Jump to content




Opinion on OpenComputers?


93 replies to this topic

#41 6677

  • Members
  • 197 posts
  • LocationCambridgeshire, England

Posted 05 January 2014 - 01:05 PM

View PostBomb Bloke, on 24 December 2013 - 02:58 AM, said:

I assume they don't even realise that the latter two are options, and so never look into them - without the foreknowledge that there is a lower level, it's a bit of a "mental leap" for them to make.
Hardly anyone seems to realise that rednet.send(4, "hello") from computer 6 is identical to modem.transmit(4, 6, "hello"). rednet.broadcast from computer 6: modem.transmit(65535, 6, "hello").

I do like rednet though, keeps things nice and simple, especially for the newcomer. I use the modem API now though.

#42 Bubba

    Use Code Tags!

  • Moderators
  • 1,142 posts
  • LocationRHIT

Posted 06 January 2014 - 02:30 PM

I'm really enjoying this mod. It's very well polished, and in contrast to what some have said is not really competition for ComputerCraft but rather a good complement to it. I view ComputerCraft as a rather early game access to computers - there is no power requirement, and components are extremely cheap. ComputerCraft has been around longer, so of course it has more support from mods and OpenPeripherals gives it a lot of advantages in this.

This mod on the other hand is a more mid-game level due to power requirements and expense, and it has some advantages to boot (e.g. high resolution images, slightly better tool handling on the part of 'robots' [turtles], key_press/key_release, etc. ). Also, the mod is open source, which I consider to be a rather large sum of bonus points.

Oh, and persistence? Awesome.

Edited by Bubba, 06 January 2014 - 02:34 PM.


#43 gollark8

  • Members
  • 207 posts

Posted 06 January 2014 - 02:36 PM

What I would like in CC that's in OC is a mod power system and charges for turtle charging.
And I don't like the multiblock-ness in opencomputers,I prefer having computers that are small enough to fit on small quartz desks.

Edited by gollark8, 06 January 2014 - 02:40 PM.


#44 dudearent006

  • Members
  • 11 posts

Posted 20 January 2014 - 10:57 AM

I just hope this new mod won't overtake computercraft too far, causing computercraft to become outdated. Competition is always a healthy thing to have, though.

But should this happen, I hope someone makes a CC to OC converter, or OC gets a CC "compatibility mode", so some of the many awesome CC programs could still be used and porting wouldn't be nearly as hard.

#45 robhol

  • Members
  • 182 posts

Posted 20 January 2014 - 11:24 AM

I rather doubt it'll take over. I haven't tried it and it really doesn't appeal to me enough that I'm likely to do so, but it seems to fill a somewhat different niche. Even if they were in direct competition, OC would have to come up with something staggeringly awesome to weigh up for how incredibly clunky it is at the moment.

#46 Engineer

  • Members
  • 1,378 posts
  • LocationThe Netherlands

Posted 20 January 2014 - 08:01 PM

OC also uses lua 5.2. It has it downsides and benefits, but the loss of getfenv/setfenv is too big for me...

That's why I probably am going to stay with CC, just about the pesky update of lua..

On the other hand OC seems really cool but one major disadvantage is the installation.. why not just a drag'n'drop in the mods folder? :P
Should install it sometime...

#47 GravityScore

  • Members
  • 796 posts
  • LocationLand of Meh

Posted 20 January 2014 - 09:12 PM

View PostEngineer, on 20 January 2014 - 08:01 PM, said:

OC also uses lua 5.2. It has it downsides and benefits, but the loss of getfenv/setfenv is too big for me...

Calling getfenv/setfenv on a function has been replaced by setting the environment of a function as an argument to loadfile/loadstring. There's a global _ENV (like _G) for getfenv. Honestly it seems like a more stable system in my opinion.

#48 awsmazinggenius

  • Members
  • 930 posts
  • LocationCanada

Posted 20 January 2014 - 11:35 PM

Gravity, what do you think of OC? Simply the installation takes a huge toll for me, as how am I supposed to get this into my Technic Launcher modpack without breaking, well, everything?

#49 GravityScore

  • Members
  • 796 posts
  • LocationLand of Meh

Posted 21 January 2014 - 12:58 AM

I love it. It's much more realistic, more flexible, and implements so many features I think would be cool to have in CC. But that being said... CC is easier to write programs for.

#50 Engineer

  • Members
  • 1,378 posts
  • LocationThe Netherlands

Posted 21 January 2014 - 02:04 AM

View PostGravityScore, on 20 January 2014 - 09:12 PM, said:

View PostEngineer, on 20 January 2014 - 08:01 PM, said:

OC also uses lua 5.2. It has it downsides and benefits, but the loss of getfenv/setfenv is too big for me...

Calling getfenv/setfenv on a function has been replaced by setting the environment of a function as an argument to loadfile/loadstring. There's a global _ENV (like _G) for getfenv. Honestly it seems like a more stable system in my opinion.

I haven't done my research :P
That being said, I think I should get into lua 5.2 and OC. Though I dont have that time anymore unfortunately. Toooooooo many projects ;)

#51 Sangar

  • Members
  • 30 posts

Posted 21 January 2014 - 06:43 AM

View Postdudearent006, on 20 January 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:

I just hope this new mod won't overtake computercraft too far[...]
I'm flattered you even consider this a possibility :P But as you say, I think it's a good thing to have some variety - since RedPower is out of the picture CC pretty much had the monopoly in Computer mods.

View PostEngineer, on 20 January 2014 - 08:01 PM, said:

On the other hand OC seems really cool but one major disadvantage is the installation.. why not just a drag'n'drop in the mods folder? :P
If you're referring to the VC2012 runtimes, that's outdated info. As of 1.1 it is just that. Drop it into the mods folder and you're good to go (even on Mac. Though I can only test on Mac Mini since that's the only Mac I can get my hands on).

If you're referring to something else... what exactly do you mean?

View Postawsmazinggenius, on 20 January 2014 - 11:35 PM, said:

Simply the installation takes a huge toll for me, as how am I supposed to get this into my Technic Launcher modpack without breaking, well, everything?
What do you mean? What breaks? Post crashlogs on Github and I'll fix it. Thanks!

View PostGravityScore, on 21 January 2014 - 12:58 AM, said:

CC is easier to write programs for.
Mind elaborating? I'm very much open to suggestions :) Though I thought the system of having primary components made it pretty easy to write simple programs (which is by the way kinda what dan200 added with peripheral.find - not saying that it is, but if it was inspired by OC then the friendly competition thing already works :P). There are also some videos in the pipeline that will hopefully make getting into the mod easier.

#52 6677

  • Members
  • 197 posts
  • LocationCambridgeshire, England

Posted 24 January 2014 - 04:56 PM

This is my opinion:

Computercraft: simple and rather OP in terms of crafting recipes and space etc.
Opencomputer: complicated and expensive in terms of crafting.

Appeals to different people. So be it.

#53 Dave-ee Jones

  • Members
  • 456 posts
  • LocationVan Diemen's Land

Posted 06 March 2014 - 08:40 AM

Would be awesome if dan and the creator of OC joined together and worked on the one computer-based mod...Trying out OC right now, looks really good and sounds fun :) I disabled the use of having to 'plug it in' to a power source :P I mainly want to try out how these computers work, and the similarities and differences. There are a few I see by just looking at the different block uses. Looks REALLY good. installation is incredibly easy. The only pain, which lasted all of about 2m, was having to update forge. Just download the OC file, drag it into mods folder, finished! Why are people saying its hard???

#54 Alice

  • Members
  • 429 posts
  • LocationBehind you.

Posted 07 March 2014 - 01:51 PM

View PostAutoLocK, on 06 March 2014 - 08:40 AM, said:

Would be awesome if dan and the creator of OC joined together and worked on the one computer-based mod...Trying out OC right now, looks really good and sounds fun :) I disabled the use of having to 'plug it in' to a power source :P I mainly want to try out how these computers work, and the similarities and differences. There are a few I see by just looking at the different block uses. Looks REALLY good. installation is incredibly easy. The only pain, which lasted all of about 2m, was having to update forge. Just download the OC file, drag it into mods folder, finished! Why are people saying its hard???
I think OpenComputers uses 5.2 Lua, where ComputerCraft uses 5.1, and there is a lot of differencecs that ComputerCraft is not yet ready to update to.

#55 awsmazinggenius

  • Members
  • 930 posts
  • LocationCanada

Posted 10 March 2014 - 12:01 AM

I've been fiddling around with OC for the past month - which is slowing down my Minecraft development, as I've been trying to make both CC and OC versions of my programs. What I'd love to see is OC support for Sublime Text - sorta like what Grav did with CC.

As for the modpack: I did some hacking and got OC to work in the pack. And for the power thing, one of the mods in my pack is Advanced Solar Panels, so I just hook up a quantum generator when I'm in creative for a constant power stream while still needing power in survival without having to constantly change the config.

#56 prozacgod

  • Members
  • 7 posts

Posted 02 June 2014 - 04:26 PM

Dear mods, apologize for digging up a 3 mo old thread, also tried to make this some what less ranty, hopefully I succeded

CC The Good

It's simple
It's cheap
It's almost cheaty (YAY!)

Huge community with a large repository of good programs to choose from, also pretty competent developers around here too.

Lots of mods to interface with it, through it's peripheral interface.

CC The Bad

CC is NOT conducive to actual programming.
Tiny display size: The option is in the configs, it doesn't seem to work. Navigating 100 lines of code on that monitor is rage inducing.

The CC environment is 'wrong' leaky globals from one program can influence the execution of another!! That's heresy!! That being said, I took it upon myself to start implementing a require system to be compatible with regular lua libraries.... okay so it's pretty hard, arguing from experience, os.loadAPI is functional and works. - but I'd rather use dofile.... it's way easier to develop with.

OC The Good

Proper library system, many of the pure Lua libararies that exist in the world work out of the box!!!! (The JSON library I've used for years, works)
HUGE displays this is moment of joy was almost as awesome as when I discovered I could run a DOS text editor in 160×120 "back-in-the-day"
Basic posix compliance: Processes have streams!!!!
ACL's to lock out unauthorized users, (this is something dan said he wasn't going to do, to be fair, if it doesn't fit in his vision of the mod, then it should NOT go in it)
Compatibility with CC's peripherals, I had a advanced monitor hooked up to it last night.

OC The Bad


The monitors it provides are not touch compatible with in-game drive by touching, I mean.. c'mon....
The recipes are vomitous and more grindy than gregtech, greg should be taking notes... I'm probably just going to wait until I have build an ME before making these things in survival.

Conclusion:

CC takes its lumps here, from the programmers stand point and from the ease of use standpoint.
OC also needs to stop being so gregtechy, aint' nobody got time for that!

All in all I'm going to just hang up my CC hat for a while, I've played with CC from pretty much day 1 - perhaps I'm just burnt out of those pain points I mentioned, which is fair and probably more a personal preference than an issue CC would/could fix.

But going forward, I'd like both mods to realize something... Programming cannot and will not be gamified if people cannot and do not share libraries in a way that is more natural.

Programming is not a game, sure it can influence your game, but its difficult to gamify, gamification comes from clean obvious upgrade paths, or tech trees. The best we can do in CC and OC is a good shared module system that is fully integrated alla node.js's npm - the first computer system to implement that and support it wins.

Not a third party solution by some kid who'll abandon it in a couple weeks, but something that will stand the test of time...

I mean

pm search turtle

And you see 1000's of programs dealing with turtles.. that mod would win, regardless of its nuances.

#57 Bomb Bloke

    Hobbyist Coder

  • Moderators
  • 7,099 posts
  • LocationTasmania (AU)

Posted 03 June 2014 - 01:06 AM

While I haven't tried OC yet and suspect its recipes are subject to change, I've certainly got some comments on the GregTech way of doing things...

Back when I first discovered the wide world of modpacks (some time after MineCraft's official "out of beta release", I'd been playing the first world I'd ever created (back in alpha). I had nowhere left to advance to, and most of my time playing the game consisted of exploring the caves under my base and turning them into neat rectangular shapes with smooth stone walls, glass over lava pits, rails everywhere I could afford and so on.

I'm the sorta guy who, if left to his own devices long enough, would probably end up programming a turtle to flatten the world. Solid smooth stone all the way down.

Anyway, the first pack I encountered was MindCrack with GregTech hardmode enabled. It was a server world, but I was pretty much the only player, and like a pig in mud I built my ultimate grav suit or whatever it was called. Probably took me months. I'd probably still be playing that world if a certain CC bug hadn't rendered it a crash-fest.

However, having ploughed right through the GT tech tree... I don't think I'd do it again. I still absolutely hate world resets, but if you're playing online they're inevitable - other players have such short attention spans, especially when my idea of a decent lifespan of a world is "forever". A month or two just doesn't cut it, especially when mixed in with the likes of GT.

My point is that lengthy recipes you have to "work towards" seem much more appealing to newbies of a given mod than to players who've already had to wade through them X amount of times in Y amount of other worlds. Someone who's played enough MineCraft will eventually be tempted by that "creative mode" button. Anyway, such recipes aren't a "bad" thing, they're just not for everyone, and people do change.

ComputerCraft, incidentally, lets you circumvent a lot of effort when moving worlds - a well-made wood chopper script, for example, can be ported over pretty much straight away to hand you an unlimited automated wood/charcoal supply at the cost of a couple hour's mining. It's nice to be able to drag my baggage with me and refine it as I go.

Mix such a script with TE's stuff and you could go on to have turtles reconstruct your entire base for you (Igneous Extruder + Aqueous Accumulator = unlimited smooth stone for free. Add a small power source to process it = unlimited gravel/sand/glass/etc).

#58 awsmazinggenius

  • Members
  • 930 posts
  • LocationCanada

Posted 04 June 2014 - 01:44 AM

I like to upgrade modpacks fairly regularly. I kept on playing Unleashed for a while even when Monster was out but eventually made the jump. If I'm in creative, CC is like the only mod I use besides mods which add building blocks to make "bases" with, but in survival, I like never touch it.

#59 Alice

  • Members
  • 429 posts
  • LocationBehind you.

Posted 06 June 2014 - 02:35 AM

I've been poking around and found this magical object called the "internet card" :D
It's not as good as pure sockets, but, it gets the job done for a lot of things.

#60 Geforce Fan

  • Members
  • 846 posts
  • LocationMissouri, United States, America, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Universe 42B, Life Street, Multiverse, 4th Dimension

Posted 06 June 2014 - 03:52 AM

I really hate to say this-- I mean I hate to. It hurts me to say it, but if I where new and was picking from one of them... I'd go with Open Computers--IF CC didn't have pocket computers
Why? Because of the complexity, the power requirement, and the modular-ness. I like to build something complex and cool if it does something really cool. I like the challenge of finding a spot to hide it or making it look cool. I could make a room with all the processors, GPU, storage, power and then route it all to monitors in different rooms. I love doing that.
Another thing is that it feels like CC is dead. Besides Pocket Computers, what has cc really gained in the past months? Not much. And I hate it when mods become "dead"

Edited by Geforce Fan, 10 June 2014 - 11:47 PM.






2 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 2 guests, 0 anonymous users