You have much more experience with these than I do then. What I was thinking is that it might be possible to read the probes directly without going through their system. Most of them I believe convert sensor input to an alalog voltage or resistance change. That can be read with a regular volt-ohm meter and calibrated to the input source.
Once you had that information it should be possible to build a adc circuit and program a logic controller to send the data to a computer using an open language. In other words, build an open version of the Pasco Box as well as the software to read it. Sounds like a good open source project here. All that would be needed is a decent electronics guy and a programmer or 2. It would be a great addition to open source education. Nothing that would help for for the next school year, though. Harry >>> "Phoenixink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 07/25/07 8:15 AM >>> Harry, I do appreciate that data logging is not rocket science. I have been doing data logging with data acquisition equipment for over 20 years. And certainly can build a system of my own for Linux. However, this is not an option. The school already owns abut 100 of these Pasco Explorer USB probes which cost about $300 each and do EXACTLY what is needed in a way that 7th grade students can easily work with the supplied Data Studio software. Pasco will not give me the information I need to write a new data logging software for their probes and the school does not have funding for new probe systems. Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Sweet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 6:00 PM Subject: Re: new education team - please explore 2 thoughts on the subject; 1. There is an open source cell phone coming out. Data logging is not rocket science. A long term solution might be to build our own. 2. Many of the probes (I can't remember which one I have) connect to a TI calculator which can collect the data + communicate with a pc. Do they work with linux? If they did you could go probe -> TI -> PC and take it from there. >>> "Phoenixink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 07/23/07 7:42 PM >>> Hi John, Unfortunately I have not been able to make any progress with this. The last suggestion I had from the users group was to see if the software called the USB as a com port. If it did I may have been able to redirect the com port through WINE to make things work. I have checked the software itself and as many of the associated files as I can but have not found any reference to com ports. Therefore, I am assuming the software communicates with the USB port directly. At this time I have tried all I can think of without success. I am copying this to the users group also in case some one has any suggestions not yet thought of. enjoy Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: John Ridge To: Phoenixink Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 5:38 PM Subject: Re: new education team - please explore Hello I am wondering if you have made any progress with data logging (of any sort) and Ubuntu/Linux My reasons: 1. I teach science (mainly biology) at Stanmore College and have recently been given responsibility for developing science courses. 2. The Min of Ed has made money available for projects involving wireless devices and 3. as you point out, data loggers not working is a show stopper. cheers john On 9 Jul 2007, at 14:02, Phoenixink wrote: Hi Jim, I saw you new team message and wanted to explain a scenario and ask a question. I am currently working with a middle school science teacher to build a LTSP network for his class. We have put together 4 clients and a server that all work very well together. The target is 20 clients. However, there is one real problem that is stopping us from using this solution over a Microsoft solution. The problem is the "Pasport Explorer" and the "Data Studio" software by "PASCO" ref: http://www.pasco.com/pasport/home.html You collect temperature and other data via the USB port from the Explorer with the Data Studio software, which then plots and otherwise allows you to manipulate the data. I have tried to use WINE as a windows emulator for the Data Studio software and it works well except there is no way to access the Explorer probe on the USB port, so even though the software runs it cannot collect the data from the Explorer probe. This is a show stopper as far as being able to implement Linux. I have contacted PASCO and they have no Linux software, no intention of doing a Linux software, and will not give me the commands for the Explorer probes so I can write a software myself. With all this in mind, how can we expect schools to actually switch to oss such as Linux? I appreciate any comments you may have and of course any ideas on a solution for our particular situation. Thanks Jim Cooney ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Hutchinson To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 2:20 PM Subject: new education team - please explore Greetings all, I have just set up a new education related team (https://launchpad.net/~education-enthusiasts) and I would like to find others interested in helping to build it. The main focus in to build a community of teachers wanting to use oss and those wanting to help teachers. If you have any thoughts, ideas or suggestions please share them with me. If you'd like to join - please do. Thanks, Jim Hutchinson -- Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- edubuntu-users mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users -- edubuntu-users mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users -- edubuntu-users mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users
