Re: gEDA-user: geda cygwin package

[Joerg <joergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Baxendale wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 13:25 -0400, al davis wrote:
> 
>> Educators typically use simulators very poorly, as if they 
>> themselves don't understand.  In most cases, the total use is a 
>> few specified runs with a couple of graphs, that you do after 
>> everything else is done.  A more appropriate use of simulators 
>> is to explore things that you can't see with real measurements.  
>> There is a lot that you can find out about a circuit that you 
>> can't measure in a practical way.
>>
>> Students need to learn to be flexible, and they need to learn to 
>> use computers effectively, not just by kicking the GUI a few 
>> times.  EE's, even analog designers, need to learn some serious 
>> programming.
>>
> 
> You're right, of course. In mitigation let me say that the particular
> course for which I use swcad (LTSpice) is 4 x 2hr sessions for a dozen
> students who've never seen an electronic cad package before. I try to
> give them an understanding of the process from design to schematic to
> test by simulation to pcb. I use gschem/gattrib/gsch2pcb/pcb and swcad.
> The choice of swcad was a compromise to give me a better chance of
> fitting it all in. It just gives them a taster for what might be
> possible using simulation.
> 

IMHO that was a smart choice. Whether we like it or not, nearly all of 
those kids will be owning Windows-based laptops plus some maybe with 
Apple. It is best when they can simply use the simulator on their own 
laptops so they have a chance to keep working on a problem over lunch or 
on weekends.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/



_______________________________________________
geda-user mailing list
geda-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user