Tecnovedades del CREA: Newsletter Crocodile Clips Marzo 2007 (en Inglés)

Now in Crocodile
Technology - Revolution's Cyberpet

This month, with Revolution Education, we’re bringing a new project to Crocodile Technology 3D.

Designed for KS3/S1-S3, Revolution’s Cyberpet
Project introduces electronic monitoring and control.

A PICAXE microcontroller controls an
electronic pet with LED 'eyes' and a piezo sounder 'voice'
that reacts to touch (via a push switch) and light (via a
miniature LDR).

And we’ll be giving away a free hardware pack
to each of the first 50 schools purchasing - or converting to
- a Crocodile Technology 3D site licence after Easter.

Read on to find out
more.

The Cyberpet project

Revolution Education's Cyberpet is one of the
most popular ways to introduce programmable chips and control
in schools.

We've worked with Revolution to produce a
modified version of their project, which incorporates
Crocodile Technology 3D. This modified version is available
free on our website.

Here's how you can use it:

1. Download the
project

Visit http://www.crocodile-clips.com/cyberpet/
to download your free copy of the project.

If you’ve not got the latest version of
Crocodile Technology, you can download a free demo to try out
the project.

2. Design your electronic
circuit

The project takes you through the design
process step-by-step.

First, you’ll create the electronic
circuitry.
Set up your schematic design quickly and easily:
drag your components from the toolbars, and wire with the
mouse.

3. Program your PICAXE
chip

At the heart of this project lies the
programmable PICAXE chip, which Crocodile Technology 3D
simulates on-screen.

Link simple flowchart commands to write the
programs, then simulate them before programming the real
chip.

4. Route the PCB

Crocodile Technology 3D includes the [Windows]
real-PCB software. It routes tracks and lays out the 3D
PCB.

Move tracks, change autoroute options and use
design rule checks to optimise your layout.

5. Manufacture and test

When you’re happy, you can export your PCB
layout and send the program to a real PICAXE - the hardware is
available from www.picaxe.co.uk.

Fault-finding is easy using the 3D PCB
simulation. View it from any angle, and probe it using the new
digital multimeter.

Free hardware kit offer

For UK schools, we've got a special offer to help get this project going.

We're giving away a free pack of 5 of
Revolution's hardware kits to accompany the project to each of
the first 50 UK schools purchasing - or converting to - a
Crocodile Technology 3D site licence after Easter 2007.

Click here for more
information on pricing and licensing.

If you need more hardware, you can buy the
Cyberpet student kits (5 pack) from Revolution Education for
£14.95 + VAT from www.picaxe.com.

news from Crocodile
Clips - 32 - April 2007
www.crocodile-clips.com

Free online Crocodile Technology 3D training

You might find this
useful. To help you get to grips with

Crocodile Technology

3D, and to
use it effectively in your lessons, we've put an online training
course

on our website.

The course - free to both users and non-users -
consists of a set of training videos , which show
you how to use the different aspects of the software.

They start with the basic concepts, and move
on to look at more advanced techniques.

It'll take around half an hour to work through
the course, though you can tackle it in stages if you like.

If you've not already got our software, you
can download free demo versions, and
try out what you've learned as the videos
play.

Crocodile Technology 3D - v609 maintenance
release

We've published an update for users
of Crocodile Technology versions 606 or 607.

Crocodile
Technology v609 can be freely downloaded from our
website, and you can install it using your existing 606 or 607
licence keys.

This release includes improvements in the
following areas:

In response to requests from users, we
have updated the behaviour of several components, including
logic gates and op-amps, so that these devices are
automatically grouped into a minimum number of chips in the
3D PCB.
We've improved support for programming
real PIC/PICAXE microcontrollers, including support for PIC
16F627A and 16F628A chips.
We've corrected the wiring of the PICAXE
08 chip, which was wired incorrectly in real-PCB.
We've made sure the software is compatible
with Microsoft Windows Vista.

Developing the new 3D simulation presented
several challenges, especially with the wide variety of
hardware and graphics drivers in use in schools.

However, this version 609 update should also
fix the problems which a few customers have experienced with
the 3D graphics.

As ever, if you have any problems using
our software, we would urge you to contact us (at support@crocodile-clips.com)
with details of the hardware you are using and the nature of
the problem.

In general, to get the best 3D graphics
performance, our advice is that you should ensure that you
have the latest graphics drivers for your hardware. There is
some guidance
about 3D graphics performance on our website.

Useful links

To find out more about our software, you can: