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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00, LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=no 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: 2001-03-12 07:06:16 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!freenix!isdnet!psinet-france!psiuk-f4!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Increased Interest In Ada? Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 09:53:25 -0500 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: <98inu2$1fr$1@nh.pace.co.uk> References: <3A82EFA2.C8756B09@acm.org> <970ma1$1l7$1@nh.pace.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: 136.170.200.133 X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 984408834 1531 136.170.200.133 (12 Mar 2001 14:53:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Mar 2001 14:53:54 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:5636 Date: 2001-03-12T14:53:54+00:00 List-Id: Old PCs may have their advantages, but I'd like to see a setup that had features this wouldn't necessarily provide. For one thing - just the pure "bare board" nature of embedded computing might not be well illustrated by a PC, considering they already have prefabricated solutions to typical embedded problems like "How do I actually get code loaded into this board & cycling?" For another thing, they don't commonly have things like EEPROM, A/D converters & discretes on-board. (You'd like to give students a machine that is not what they are typically used to and pose the question "Well, how are you going to solve Problem X when you don't have a disk drive and a video monitor available???") You might also want a development kit that reflected as much as possible current state-of-the-art hardware. If one were to go to all the trouble of pulling the pieces together, it might be nice if there were commercial spinoffs as well. :-) If you look around a little, you'll notice there are available SBC's with development kits that are priced in the small-handful-of hundreds-of dollars ($200..$500?) I don't think the hardware cost (until you get into peripherials!) needs to be so high as to send someone off looking for old PC boards at the junk yard. The problem is that they typically are available only with a C compiler environment. It would be nice to have a similar setup with an Ada compiler & some other related stuff that would make it useful for education and possibly "real world" usage........ MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com Web: http://www.mcondic.com/ "DuckE" wrote in message news:Yjhq6.539700$U46.16061033@news1.sttls1.wa.home.com... > > I envision old PC's as an ideal target for students wanting to play around > with embedded work since 486's are, at least in my area, cheap and easy to > come by since nobody wants them any more. >