20 Jun
2015
20 Jun
'15
10:51 a.m.
On Jun 19, 2015, at 10:55 PM, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
On 2015-06-19 11:21 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove
wrote:
?minecraft physics? is already a derogatory term around the house. And, whether I
encourage it or not, he?s already into building complicated redstone sequencers. I?m
hoping at least to expand his horizons into real-world projects.
Minecraft computing has the asset that his ?logic? is easy to interface to the ?real?
(ack, spit!) world, so that makes me realize that a stepper motor or something similar
(suggested in the original thread) is a pretty good idea to add to the stack at some
point.
Generally speaking, I?m with you, Toby, but we are already there trying to get back?.
On 19 June 2015 at 22:38, William Donzelli
<wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
... NOT do that.
Sorry, had to be said.
Minecraft has nothing to do with logic or electronics and would just be an unnecessarily
obtuse way of approaching it.
For an adult with too much time on their hands? Sure...
?Toby Let him play Minecraft. Start with simple
redstone contraptions, then
move to command blocks.
I'm not ashamed to admit I (24 y/o) play Minecraft now and again (with
friends on their own private servers). I'd suggest anyone serious
about trying to get someone "into" logic and programming with
Minecraft ... 
20 Jun
20 Jun
12:34 p.m.
?minecraft physics? is already a derogatory term
around the house. And, whether I encourage it or not, he?s already into building
complicated redstone sequencers. I?m hoping at least to expand his horizons into
real-world projects.
Good. He has picked up the ball, now let him run with it. Even in
unmodded Minecraft, you can do some amazing things with the redstone
logic coupled with command blocks (yes, Mr. Grumpy Man Thain, with
redstone you can have real gates and flipflops and race conditions and
such. Go explore Youtube about it.). I think there are mods for
non-RPi Minecraft that allows an interface to the real world, so when
the time comes, he can start breaking out.
I think Factorio is also getting some real logic systems, as well. It
is a better game, but not really geared for the younger crowd.
--
Will
--
Will
2:44 p.m.
On 20 June 2015 at 15:34, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
Good. He has picked up the ball, now let him run with
it. Even in
unmodded Minecraft, you can do some amazing things with the redstone
logic coupled with command blocks (yes, Mr. Grumpy Man Thain, with
redstone you can have real gates and flipflops and race conditions and
such. Go explore Youtube about it.). I think there are mods for
non-RPi Minecraft that allows an interface to the real world, so when
the time comes, he can start breaking out.
Let me just drop this here; it's from a few versions ago when RedPower
2 was still a thing. But here's episode 83 of Direwolf20's 4 Minecraft
let's play season: <https://youtu.be/ARO1uVRSLJQ> I like to call that
episode "Let's Play 'You're Going to Learn FORTHand You're Going to
Like It, Dammit'"
Here's Direwolf20's series of tutorials on ComputerCraft; which is the
"We're Going to Learn Lua" series:
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaiPn4ewcbkHYflo2jl0OuNaHK6Mj-koG>
Of course, real hardware, real logic, and "real" programming are
significantly better investments of one's time and are much preferred
to Minecraft. Though, when you throw mods into the mix Minecraft isn't
all *that* bad.
I think Factorio is also getting some real logic
systems, as well. It
is a better game, but not really geared for the younger crowd.
I've been wanting to try that game out, but not nearly enough time on
my hands to do so.
Regards,
Christian
--
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.
2:49 p.m.
Of course, real hardware, real logic, and
"real" programming are
significantly better investments of one's time and are much preferred
to Minecraft. Though, when you throw mods into the mix Minecraft isn't
all *that* bad.
A 14 year old mind does not work that way. And Minecraft is like crack
to 14 year olds.
--
Will
2:57 p.m.
On Jun 20, 2015, at 14:49, William Donzelli
<wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
Right. Get 'em hooked on Minecraft, and then it'll be easier to push them into
harder drugs like VHDL later! :)
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
Of course, real hardware, real logic, and
"real" programming are
significantly better investments of one's time and are much preferred
to Minecraft. Though, when you throw mods into the mix Minecraft isn't
all *that* bad.
A 14 year old mind does not work that way. And Minecraft is like crack
to 14 year olds.
5:06 p.m.
Right. Get 'em hooked on Minecraft, and then
it'll be easier to push them into harder drugs like VHDL later! :)
There is a good grain of truth to that. In complex Minecraft command
block systems, a programmer has to think about many, many tasks,
running in parallel, each triggered by real time events connected with
the redstone logic network. That starts to sound like Verilog.
In thinking further - I might think that learning to do complex
Minecraft command block systems is probably *better* for training
future engineers that giving them a bunch of TTL and a protoboard.
--
Will
10:17 p.m.
On 2015-06-20 8:06 PM, William Donzelli wrote:
Except with pointless obfuscation and click'n'drool topping.
Standing by NOPE here.
--Toby
Right. Get
'em hooked on Minecraft, and then it'll be easier to push them into harder drugs
like VHDL later! :)
There is a good grain of truth to that. In complex Minecraft command
block systems, a programmer has to think about many, many tasks,
running in parallel, each triggered by real time events connected with
the redstone logic network. That starts to sound like Verilog.
In thinking further - I might think that learning to do complex
Minecraft command block systems is probably *better* for training
future engineers that giving them a bunch of TTL and a protoboard.
--
Will
21 Jun
21 Jun
5:30 a.m.
On 21 June 2015 at 01:17, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
Except with pointless obfuscation and
click'n'drool topping.
Did you ignore the whole "Nine Videos on How To Lua" and the "Giant
Video of FORTH-ness"?
Of course, real "stuff" is much better than pissing around in
Minecraft. But hey if you can get a kid to find interest in
programming via Minecraft of all things, I say that's still a success.
And if you want to complain about something; complain about the fact
that the way the Ontario high school's teach programming is ass
backwards. Instead of learning actually luseful things about
programming, it's "Focus on making pretty forms with Visual Studio". I
say that's much worse than turning the same kid loose with
ComputerCraft and watching them make something that actually "does
something".
Cheers,
Christian
--
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.
5:47 a.m.
Of course, real "stuff" is much better than
pissing around in
Minecraft. But hey if you can get a kid to find interest in
programming via Minecraft of all things, I say that's still a success.
Yes, it would be great if we could hook 14 year old kids on
programming computers - but really, that happens a *lot* less than we
would like it to. Even in the good old days with Apples in the
schools, how many young teenagers actually stuck with it after the
classes ended? Few, damn few. At least with Minecraft, kids tend to
stick with it in (probably due to the community and Youtube). The
original poster's son seems to be sticking with it quite well, it
seems - so let him run with it.
Anyway, I think this has strayed to far from old computers, so I will
probably tune out.
And also, Mr. Thain, a question: Why so anti-Minecraft? Did Notch run
over your dog or something?
--
Will
7:49 a.m.
On 6/20/2015 8:06 PM, William Donzelli wrote:
I purchased a Raspberry Pi recently and was surprised to find a version
of Minecraft installed, I don't know anything about it but my son did.
It sort of 'hooked' him into the Pi.
Oh, and it also had Mathematica on it, a stripped down version. I think
that was to get me 'hooked', I've never been able to afford Mathematica
and am interested in it.
Doug
Right. Get
'em hooked on Minecraft, and then it'll be easier to push them into harder drugs
like VHDL later! :)
There is a good grain of truth to that. In complex Minecraft
command
block systems, a programmer has to think about many, many tasks,
running in parallel, each triggered by real time events connected with
the redstone logic network. That starts to sound like Verilog.
In thinking further - I might think that learning to do complex
Minecraft command block systems is probably *better* for training
future engineers that giving them a bunch of TTL and a protoboard.
--
Will
3:21 p.m.
On Jun 21, 2015, at 9:49 AM, Douglas Taylor <dj.taylor4 at comcast.net> wrote:
I purchased a Raspberry Pi recently and was surprised
to find a version of Minecraft installed, I don't know anything about it but my son
did. It sort of 'hooked' him into the Pi.
Oh, and it also had Mathematica on it, a stripped down version. I think that was to get
me 'hooked', I've never been able to afford Mathematica and am interested in
it.
It?s actually full V10 Mathematica, which was the thing that pushed me into getting it. It
does depend on the web-link for lots of the help features, but I think is otherwise
complete. It is also SLOW compared to most Mathematica platforms. I didn?t find out about
the availability of the obsolete Minecraft version until later; my son spent some time
with it but didn?t get hooked into other Pi features (and now owns his own x86 laptop).
Many thanks to all for the Minecraft mod suggestions; I?ll pass those on to Will the
14-year-old and see whether he feels like downloading some to make his redstone creations
more programmable; like Toby I?m not a huge MineCrack fan but Will is spending time on it
anyway; if he learns FORTH or 6502 assembly as a side-effect of fooling around in
MineCraft, that seems like a step forward.
He did help me write some code on the CARDIAC simulator (which rocks) but may have run out
of interest in that, but at least he has this much intro to machine language.
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardiac.html
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardsim.html
- Mark
3:56 p.m.
On 21 June 2015 at 18:21, Tapley, Mark <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote:
It?s actually full V10 Mathematica, which was the
thing that pushed me into getting it. It does depend on the web-link for lots of the help
features, but I think is otherwise complete. It is also SLOW compared to most Mathematica
platforms. I didn?t find out about the availability of the obsolete Minecraft version
until later; my son spent some time with it but didn?t get hooked into other Pi features
(and now owns his own x86 laptop).
The RPi comes with a free full version of Mathematica? That intrigues
me; I've never used it before but I hear it's similar to MAPLE? (Then
again in terms of CAS's I'm quite happy with the one on my TI-89
Titanium.)
Many thanks to all for the Minecraft mod suggestions;
I?ll pass those on to Will the 14-year-old and see whether he feels like downloading some
to make his redstone creations more programmable; like Toby I?m not a huge MineCrack fan
but Will is spending time on it anyway; if he learns FORTH or 6502 assembly as a
side-effect of fooling around in MineCraft, that seems like a step forward.
The mod that does FORTH on a 6502 is a bit dead. Right now the "best"
you can get is Lua. Yo uneed an obsolte version of MineCraft to use
old RedPower 2 (which has the 6502 and FORTH interpreter). I think
V1.4.6?
He did help me write some code on the CARDIAC
simulator (which rocks) but may have run out of interest in that, but at least he has this
much intro to machine language.
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardiac.html
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardsim.html
Have you tried setting him at a PDP-8 or PDP-11 simulator yet? Much
more productive than Minecraft, and if you can find a simulator that
also simulates a front panel...
Cheers,
Christian
--
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.
5:01 p.m.
Christian et al,
sorry for the somewhat off-topicness:
On Jun 21, 2015, at 5:56 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove <captainkirk359 at gmail.com>
wrote:
The RPi comes with a free full version of Mathematica?
That intrigues
me; I've never used it before but I hear it's similar to MAPLE? (Then
again in terms of CAS's I'm quite happy with the one on my TI-89
Titanium.)
I believe the version of Mathematica is a full version. It did not come bundled, but
here?s the Wolfram page describing it and pointing to the Raspberry Pi foundation (but not
to the correct link for downloading mathematica):
http://www.wolfram.com/raspberry-pi/
Our Raspberry Pi came with a flash card containing NOOBS, which allowed us to download and
install our choice of several operating systems. We chose Raspbian, then downloaded and
installed Mathematica. We solved a pretty small amount of trouble getting the icons to
show up on the desktop, then I downloaded my largest and most complex Mathematica notebook
which ran (well, crawled) without modification.
Hm, on investigating, I think it actually is included in Raspbian now. If not,
https://www.raspberrypi.org/mathematica-10/
may help.
FWIW, Beaglebone Black is rumored to have a Mathematica port in the works:
http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/386736
Mathematica is similar to Maple from what I hear. I have not used Maple, though.
In addition to the TI CAS?s you are familiar with, here is another option:
http://maxima.sourceforge.net
Free, runs on Windows/Linux/Mac/Android and source is available. I have tested briefly on
my Mac OS X.9.5 and on my Moto X cellphone on Androiod 4.2, no problems so far. Likely not
as powerful as Mathematica, but certainly has many of the same building blocks, so if you
want to test computer-based CAS with little cost/hardware investment, this might be
useful.
The mod that does FORTH on a 6502 is a bit dead. Right
now the "best"
you can get is Lua. Yo uneed an obsolte version of MineCraft to use
old RedPower 2 (which has the 6502 and FORTH interpreter). I think
V1.4.6?
Hm. Lua is still interesting. Will also has a TI-Nspire calculator which will run Lua as
well as its own CAS system. That might be a really neat tie-in.
(Back on topic)
Have you tried setting him at a PDP-8 or PDP-11
simulator yet? Much
more productive than Minecraft, and if you can find a simulator that
also simulates a front panel?
Sounds fun, but I?m a bit nervous about putting in that effort if it attracts him no more
than Cardiac in Java did. But I?ll keep the suggestion in mind! I do have a pair of TRS-80
Color Computers and an assembly language cartridge; he showed not much interest there, so
I?m not confident the PDP simulations would do much better.
- Mark
26 Jun
26 Jun
7:33 p.m.
New subject: OT: learner kits (and NopeCraft)
All,
thanks for all input! Many useful things to follow up here. Trying to summarize and
including a bit more follow-up research. URL?s valid as of June 30, 2015, if you are
reading this in the archive; folks suggesting good ideas referenced by name, search nearby
here in the archive for contact info. Minecraft gets a special category because a) my son
is already addicted and b) I have the suspicion that a *lot* of kids are in his category
in that way. It was pointed out quite correctly (Toby Thain) that Minecraft is a
*horrible* way to learn physics; my son and I calculated that his character could run and
jump while carrying (in its pockets, apparently) a mass equivalent to approximately 7
Iowa-class battleships.
?Hands-on? electronics
Raspberry Pi Gertboard interface. Servo motor interface in particular will add real-world
interest. (Mark J. Blair)
http://www.newark.com/gertboard/gertboard/atmega328-assembled-gertboard/dp/…
LittleBits kits for plug-together components, ex-Radio Shack and available on eBay (Steve
Algernon)
http://littlebits.cc
Modern CMOS should be BE series and hence ESD-protected. CMOS is more tolerant of supply
voltage variation. (Dave G4UGM)
74LSxx TTL should generally be capable of replacing standard TTL. TTL is generally faster
than CMOS, TTL is more tolerant of connecting two arguing outputs together. 74ALS series
is CMOS internal but with TTL interfaces. (Dave G4UGM, Mouse)
CMOS 4000 series is very static-sensitive; use a wrist strap and bench pad if you work
much with this. (wulfman)
http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/logic/gate-products.page#p1512=CD4000&o7=&…
http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/catalogs/c151/P30.pdf
http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/scyb004b/scyb004b.pdf
http://eeshop.unl.edu/pdf/CD4000.pdf
http://www.skot9000.com/ttl/
Arduino kits are well-established and have many options of kits, sensors, projects, etc.
(Dave G4UGM)
Arduino Experimenter?s Kit incl. breadboard, LED?s, jumpers, etc. Note Raspberry Pi pins
are 3.3V and need voltage clamps on inputs from TTL (Brent Hilpert)
http://www.elektor.com/arduino-sensor-kit
http://www.adafruit.com/products/170
It?s possible to find packaged piles of components. Projects and manuals are tougher.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&am…
Emulators
PDP-8 or PDP-11 recommended (Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
http://fms.komkon.org/comp/sys/DEC.html
http://www.vandermark.ch/pdp8/index.php?n=PDP8.Emulator
http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/pdp8e/pdp8e.html
Cardiac emulator available as a web page, complete with examples and instructions. (Brian
L. Stuart):
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardiac.html
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardsim.html
CAS/mathematics
Raspberry Pi has Mathematica (included?) for Raspbian. This is a cheap way to get a
running Mathematica. (Douglas Taylor)
https://www.raspberrypi.org/mathematica-10/
http://www.wolfram.com/raspberry-pi/
Beaglebone Black is rumored to have Mathematica in work
http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/386736
Maple (similar to mathematica)
http://www.maplesoft.com/products/maple/
Open-source Maxima (based on MacSyma from MIT) for multiple platforms.
http://maxima.sourceforge.net
TI NSpire calculators include a CAS descended from muMath/muSimp. TI offers a calculator
emulation which runs on Win/Mac:
https://education.ti.com/en/us/software/details/en/36BE84F974E940C78502AA47…
https://education.ti.com/en/us/products/computer_software/ti-nspire-softwar…
Minecraft/world simulation games
Minecraft V.1.4.8 should run Eloraam's RedPower 2 which includes 6502 and FORTH
interpreter
http://ftbwiki.org/RedPower_2
Direwolf20 modpack (part of the Feed the Beast launcher) has Immibis' RedLogic, which
is redstone wiring and logic gates; as well as dan200?s ComputerCraft which gives you a
Lua programmable computer (and peripherals) that can do all sorts of neat things.
(Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZHDI72dVI
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaiPn4ewcbkHYflo2jl0OuNaHK6Mj-koG
http://luacraft.com
?Giant Video of FORTH-ness?(Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
https://youtu.be/ARO1uVRSLJQ
Minecraft/Pi/interaction kit is Kickstarted, orderable. The kit includes a Raspberry Pi 2
and components to stick together. (Steve Algernon)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/withpiper/piper-a-minecraft-toolbox-fo…
Factorio apparently has some serious logic systems (William Donzelli)
https://www.factorio.com
Hopefully this is useful; I appreciate very much all the input I got.
- Mark
On Jun 21, 2015, at 7:01 PM, Tapley, Mark <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote:
Christian et al,
sorry for the somewhat off-topicness:
?.
8:46 p.m.
New subject: OT: learner kits (and NopeCraft)
All,
thanks for all input! Many useful things to follow up here. Trying to summarize and
including a bit more follow-up research. URL?s valid as of June 30, 2015, if you are
reading this in the archive; folks suggesting good ideas referenced by name, search nearby
here in the archive for contact info. Minecraft gets a special category because a) my son
is already addicted and b) I have the suspicion that a *lot* of kids are in his category
in that way. It was pointed out quite correctly (Toby Thain) that Minecraft is a
*horrible* way to learn physics; my son and I calculated that his character could run and
jump while carrying (in its pockets, apparently) a mass equivalent to approximately 7
Iowa-class battleships.
?Hands-on? electronics
Raspberry Pi Gertboard interface. Servo motor interface in particular will add real-world
interest. (Mark J. Blair)
http://www.newark.com/gertboard/gertboard/atmega328-assembled-gertboard/dp/…
LittleBits kits for plug-together components, ex-Radio Shack and available on eBay (Steve
Algernon)
http://littlebits.cc
Modern CMOS should be BE series and hence ESD-protected. CMOS is more tolerant of supply
voltage variation. (Dave G4UGM)
74LSxx TTL should generally be capable of replacing standard TTL. TTL is generally faster
than CMOS, TTL is more tolerant of connecting two arguing outputs together. 74ALS series
is CMOS internal but with TTL interfaces. (Dave G4UGM, Mouse)
CMOS 4000 series is very static-sensitive; use a wrist strap and bench pad if you work
much with this. (wulfman)
http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/logic/gate-products.page#p1512=CD4000&o7=&…
http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/catalogs/c151/P30.pdf
http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/scyb004b/scyb004b.pdf
http://eeshop.unl.edu/pdf/CD4000.pdf
http://www.skot9000.com/ttl/
Arduino kits are well-established and have many options of kits, sensors, projects, etc.
(Dave G4UGM)
Arduino Experimenter?s Kit incl. breadboard, LED?s, jumpers, etc. Note Raspberry Pi pins
are 3.3V and need voltage clamps on inputs from TTL (Brent Hilpert)
http://www.elektor.com/arduino-sensor-kit
http://www.adafruit.com/products/170
It?s possible to find packaged piles of components. Projects and manuals are tougher.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&am…
Emulators
PDP-8 or PDP-11 recommended (Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
http://fms.komkon.org/comp/sys/DEC.html
http://www.vandermark.ch/pdp8/index.php?n=PDP8.Emulator
http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/pdp8e/pdp8e.html
Cardiac emulator available as a web page, complete with examples and instructions. (Brian
L. Stuart):
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardiac.html
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardsim.html
CAS/mathematics
Raspberry Pi has Mathematica (included?) for Raspbian. This is a cheap way to get a
running Mathematica. (Douglas Taylor)
https://www.raspberrypi.org/mathematica-10/
http://www.wolfram.com/raspberry-pi/
Beaglebone Black is rumored to have Mathematica in work
http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/386736
Maple (similar to mathematica)
http://www.maplesoft.com/products/maple/
Open-source Maxima (based on MacSyma from MIT) for multiple platforms.
http://maxima.sourceforge.net
TI NSpire calculators include a CAS descended from muMath/muSimp. TI offers a calculator
emulation which runs on Win/Mac:
https://education.ti.com/en/us/software/details/en/36BE84F974E940C78502AA47…
https://education.ti.com/en/us/products/computer_software/ti-nspire-softwar…
Minecraft/world simulation games
Minecraft V.1.4.8 should run Eloraam's RedPower 2 which includes 6502 and FORTH
interpreter
http://ftbwiki.org/RedPower_2
Direwolf20 modpack (part of the Feed the Beast launcher) has Immibis' RedLogic, which
is redstone wiring and logic gates; as well as dan200?s ComputerCraft which gives you a
Lua programmable computer (and peripherals) that can do all sorts of neat things.
(Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZHDI72dVI
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaiPn4ewcbkHYflo2jl0OuNaHK6Mj-koG
http://luacraft.com
?Giant Video of FORTH-ness?(Christian Gauger-Cosgrove)
https://youtu.be/ARO1uVRSLJQ
Minecraft/Pi/interaction kit is Kickstarted, orderable. The kit includes a Raspberry Pi 2
and components to stick together. (Steve Algernon)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/withpiper/piper-a-minecraft-toolbox-fo…
Factorio apparently has some serious logic systems (William Donzelli)
https://www.factorio.com
Hopefully this is useful; I appreciate very much all the input I got.
- Mark
On Jun 21, 2015, at 7:01 PM, Tapley, Mark <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote:
Christian et al,
sorry for the somewhat off-topicness:
?.
20 Jun
20 Jun
3 p.m.
On 20 June 2015 at 17:49, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
A 14 year old mind does not work that way. And
Minecraft is like crack
to 14 year olds.
Very true, very, very true.
So how do we make a 14 year old actually get interested in real world
things as opposed to Minecraft? I think that old minicomputers would
help get kids more interested in real world things, since the
instruction set architecture of an '8, '11, or NOVA are much easier to
work with then x86-64.
Cheers,
Christian
--
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.
3:07 p.m.
On Jun 20, 2015, at 15:00, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove
<captainkirk359 at gmail.com> wrote:
So how do we make a 14 year old actually get interested in real world
things as opposed to Minecraft? I think that old minicomputers would
help get kids more interested in real world things, since the
instruction set architecture of an '8, '11, or NOVA are much easier to
work with then x86-64.
I think that will depend strongly on the individual kid in question, who might view the
minicomputer either as a dusty obsolete boring thing, or a fascinating machine unlike
anything (s)he presently takes for granted. If you have a kid and a minicomputer, and your
kid shows any interest in that dusty old box, then run with it. If not, then find
something else that catches their interest in a way that can trick them into learning to
think creatively and solve problems. The end result is much more important than how you
get there.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
4:20 p.m.
And one more mine craft thingy, with a raspberry pi twist:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/withpiper/piper-a-minecraft-toolbox-fo…
They had these set up on pi day at the CHM and the kids involved really seemed to get into
the physical interfacing and puzzles.
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 20, 2015, at 12:34 PM, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
?minecraft
physics? is already a derogatory term around the house. And, whether I encourage it or
not, he?s already into building complicated redstone sequencers. I?m hoping at least to
expand his horizons into real-world projects.
Good. He has picked up the ball, now let him run with it. Even in
unmodded Minecraft, you can do some amazing things with the redstone
logic coupled with command blocks (yes, Mr. Grumpy Man Thain, with
redstone you can have real gates and flipflops and race conditions and
such. Go explore Youtube about it.). I think there are mods for
non-RPi Minecraft that allows an interface to the real world, so when
the time comes, he can start breaking out.
I think Factorio is also getting some real logic systems, as well. It
is a better game, but not really geared for the younger crowd.
--
Will
--
Will
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participants (7)
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captainkirk359＠gmail.com -
dj.taylor4＠comcast.net -
mtapley＠swri.edu -
nf6x＠nf6x.net -
salgernon＠me.com -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com