From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,cec20777e0d41ea0 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-02-26 15:52:03 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!freenix!oleane.net!oleane!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!newsfeeds.belnet.be!naxos.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!not-for-mail From: dirk@piefje.cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Dirk Craeynest) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Model railroad package (was: Re: Increased Interest In Ada?) Date: 27 Feb 2001 00:49:58 +0100 Organization: Ada-Belgium, c/o Dept.Computer Science, K.U.Leuven Message-ID: <97eq36$pdp$1@piefje.cs.kuleuven.ac.be> References: <3A82EFA2.C8756B09@acm.org> <970ma1$1l7$1@nh.pace.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: seven.kulnet.kuleuven.ac.be X-Trace: naxos.belnet.be 983231402 29056 134.58.127.12 (26 Feb 2001 23:50:02 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@belnet.be NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 23:50:02 +0000 (UTC) Summary: John McCormick is working on it Cache-Post-Path: seven.kulnet.kuleuven.ac.be!unknown@piefje.cs.kuleuven.ac.be X-Cache: nntpcache 2.4.0b5 (see http://www.nntpcache.org/) Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:5551 Date: 2001-02-27T00:49:58+01:00 List-Id: In article <970ma1$1l7$1@nh.pace.co.uk>, Marin David Condic wrote: > I could imagine Ada being popular in electrical engineering > departments if there were a convenient and inexpensive (maybe free?) > Ada environment for playing around with embedded computing. [...] > I am thinking of Dr. McCormick's model railroad class [...] > If [...] was packaged as "An embedded programming course in a bag" so > that a prof could just pick it up and start teaching it, this might > go a long way toward encouraging Ada as an educational tool as well > as a practical tool for building real-world systems. > > (Does anyone smell commercial possibilities here? :-) Some time ago, John McCormick told me he was looking into exactly that: commercialising the hardware and software for his model railroad class in order for others to be able to buy it "off the shelf" and use it for similar classes at other universities. I contacted him to check what progress has been made. John's reply is reposted here for your information, with his approval (see below). Dirk (Dirk.Craeynest@cs.kuleuven.ac.be for Ada-Belgium e-mail) -- Dirk Craeynest | Email Dirk.Craeynest@offis.be | Ada-Belgium Offis nv/sa - Aubay Group | Phone +32(2)725.40.25 | Ada-Europe Weiveldlaan 41/32 | +32(2)729.97.36 (work) | ACM SIGAda B-1930 Zaventem, Belgium | Fax +32(2)725.40.12 | Team Ada *** Intl. Conference on Reliable Software Technologies - Ada-Europe'2001 *** May 14-18, 2001, Leuven, Belgium **** http://www.ada-europe.org/ *** --- Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 08:35:15 -0600 To: Dirk Craeynest From: John McCormick Subject: Re: Model railroad package? (2nd attempt) Hi Dirk! Just got back from a conference and am trying to get through all of the e-mail that accumulated. Yes we are still missing a good deal from the old server. I don't follow comp.lang.ada. I am indeed working on just such a project. Ultimately it would include: 1. Printed circuit boards to make it easy to connect a model railroad to one or more computers. The connections are made through D/A, A/D, and digital I/O on the computer end which should make it possible to use just about any computer 2. An Ada environment for developing software. 3. A sample program that can be easily adapted to any railroad geometry. 4. An undergraduate level introductory textbook on real-time embedded systems based on the train layout. Of course, it will use Ada as the development language. This piece of the project is still in the dreaming stage. The hardware development is being supported by two local corporations: Rockwell-Collins (avionics) and Maytag (household appliances). My target date for completing the hardware is the end of this summer. Feel free to pass this information on to anyone interested. John ------------------------------------------------------- John W. McCormick mccormick@cs.uni.edu Computer Science Department john.mccormick@acm.org University of Northern Iowa voice (319) 273-6056 Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0507 fax (319) 273-7123 http://www.cs.uni.edu/~mccormic/