The Sparkfun Chronicles

I spoke to the Bookstore. Only about 75 kits came in yesterday. There is another of about 75 kits that is expected to ship from Sparkfun today - so these may be in by Friday. The balance of the kits to reach the 190 that are needed for the class should be in by next week.

This has been very frustrating - but slowly we are getting there. We will begin working with the kits next week. Bring what you have to the lab and we will have folks pair up...

The Saga of the SparkFun Inventor's Kit

The kits arrived at the bookstore today...

I was informed that there were no more on the shelves as of 6:30 PM today...

I had anticipated 160 students - there are almost 190 and I am not sure that the bookstore ordered the entire 160 I originally requested.

I have asked the bookstore to order more and to let me know when these will arrive.

So...

If you have a kit, please start playing with it - and I do mean play - this is fun stuff.

If you don't have a kit find somebody who does and ask them to show it to you.

We will begin using the kit in lab NEXT WEEK - if the boards are not in by then, I will have students work together in groups of two or three.

While you are waiting please take the time to watch some of these tutorials...

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA567CE235D39FA84

Solid Professor Problems...

Hi All -

I was just contacted by a student who informed me that he signed up for a SolidProfessor subscription but he is not able to "see" the 22.201 assignments and I do not "see" him on my administrative site.

If you think that this might also be happening to you - please contact SolidProfessor directly using the link at the bottom of the attached PDF.

In the meantime - make sure that you complete Pre-Lab 1 before this week's lab, so that you are fully prepared for the quiz.

You can see what sections of SolidProfessor you need to cover here:

http://sullivan-22-201-fall2013.blogspot.com/2013/09/solidprofessor-pre-lab-1.html

If you have had problems installing SolidWorks on your personal laptop/pc please use a lab computer to go through the exercises. I have contacted SolidWorks academic support to get some help for those with these issues. i will forward that information when I receive it.

A copy of this email has also been posted to the blog.

SparkFun Update...

It appears that the bookstore did not stock the Sparkfun kits today. I have been told that they will be available on Monday. Hopefully they will and that those of you who need them can pick them up before lab.

SolidProfessor... and your first quiz

Get started early...

The image below shows the tracking tool that I can use to see how many students have signed up for SolidProfessor accounts and for those who already have accounts how much of the Pre-Lab 1 they have completed.

 Each lab session - including our first one next week - will begin with a 15-20 minute quiz based upon the material covered in the SolidProfessor Pre-Lab. So please take this assignment seriously!

I have received one or two questions regarding installation of SolidWorks - but overall, it appears that the installation has gone smoothly for most of you who have taken the time to download and install the software. If you run into trouble, your best option is to uninstall the program and start again from scratch.

Update on the SparkFun Inventor's Kit and some other stuff

SparkFun

I stopped by the bookstore today and was told that the Sparkfun Kits would be in on Friday. Please make sure to pick one up because we will be using it in lab next week.

You need to bring this kit with you to every lab session...

Other stuff

The library has a lot of ebooks that deal with topics relating to the Arduino. This is a great resource and you should definitely check it out. Here are the steps for those of you who are unfamiliar with the service...

Step 1 - Go to UML Library Page and select the ebook tab

Step 2 - Enter Arduino (or anything else that you are interested in) and select the Contains radio button

Step 3 - Scroll through the available books...

Step 4 - Select a book and click on the link under the title...

Step 5 - Begin learning stuff...!

SolidProfessor Pre-Lab 1

SolidProfessor

Once you have obtained a subscription to SolidProfessor - it may take about 12 hours before I get a chance to add you to the Group 22.201 that I have created for the course. When you log on after you are added to the group, you should land on your "Home" tab and your screen should be similar to this...

Each week I will add a new Pre-Lab assignment that you are expected to complete before the corresponding lab. So... you all need to complete Pre-Lab 1 before your first lab meeting next week. This first Pre-Lab consists of a number of video tutorials and exercises that should make you familiar with the SolidWorks interface and introduce you to the fundamental concepts of sketching and extrusions.

The full courses tab allows you to access all the SolidProfessor tutorial materials and you should feel free to move on ahead of the class and explore at will.

The figure below shows the contents of Pre-Lab 1. You can access all of this material from under the "Full Courses" tab under the 2013 SolidWorks 101 - Academic course heading.