[kawogi]

I'm still mad that they discontinued Mindstorms. My school isn't able to replace their components if they break and I cannot get additional motors for my projects any more.

Does anyone know how good their "LEGO® Education SPIKE™" stuff is? Is it as open as the NXT-bricks? Are these somewhat compatible? Linux IDE available?

I wish someone would offer a replacement for those who have a 3D-printer, rp2040 and some soldering experience. I'd help the school to re-stock their supply.

Edit: 35 € for a 2 A USB power supply is definitely Apple-ish. And those peripheral connectors look like they're … unique. Mindstorms just had standard RJ-something plugs.

[joshmarinacci]

Spike is pretty good and seems just as open as NXT. You can even open a shell directly on the MCU brick in Python. Spike does use new connectors, but it's the same one they started using for all of the Powered Up sets. Plus there's lots of people who've figured out how to add arduinos, Pi's, etc.

[jacquesm]

Yes, they royally messed that up. But as to your query: there are nice alternatives, there is this board+library:

https://gitlab.com/jmattheij/rekabit

With a bit of fiddling and some 3D printed parts you're off to the races, controls two motors and four servos and has blinkenlights. You can use the board with the Micro:BIT but you can also use it with some fiddling with an arduino (renesas will probably work best) or a Raspberry Pi 2040. It also has a whole slew of 'Grove' connectors if you want to wire up more sensors and actuators and it exports the bus.

I've added links to the 3D printed parts and some links to the originals on thingiverse, it took some modifications to get it all to fit nicely but it really works well. And those boards are pretty cheap.

[wwilim]

The original Mindstorms connectors were actual bricks, about the size of two stacked 2x2 plates

[kawogi]

Ah, yes. Should have been more specific: NXT and EV3