Re: [Phys-l] Free Programming Software

["John SOHL" <jsohl@weber.edu>]

No great surprise, since Microsoft is giving away the software, it runs on Microsoft Windows platforms. 
 
I have tried running on Mac Parallels and have had very mixed experiences with it. I've had the most problems when I try to do anything that is very hardware specific such as accessing ports or attempting direct memory access. I have completely given up on Parallels for data acquisition. We have some new Intel Macs that we are going to change from Mac OS with Windows Parallels to a dual boot system. 
 
It is nice to be able to just close the Windows Parallel and return to the Mac OS, but I hope that it will be more stable to just boot directly into the operating system that is needed at the moment. 
 
Snide comments about software manufacturers aside, a simple fact that I must live with is that about 50% of my students go into industry directly with their BS degree and they almost exclusively use Windows in that environment. In the end, it is probably best to gain at least a little experience with all three "leading" operating systems: Mac Unix, PC Unix (Linux) and Windows -- but it is Windows that they will be using when employed. 
 
The other fact that I must work with is that some of the software I use (optical design and electronic circuit design and simulation) is simply not available for the two flavors of Unix. There is software that will run on non-Windows machines that will do these tasks, but my students will never see that software again when they leave here. 
 
So, back to topic: The Visual BASIC Express Edition is free, fun, powerful, worth playing with and you can even do very powerful data acquisition and instrument control with it. But it won't run under any of Microsoft's competing OS's. (And I'm sure that wasn't an accidental oversight either.) :-) 
 
All the best,
 
John
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
John E. Sohl, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Weber State University
2508 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2508

voice: (801) 626-7907, fax: (801) 626-7445 
e-mail: jsohl@weber.edu 
web: http://physics.weber.edu/sohl/ 

> > > chuck britton <cvbritton@embarqmail.com> 8/10/2008 3:37 AM >>>
Would need an intel Mac with VMware or such (Parallels etc.) to run a  
MicroSloth system along side your 'real' OS.


On Aug 10, 2008, at Aug 10(Sun) 3:10 , Bernard Cleyet wrote:

> Do these operate under an old Mac's Unix, or must I purchase a new
> Intel one?
>
> bc
>
>
> On 2008, Aug 09, , at 10:12, John SOHL wrote:
>
> > I have tried using the Visual BASIC Express Edition and it works
> > very nicely. I was experimenting with it to see if I could do data
> > acquisition. I have various DAC/ADC boards from Measurement
> > Computing that come with a library called Universal Library and I
> > was wondering if the Express Edition of the Visual BASIC software
> > was crippled so that you couldn't access external equipment. I'm
> > happy to say that is not a problem.
<snip>