DataLogging
From Schoolforge-UK
The project will involve:
- Designing cheap sensors that can be build by pupils
- Designing low cost interfaces to use standard sensors
- Producing Free Data Logging Software for PCs under GNU Linux and Win32 (and Mac?)
What should this project offer
In order to distinguish this for the current commercial offerings it should:
- Offer a family of solutions that schools can be involved in developing.
- Include a simple interface that could be built by a pupil in DT and then used in a science lesson.
- The software should be freely available and open source.
- Come with associated worksheets and project ideas.
- Be developed by teachers who are aware of the needs and requirements.
Development of this project is continuing on the Indca website.
Richard Rothwell richard at indca.co.uk
Concept
Project Specification
Design of simple datalogging hardware
Documentation
If the design scales the input range over 0-1 V (I think) it opens up the possibility of using commercially available sensors too because this is the most standard range. Ian Lynch interested in the concept and promoting it throughout schools. In the early 80's I did quite a lot with VELA DATA loggers. Great devices and there were full sets of lesson plans for them which must still be available somewhere in some schools.
Dr Ashley Clarke at Leeds University was its designer but I can't find any net references of use. If we could get permission to use the documentation of lessons for this as a starting point most science experiments are as valid to-day as 20 years ago.
Pretty sure the lesson plans were a sort of community effort so with a bit of luck they are not copyright owned by a commercial interest. Anyone have an old VELA file at the back of a shelf somewhere?
Ian, my understanding is that if we are using the sound card as an input it requires an ac signal to work, the games port will work with dc signals. Many laptops, however, only have the line in and line out (or even just speaker out and mic in). That is why I was thinking of a simple circuit using these.
Robb Bloomfield rebloomfield@iap.org.uk
Porting
Documentation
General Cross Curricular Mapping
When I spoke to them, the people at Pico were quite forthcoming about both the low-level driver and the higher level app (though not GUI client) code. I don't know if perhaps they might be approachable on this subject, if only FROM the "make our hardware compatible with their software" PoV.
I'll take a look on their forums, and email the guy who sent me the low-level code to find out if OSS is anywhere on their radar.
Jonathan Matthews
http://www.picotech.com/linux.html (didn't check the licence)
