[Ktechlab-devel] ktechlab in class?

[David Saxton]

On Friday 11 November 2005 16:21, Marc Lavallée wrote:
> I might teach about basic electronic and computing to a group of students
> in industrial design. Most of them never used a soldering iron or
> programmed a computer. I'd like to use KTechlab in class, because of its
> nice features. So far, I did not used KTechlab enough to evaluate if this
> is feasable, so I'd like to read opinions from users and developpers on
> this list.

Depending on what you it is you'll be teaching, ktechlab may, or may not be 
useful...

Pros:
* The "Context Help" sidebar in ktechlab is very useful from an educational 
viewpoint
* Easy learning curve for creating and simulating circuits.
* Comes with its own graphical programming language for PICs (well, just the 
P16F84 in the current release).

Cons:
* Programming PICs cannot be done directly from ktechlab.
* No simulation support for transistors yet (if your electronics covers 
them...)

> One of my goal is to design a (cheap) kit with a PIC, a 
> programmer and an few electronic parts; maybe such a kit already exists.

There is a nice list of linux PIC programmers on 
http://www.micahcarrick.com/v2/content/view/16/8/

If you aren't teaching for another ~6 weeks though, then then ktechlab-0.3 
should have been released, which will support a range of PIC programmers (via 
external programs).

> Also, I'd like to run all softwares from a live cd (probably based on
> Knoppix).

There are plenty of resources on customising knoppix:

http://www.google.com/search?q=custom+knoppix&btnG=Search&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

> Thanks for your help!
> --
> Marc

I'm not too sure if I've fully answered your questions, so feel free to ask 
again :)

David Saxton