Mindboards

A question has come up from the "school interface" person for a group of FLL (FIRST Lego League) teams that we are forming: "Will the NXT software work with the RCX block or are we going to have both installed on the computers"? I believe the software is different, but I turn to the experts here for a definitive answer. (I have not worked with RCX, so don't know. We have both NXT and RCX sets available for the teams to use.)

Yes, they are most definitely different. You'll need a different software for both unless you plan on using BricxCC or an older version of RobotC. Be aware, you won't be able to use a USB tower with a 64-bit OS, only 32-bit. I've heard that some people have had success using a serial-USB adapter with the serial tower on a 64-bit system. Also you'll have trouble getting the RCX Code software to work on anything higher than Windows XP, or maybe Vista. Others'd have to answer that, as I quit the LEGO-supplied enviroments a long time ago, so haven't needed to use them on my newer PCs.