Black Hole Tutorial 01- Learning the Chips

[MaximilianVINCENT 8]

OpenComputers v 1.45 for Minecraft 1.7.10

Black Hole Tutorial 01-  Learning the Chips v1.2

 

 

You can skip this:

I promised if I got help getting this mod to work I would write a tutorial. The best way to learn something is to do it yourself, so consider it more of a walkthrough.

 

Mods

• I consider NEI (Not Enough Items) essential, both for playing modded Minecraft and learning OpenComputers.
• Tinker's Contruct is nice for the Gold and Iron Oreberry Bushes. The Oreberries are equivalent to nuggets for crafting and they make a lot of berries.
• I use EnderIO for conduits (pipes) to transfer power to the computers. MAYBE IC2 wire, Buildcraft pipes work as well?
• Buildcraft, Electriacal Age, IndustrialCraft 2 Exp, Mekanism, Thermal Expansion are compatible for power needs. Since Extra Utilities outputs RF, it should work as well.

 

STARTUP

Make a superflat map in creative mode. We are going to look at and hopefully understand the basic components of the computers. Spawn in one of each of the Computer Cases (Tier 1-3 plus Creative) with at least 2 spaces between them all. Also a copy of the OpenComputers Manual, which is fantastic and makes this tutorial mostly redundant.

 

Really, read the book and come back. I'll wait.

Before we go any further, we need power of some form (unless you have no powergen mods, then you get a warning and computers with no need for power). I am using a Creative Energy Cell from Thermal Expansion behind each case, except for the Creative Case,which powers itself. If you have WAILA installed, it will show you the power held in each case when you look at it. (Power requirements can be adjusted or turned off in /config/opencomputers.cfg in your minecraft directory. If you screw up the file, delete it and a new one will be made.)

Look inside the Tier 3 Case. Nice! Lots of room for the best stuff, but oh so expensive. In each slot in the Case you will see a Roman I,II or III (Equivalent to 1, 2 and 3) in the lower right corner. This indicates the maximum Tier Item that will fit into that slot.

• Example: Tier 1 Hard Drive will go in any Hard Drive slot, being the lowest Tier. Tier 2 Hard Drive will not go into Tier 1 slot, but will go into a Tier 3.

Look inside the other three cases now. I bet Tier 1 feels less then adequate. That Creative Case is a thing of fantasy, but yours to play with if you want. All have different abilities in increasing amounts (Tier 3 and Creative Cases have an internal Disk Drive in the lower right corner, more on that later.)

Filling the slots

Spawn these items into your inventory:

• Disk Drive - Used to Read/Write Floppy Disks
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 Screens - Visual interface
• Keyboard - Tactile Input
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 Central Processing Units (CPUs) - Ties everything together
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 Graphics Cards - Writes to Screens
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 Hard Disk Drives - Long Term storage of your data
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 Memory Sticks - Short Term Storage of your data (gone when power is off)
• Three Floppy Disks with openos

Right-Click on the Tier 1 Case. In the NEI search bar at the bottom of the screen type in openc to show just the items and blocks from this mod.

Hover over the top left slot in the Tier 1 Case. Leave your mouse there and look over at NEI. You should see some items highlighted, scroll down in NEI for more. These are cards that will fit into that slot. Hover over some of the other slots and look at NEI and your inventory, same thing. (Hover over the top center slot to see what CPUs can fit in there.) This subtle highlighting is a bright idea and will be useful to you learning what goes where.

Mouse over the Tier 1 Graphics Card in your inventory. Now Shift-Click it into the Tier 1 Case. Bam, right were it belongs. Try the same with a Tier 2 CPU and nothing. Just a kindly developer trying to help you out. While we are at it, take a look at the label on the Tier 2 CPU. Notice the letters are Gold(Yellow) in color. Look at the Tier 1 CPU and see an Iron(White) Color. Can you guess what color Tier 3 labels are? (Hint: diamond)

Put into each Case the same Tier CPU, Graphics Card, Hard Drive, and Memory. We are using the bare essentials, no other items are needed. You do not have to fill all the slots for any particular item (i.e. memory). The case is okay partially empty as well. You can always put in more memory, larger hard drive or an additional card later. Modularity is a good thing. You can delete the Creative Case now or fill it, your choice.

(Graphics Cards are actually optional, as long as you do not mind not being able to see anything. Usually called a headless computer. Yes, there are uses for this to be talked about elsewhere.)

Put on top of each Case a Screen (using Shift-Right-Click) of the same Tier, and put a Keyboard on the back of each Screen. (The Keyboard is what lets you type when looking at the screen. It can be on any side of the monitor. It also works if you put the keyboard in the space next to the Screen pointing at the Screen.)

Put a Disk Drive next to each Case. (Yes, the Tier 3 doesn't need one, but bear with me.) The computer will want to find an OS which it currently does not have. Put one OpenOS Floppy Disk into each Disk Drive (Shift-Right-Click on the drive with the floppy to insert, Shift-Right-Click with an empty hand to pull it out.)

 

Zhu Li, Do the Thing!

Once each Case has a Graphics Card, CPU, Memory ,and Hard Drive it is time to turn a computer on (Press the green and gray power button to the left of the slots or Shift-Right-Click the Case).

   BEEP-BEEP

What? Try again.

   BEEP-BEEP

Ah, crud what went wrong? Time to spawn in the Analyser.
This handy tool will give you a lot of information, but what we want is the last error from that case. Shift-Right-Click the Case with the Analyzer and look at the top of the list.

no bios found; install a configured EEPROM

Looks like we need a Lua BIOS. Great, now where do we get that. In Survivial, you have make an EEPROM then put that with a book in a crafting table to get your Lua BIOS EEPROM.

Spawn or craft one and shift-click it into the Case. It should have gone into the slot left of the power button. This contains the program that gets the computer started and looking for something to run. Do the same for the other cases.

 

(Small note: you can write your own. Why you would want to do this is a topic for later.)

Not that Thing, the other Thing!

Now try that power button one more time. If no beeps are heard, click on the screen. Welcome to your first computer! Now do the same to the other Cases. If there is a problem, try using the Analyzer on it.

Look at each screen (right-click to pull up a window). You might notice a few differences between them. Each Graphics Card supports a better resolution and more colors (if the Screen can handle them). The Tier 2 and 3 monitors support a touch interface (clicking on the screen) if no keyboard is attached.

 

Also of import is the amount of memory remaining for your programs to use, displayed at the top of the boot screen.

 

Type install and Enter, then 1 and Enter to copy the OS onto the only Hard Drive available. Kind of like installing Linux or Windows from a DVD. (Your Tier 1 computer will run out of memory, that is intentional. Ask why somewhere else. Add another Tier 1 Memory to the Case, reboot and it will work.) After it is done rebooting, you can take out the OpenOS Floppy Disk and put it somewhere safe. You might make a mess and have to reinstall.

 

This is a small but very functional Virtual Machine running in Minecraft. Most things you can do with your really old PC at home, you can do here (Networks, File Servers, Games, Security, Automate all the things, etc). All it takes is a lot of study, experimentation and writing down what you have learned. Also more than a little iron, gold, emerald, diamond, redstone, coal, paper, time and swearing.
 

 

Time now for you to do the same thing in your survival world. If you find the recipes too simple they can be changed to Hard Mode in /config/opencomputers.cfg, along with a lot of other details about this mod. It is worth your time to take a quick scan of the possibilities.
 

 

QUESTIONS:

Q: I have a computer running, now what do I do with it?
A:  This is where your programs come into play. Computers excel at collecting, sorting and displaying data. They are a good place to write software for your robots and drones. With additional components, a lot more is possible. They are best at doing exactly what you tell them to (especially if you didn't mean for them to do it that way).

 

Q: What about the rest of these cards?
A: This tutorial was just to get you a computer that runs. Usage of other cards would be in future tutorials.

Q: This is great and all, but I just wanted a robot.
A: Robots use the same base parts and OS as a computer, plus upgrades to enhance their natural player-like abilities. Here's a link to the Robot Overview Tutorial.
 

 

Least Signifigant Bits, I Promise

• Almost forgot, right-click on any Case in NEI. You should find an in-game manual. Nice! API commands, if used, can be found by clicking on the top right arrow. Try this with other items.
• When building these, anything to help you with auto-crafting is a godsend (Super Crafting Frame, Applied Energisitics 2, Assembly Halo from Botania, etc)
• When I learn more, I will be writing it down in these forums as a tutorial. (What have you taken note of?)
• If you are having problems, post it on the Support Sub-Forum. Constructive critism or praise of this tutorial should be posted below.

 

End of Line.
 

Edit v1.1: Added proper list of powergen mods. Link to 2nd Tutorial. Minor formatting.

Edit v1.2: Added OpenComputers Manual.