console, add breakpoints to the JavaScript code and manually select the correct firmware from their. Doesn't feel very user-friendly though...

Additional context

Different firmwares are used for different RCX hardware revisions - or different alternative programming languages and their environments (e.g. pbFORTH, BrickOS, etc).

[mesheets]

Passing along a few observations from my experience—

Different firmwares are used for different RCX hardware revisions

While LEGO shipped different firmware versions with the different hardware revisions of the LEGO MindStorms RCX, the latest and greatest LEGO firmware version (0332) will work on all RCX hardware revisions, including 1.0.

Unless/until WebPBrick supports alternative languages/environments, I would agree that the vast majority of the users would likely be fine with a default of 0332.

.

if we can still find them in the WWW of this MINDSTORMS legacy

As projects and sites began disappearing, I have tried to archive as many I as could (included the ones noted) under the BrickBot organization here on GitHub. A clean up of the BrickBot website is on the "to do" list, but a list of alternatives firmwares and related projects that I have found is available at the link below.

• https://brickbot.github.io/#extensions-built-on-alternative-firmwares

Unfortunately, there few things known to have existed that I have not yet been able to track down.

• https://brickbot.github.io/#missingwanted

If you might be interested in being added to the BrickBot organization here on GitHub, just let me know!