As an aside I'm pretty sure my RCX IR towers use serial, not USB.
I failed abysmally at programming my Mindstorms robot. I could never figure out how to make two things happen at the same time, so I couldn't make both motors run at once. As a result, my treaded robot could only spin in circles.
Sadly, that was pretty much the end of my experience with Mindstorms. Eventually, I gave up and put it away, because it was such a frustrating experience.
I assume it would be easier for kids these days. It was a lot more difficult to find help on the internet in 1999.
The next generation, "NXT", was somewhat better (I believe it's based on LabView), but I remember it being ridiculously slow and unstable on Macs.
One of my kids uses Lego's "SPIKE Prime" at their robotics club, and while I haven't used the software myself, it seems much better.
Wasn't there a cheat sheet in the manual for the puzzles? I think I only solved one without copying everything. Way too hard for 11-12yo me.
Both versions exist. Mindstorms 1.0/1.5 had serial IR towers, 2.0 had USB.
there are some pi cases with lego pin-sized holes to help interface the two.
Indeed they are!
But, as much as I also dislike, like you, these bizarre comments; there's one place where I drew a red line and lego has sadly crossed it recently: lego sets that become obsoleted because lego removes some software from the app store. Previously, sets were standalone and eternal. But today you can buy an awesome technic set that will become "bricked" in a few years when they remove the controller software from the play store.
This is not a theoretical concern. It has already happened (even for sets that were still on sale!). It sucks big time and it is really sad.
If at least the apps were free software, we would have something to hang on to defend lego. But their current stance is indefensible.