Scratch

Cyclone103 wrote:

I got a great idea! I was nowhere near a computer, when suddenly I had an awesome idea of how to make something work. By the time I was at a computer with Scratch on it, I had forgotten. Solution: Scratch Thinkpad. It would have all of the blocks Scratch has, but it would be portable. The blocks would not be able to do anything, but it would be a way to get your ideas out of your head. There would be no stage, though there is a stage section. My last good idea of this is that if you connected the Thinkpad to a computer, you could just press a button, and your blocks would be transfered over. It might be the size of a Gameboy, except there would be a row of buttons on top with all categories of blocks, i.e. Control, Motion, Variables, etc. One request though. If this does ever come into existence, I want a free version of every model    cause I think it is a good idea, and I could really use it!

Why not just learn how to write your ideas down in pseudocode?

See http://www.dickbaldwin.com/homeschool/Hs00102.htm

dbal wrote:

Cyclone103 wrote:

I got a great idea! I was nowhere near a computer, when suddenly I had an awesome idea of how to make something work. By the time I was at a computer with Scratch on it, I had forgotten. Solution: Scratch Thinkpad. It would have all of the blocks Scratch has, but it would be portable. The blocks would not be able to do anything, but it would be a way to get your ideas out of your head. There would be no stage, though there is a stage section. My last good idea of this is that if you connected the Thinkpad to a computer, you could just press a button, and your blocks would be transfered over. It might be the size of a Gameboy, except there would be a row of buttons on top with all categories of blocks, i.e. Control, Motion, Variables, etc. One request though. If this does ever come into existence, I want a free version of every model    cause I think it is a good idea, and I could really use it!

Why not just learn how to write your ideas down in pseudocode?

See http://www.dickbaldwin.com/homeschool/Hs00102.htm

Well, while psuedocode would work, I prefer to actually visualize what I am planning on making. I can plan my ideas visually in front of me, so I think it could work. It would also have the lists of blocks right there, so you would not forget and add in a block that does not exist.

Cyclone103 wrote:

dbal wrote:

Cyclone103 wrote:

I got a great idea! I was nowhere near a computer, when suddenly I had an awesome idea of how to make something work. By the time I was at a computer with Scratch on it, I had forgotten. Solution: Scratch Thinkpad. It would have all of the blocks Scratch has, but it would be portable. The blocks would not be able to do anything, but it would be a way to get your ideas out of your head. There would be no stage, though there is a stage section. My last good idea of this is that if you connected the Thinkpad to a computer, you could just press a button, and your blocks would be transfered over. It might be the size of a Gameboy, except there would be a row of buttons on top with all categories of blocks, i.e. Control, Motion, Variables, etc. One request though. If this does ever come into existence, I want a free version of every model    cause I think it is a good idea, and I could really use it!

Why not just learn how to write your ideas down in pseudocode?

See http://www.dickbaldwin.com/homeschool/Hs00102.htm

Well, while psuedocode would work, I prefer to actually visualize what I am planning on making. I can plan my ideas visually in front of me, so I think it could work. It would also have the lists of blocks right there, so you would not forget and add in a block that does not exist.

Sort of like the difference between writing with ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics and writing with a language based on an alphabet? 

By the way, a message to the staff.  Twice this afternoon when trying to submit a post using FireFox on two entirely different computers, I got the following error message:

Error: Could not connect to smtp host "localhost" (113) (No route to host).

The first time, the result was a blank post.  This is the second time and I don't know what will happen except that when I went back to the edit screen, my new post was garbled.

dbal wrote:

By the way, a message to the staff.  Twice this afternoon when trying to submit a post using FireFox on two entirely different computers, I got the following error message:

Error: Could not connect to smtp host "localhost" (113) (No route to host).

The first time, the result was a blank post.  This is the second time and I don't know what will happen except that when I went back to the edit screen, my new post was garbled.

dbal - maybe  you should post this on the Troubleshooting forum, if it continues to occur?   That would be the more correct use of the forum, rather than hijacking this thread.

...and here's the ironic part - as I posted this, I got the exact same error message on my machine!

I started a new thread in the Troubleshooting forum to report this error.

...or maybe a Scratch Portable? Kind of a different idea - but then you could base Scratch off a computer where it is not installed (ex - a library). All you would need is your flash drive!

relyt12101 wrote:

...or maybe a Scratch Portable? Kind of a different idea - but then you could base Scratch off a computer where it is not installed (ex - a library). All you would need is your flash drive!

Not to beat a dead horse, but you can do that with Alice 2.0.  It will fit on a 256 mByte flash drive and doesn't require a Windows install.  Therefore, you can simply plug it into the USB port on almost any computer (such as a computer in a public library) and run it.

I wish all software was that portable.

dbal wrote:

relyt12101 wrote:

...or maybe a Scratch Portable? Kind of a different idea - but then you could base Scratch off a computer where it is not installed (ex - a library). All you would need is your flash drive!

This is another blank post caused by the website problem that I mentioned on another thread.  This the third computer that it has happened to me on today.

Great Idea. 

Paddle2See wrote:

dbal wrote:

By the way, a message to the staff.  Twice this afternoon when trying to submit a post using FireFox on two entirely different computers, I got the following error message:

Error: Could not connect to smtp host "localhost" (113) (No route to host).

The first time, the result was a blank post.  This is the second time and I don't know what will happen except that when I went back to the edit screen, my new post was garbled.

dbal - maybe  you should post this on the Troubleshooting forum, if it continues to occur?   That would be the more correct use of the forum, rather than hijacking this thread.

...and here's the ironic part - as I posted this, I got the exact same error message on my machine!

I started a new thread in the Troubleshooting forum to report this error.

Thank you.  You are correct.  Posting the problem on the Troubleshooting thread would have been preferable.  However, at the time, I didn't know whether the post that I was working on would get through, much less a new post on a different thread.  I'm glad you had the same problem     That confirmed that I hadn't gotten both of my computers contaminated with an anti-scratch virus. 

Hehe...I run Scratch off a flash drive all the time, although I don't store the default costumes or sounds, and the MIDI and sound functions don't work half the time. I write in psuedocode all the time, which is pretty easy for Scratch, because the blocks are so...easy to understand that there's often no process that turns your thought into code that one has to go through with other languages.

andresmh wrote:

By the way you can put Scratch also on a USB drive. The ZIP file on the download page can be used for that, or you can simply copy the Scratch folder onto a USB. If you remove all the media (images, sounds, etc) it can get down to 7MB.

This is helpful to know. Thanks!

dbal wrote:

Not to beat a dead horse, but you can do that with Alice 2.0.  It will fit on a 256 mByte flash drive and doesn't require a Windows install.

Okay. But by 'It will fit on a 256 mByte flash drive' mean it is about 200MB? Or are you just using that as an example? (So I guess that I am asking what size is it?)

dbal wrote:

I wish all software was that portable.

Same. PortableApps really helps me a lot!

dbal wrote:

Not to beat a dead horse, but you can do that with Alice 2.0.  It will fit on a 256 mByte flash drive and doesn't require a Windows install.

Okay. But by 'It will fit on a 256 mByte flash drive' mean it is about 200MB? Or are you just using that as an example? (So I guess that I am asking what size is it?)

I believe that Alice requires about 157 mBytes.  A little too large for a 128 mByte flash drive but well within the capacity of a 256 mByte flash drive. That includes the entire local gallery of 3D objects.

If you delete the local gallery, it will be much smaller, but I don't know what the size will be then.  Deleting the local gallery doesn't mean the loss of the 3D objects if you plug it into a computer with Internet access because all of the local 3D objects plus hundreds of additional 3D objects are readily available for use from the online web gallery at Carnegie Mellon University.

Last edited by dbal (2008-06-14 12:11:27)