OT: learner kits (and NopeCraft)

[Tapley, Mark]

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/46W9829

	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=&o4=
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&storeId=10001&productId=2129115&catalogId=10001&CID=MERCH
	


			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/36BE84F974E940C78502AA47492887AB/ti-nspirecxcas_pc_full
https://education.ti.com/en/us/products/computer_software/ti-nspire-software/ti-nspire-student-software/tabs/overview#tab=overview



			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-for-budding-engineers
	
	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:
> ….