High School + Physics + Linux = ?

earlums25 asks: ""I'm a high school physics teacher stuck in a school where not only is Windows rampant, but the sysadmin isn't interested in alternatives. I want to present a case where my students could use Linux boxes instead of Windows for the purpose of showing them there are alternatives. The major obstacle is that I haven't found software for Linux that would take the place of 'Precision Timer,' a piece of software that allows students to connect photogates through a Pasco 6500 interface. The software would need to recognize the input signal which comes in through the Pasco interface (a 1/4 inch plug connected the gameport), record time, plot data, print/save data and plots, and do basic calculation of speeds, accelerations, averages and standard deviations. Any ideas?"

Comments

Hmm...

[Screaming Lunatic]

How about asking Pasco to support Linux?

I've written tons of drivers for little components like that. It shouldn't be too hard to do. The software on top of the driver is another story. It might take a while to implement depending on the feature set required.

Drivers

[MrResistor]

Drivers would seem to be the big hurdle. Once you have the data in the system the calculations are pretty simple. Heck, even I could write a program to do them (it would be CLI, though). Have you check with the manufacturer to see if they offer Linux drivers?

Uhm, I don't get it?

[delus10n0]

If it's working with Windows, why not use Windows? Why do you have to show there are "alternatives"? What benefit does this have on the students?

Re:Uhm, I don't get it?

[4of12]

If it's working with Windows, why not use Windows?

That's a very good question, one that another poster hit on as well. If it works, stick with it.

That's all fine and good if you want to stick safely with the status quo. If you think the status quo is perfect, can't be improved upon, and can be relied upon to serve your needs satisfactorily forever more, then, by all means, stick with status quo.

To my mind, a genuine educational experience includes constant probing at the limits of knowledge, questioning the status quo, looking for other ways of doing things, trying different things, and digging into the fundamentals of how things work in ways that "black box" approaches can not satisfy completely.

Having teachers with such attitudes is important in fostering the same kind of enthusiasm for new ideas in their students. When I'm 80 years old, I'll appreciate having students with questioning minds and broad problem-solving skills, not willing to capitulate to the status quo too easily. My medical care will depend upon researchers with that same kind of attitude making discoveries over the next several decades. I don't want them to be satisfied with the status quo.

As an aside, in the long term there's evidence that schools will end up paying substantial money to maintain the status of their Microsoft License Agreements. If there's anything true about most high schools, it's that there is never enough money to go around to achieve all the goals that people would like. Given a choice between spending money on Licensing 6 and spending money on teachers for drama, art, physics, foreign languages, I think many schools would love to be able to choose the latter if they thought they had a choice.

I commend this H.S. physics teacher for looking into open alternatives. Not just because it will introduce his students to a broadening experience (Macs would be good here, too), but because it helps open the door a little further in allowing his school to at least have a choice in the future, rather than be summarily locked into a all-MS "solution".