Official Renesas (Hitachi) H8/300 Resources

Official releases from Renesas (Hitachi) are gathered here.

Online

• Renesas H8/H8S/H8SX IP Selection Guide website

PDFs

• Renesas (Hitachi) H8/300 CPU Datasheet
• Renesas (Hitachi) H8/300 Processor Programming Manual
• Renesas (Hitachi) H8/3297 Microcontroller Hardware Manual

Official LEGO® MindStorms RCX Multimedia

Audio

LEGO® MindStorms Robotics Invention System – Startup Sound Effect

Graphics and Images

Icons

LEGO® Logo – 128×128

RCX – 192×192: Based on an icon from the FaRCX repository

RCX – 2048×2048: From the FaRCX/Promotional-Materials repository

Headers

Header images adapted from wallpaper images from the official LEGO® MindStorms website:
LEGO® MindStorms Blocks – 1280 × 640 with background replaced by alpha channel

Wallpaper

Wallpaper images saved or adapted from the official LEGO® MindStorms website:

LEGO® MindStorms Technic – 400×260

LEGO® MindStorms Technic – 800×600

LEGO® MindStorms Technic – 1280×1024

LEGO® MindStorms Blocks – 1280 × 1024

LEGO® MindStorms Blocks – 1280 × 1024 with background replaced by alpha channel

com0com Null-Modem Emulator and Utilities for Windows

A suite of drivers and tools offering virtual serial ports, serial port redirection, and more.

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Known Driver Signing Issues

Due to driver signing issues reported with the releases posted on the legacy SourceForge project site when installing on Windows 10, version 1607, or newer, multiple different com0com versions are posted here.

Problem Synopsis

Per Windows Driver Signing Policy, “Starting with Windows 10, version 1607, Windows will not load any new kernel-mode drivers which are not signed by the Dev Portal.”

Permitted Exceptions to the Driver-Signing Policy

Per that same policy page, there are three exceptions to the “signed by the Dev Portal” requirement:

• The PC was upgraded from an earlier release of Windows to Windows 10, version 1607.
• Secure Boot is turned off in the BIOS.
• Drivers were signed with an end-entity certificate issued prior to July 29th 2015 that chains to a supported cross-signed CA.

(For a more in-depth consideration of driver signing, please refer to Practical Windows Code and Driver Signing.)

For most end users, the only practical exception option would likely be turning of Secure Boot in the BIOS, but of course there are tradeoffs to doing so. Given these issues, there are multiple different ways to attempt installation.

Alternative Driver Signing Workaround

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider: A permanent solution to load unsigned kernel-mode drivers by using TESTSIGNING mode with a test-signed digital certificate (suggested only as a last resort).

Available Downloads

Name	Description
com0com v3.0.0.0 - Signed	These drivers were signed by the "signed-drivers" project on SourceForge and are not from the com0com downloads page on SourceForge for v3.0.0.0
com0com v3.0.0.0 - Manual Install - Signed	These drivers were also signed by the "signed-drivers" project on SourceForge, but the difference with this download is that installation must be performed manually. Two executables—setupc.exe and setupg.exe—are also provided to assist with this, but please refer to the bundled ReadMe.txt for usage details and instructions.
com0com v3.0.0.0 - AltSigned	These drivers were signed by another SourceForge user back in 2012 and so might help some users avoid the July 29, 2015, certificate issuance date cutoff
com0com v2.2.2.0 - Signed	Some users have reported success using the earlier v2.2.0.0 release of com0com, potentially because this signing would have predated the July 29, 2015, cutoff. These files are from the com0com downloads page on SourceForge for v2.2.2.0.   NOTE: Please be sure to fully remove v3 before attempting to install v2.2.2.0

The com2tcp and hub4com releases do not bundle their own drivers, so driver signing has not been an issue with these.

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Forks of com0com

As the com0com SourceForge project has not been updated in quite some time, below is a curated list of links to forks of com0com or one or more of its sub-projects (including com0com, hub4com, and com2tcp).

• Full suite (com0com, hub4com, com2tcp)
  • datamancer
    • Updated projects to Visual Studio 2015 for all components
    • Includes selected patches and minor modifications
  • Import from SourceForge with commit history
  • Mirror of binary uploads of releases of com0com v3.0.0 and hub4com v2.0.0 (the functionality of com2tcp can be replicated by appropriately configuring hub4com)
• com0com only
  • apal0934: Refactored and updated for Visual Studio 2022 and WDK/SDK building processes
    • Notes fixing various issues
    • Enables 9-bit communication
  • KangLin: Updated for MSVC 2015 + WDK 10
  • Import from SourceForge with commit history
• com2tcp only (NOTE: hub4com is capable of providing all the functionality of com2tcp)
  • u-blox: Updated to compile under Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2017
• hub4com only
  • hub4com-mingw: A fork of hub4com that builds with MinGW
• Extensions and utilities
  • NullModemEmulator: A .NET library for interfacing with com0com (NuGet package)
  • Com0com.Redirector: A GUI convenience app for com2tcp/hub4com with several forks (uncertain of the most current)
    • Raggles
    • datamancer: Latest updates are not as recent
  • rskibbe.IO.Ports.Com.Virtual.Windows.Com0Com: A helper library for working with com0com
  • com0com Docker with Windows Container
  • comtrace2csv: Converts hub4com trace data to CSV
  • ngrok4com
    • A hub4com GUI and KiTTY helper for configuring remote devices by serial port
    • Helps KiTTY communicate with a hub4com over firewalls via ngrok.com

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Related Projects

The hubub project (archived here under the BrickBot organization) can potentially offer additional TCP communication capabilities.

Windows Backwards Compatibility Support

Windows backwards compatibility support, including the latest-and-greatest versions for Windows 9x of third-party dependencies and related software for the Robotics Invention System (more recent than the versions included on the RIS CD):

Explicit Dependencies

• Microsoft DirectX 8.1
  • Security Patch KB819696 for DirectX 8
• Apple QuickTime 6.5.2

 

Optional Software

• 7-Zip 9.20
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0.2
• PDF Creator 1.2.3
• JDK 1.5.0.22
• WinMerge 2.12.4
• Microsoft DirectX 9 December 2006

 

Help System for *.hlp Files on Newer Windows Versions

Windows Vista and newer do not support *.hlp files

• Up through Windows 8.1, this support could be re-enabled by installing KB917607 from the Microsoft Download Center
  • KB917607 for Windows 8.1 32-bit
  • KB917607 for Windows 8.1 64-bit
• For newer versions of Windows, you will need to download one of the files above, but instead of installing after downloading, you will need to follow the steps at the link below.
  • How to Open *.hlp Files in Windows

 
The following are alternative options for opening *.hlp files, though these methods will not support help support built into older applications or {F1} help.

• Convert *.hlp files to a newer format
  • HelpNDoc
  • HelpMaker
• Browser plugin
  • Chrome-base browsers
    • CHM & HLP Viewer and Extractor

NetBeans 8.2 for Windows

The last release of the original NetBeans IDE (v8.2), as used to be available bundled with the JDK (pre-Apache).

Was used in the development of some open source software designed for the RCX (e.g. VisualNQC)

NetBeans 8.2 for Windows

Official LEGO® MindStorms Robotics Invention System Releases

Official releases from LEGO are gathered here.

Official LEGO® Firmware and ROM Releases for the RCX:

• Firmware for the LEGO MindStorms RCX
  • Firmware 0309: Original firmware version that shipped with RIS 1.0 and 1.5
  • Firmware 0328: Updated firmware version that shipped with RIS 2.0 and was included with SDK 2.5
  • Firmware 0332: Last official firmware release (included with LEGO Education Robotics sets)
    • LEGO MindStorms RCX 2.0 Firmware Byte Codes Reference
• Hardware ROM Images for the LEGO MindStorms RCX
  • RCX 1.0 ROM

Official LEGO® Software Releases and Guides for the RCX:

• LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System 2.0 for Windows (ISO CD image)
  • RIS 2.0 Patch for Windows XP and later
  • Latest versions of third-party installation prerequisites and optional software are available here.
• LEGO MindStorms SDK 2.0 for Windows
• LEGO MindStorms SDK 2.5 for Windows
• LEGO USB Tower Driver 1.0.50.164 for 32-bit Windows
  • LEGO USB Tower Interface Reference
  • Supersedes the driver versions included with RIS 2.0 and SDK 2.5
  • Resolves an issue occurring with Hyper-Threading or multicore CPUs
  • Does not work on 64-bit Windows (no 64-bit Windows drivers are known to exist)

Official LEGO® Master Builder Guides for RCX Projects

• RCX Constructopedia via LEGO Engineering
  • NOTE: The version of this file that now downloads from LegoEngineering.com RCX Constructopedia page is corrupt and will not open.
• Grabber Arm (as depicted on the front of the RIS 1.5 box)
• Aerial Tram

LEGO USB Tower Driver Update Instructions

By installing these drivers you signify that you have read and accept the conditions outlined in the included LICENSE AGREEMENT (LICENSE.TXT).

For 32-bit Windows XP and Windows 98/ME

1. Unzip LEGO USB Tower Driver 1.0.50.164 for 32-bit Windows onto a directory on your hard drive
2. Unplug the Tower from the PC.
3. Open up the file and click on "Setup"
4. After the tower drivers are updated, plug in the tower.
5. Your system should now not freeze when the tower is plugged in.

For 32-bit Windows 2000

1. Unzip LEGO USB Tower Driver 1.0.50.164 for 32-bit Windows onto a directory on your hard drive
2. Ensure the tower is plugged in your computer
3. Right-click the "My Computer" icon and select "Properties" in the context menu
4. In the My Computer properties window, select the "Hardware" tab
5. Click on "Device Manager"
6. Click on "LEGO Devices" and then double-click "LEGO USB Tower"
7. Select "Driver" tab
8. Select "Update driver"
9. Click "Next"
10. Select "Display a list of known drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver"
11. Click "Next"
12. Click "Have Disk..."
13. Navigate to the directory where you unzipped the driver files and click OK
14. Click "Next"
15. Click on "Next" again to install the updated driver