Still I differ. Why at all should we go for a web based Phoenix when we have the real gadget with us? My point is: There are two types of people. 1. Those who have Phoenix with them. and 2. Those who do not have Phoenix with them. Let us forget the first type as they can REALLY DO the experiments in real time environment. The second type have either just seen or used the gadget once or twice but have no access to learn it or they have not even seen one but just heard or read about it. I think the web Phoenix is for them. Now, if it is for them, they should get all the options and controls as one gets while using the real gadget. (to the maximum extend possible) Does it matter whether the experiment is really done somewhere? Absolutely NO. At any rate, the usere cannot construct a paper capacitor of his choice and experiment with it. Instead, we can give him an environment where he can INSERT a capacitor in a socket by clicking and dragging from a pannel of components and vary the capacitance using a slider or so. This is something similar to what we do while using ktechlab where we can observe results after doing the experiments in a simulated environment. vks On Dec 14, 2007 2:26 PM, Arani Chakravarti <arani_chakravarti@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Dear Ajith, > > This is great. I can see that quite a few people want to be able > to change the capacitance, etc. Probably one relatively simple > way would be to have a small bank of capacitors (and resistors > maybe) which can be connected in variable configurations like > a post-office box (remember the wonderful school days?) with > the help of cheap MOSFET switches like the CD4066. These > could, in turn be controlled with the help of the digital outputs > driving comparators. If the resistance values are quite large, > the on-resistances of the switches would not matter much. > Then the game would be relatively more interesting. However, > there was one comment regarding how one is to know whether > the experiment was really being done or it was just a case > of solving the charging equation and displaying the result! > Welllll ......... `to cheat or not to cheat'..... > > I am currently developing an user-space daemon to run > phoenix, without using the kernel module. I use the MPI > libraries to set up the whole system as a cluster (both server > and client are the same machines at present, but any number > could be interfaced into one supercomputing cluster). The DAC > ADC and digital input parts are ready but the digital outputs > are yet to be set up. To access `ioperm', I run the programme > through `sudo' and use `setuid' from inside the daemon > programme to release the privileged root access just after > the `ioperm' instruction. > > Arani > > ------------------------------ > Chat on a cool, new interface. No download required. Click > here.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_webmessenger_10/*http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php>