This article talks about a package called AtariLab. It was transferred from the Unix newnet by Mark Keates, and tidied and edited by Dean Garraghty.¢-----------------------------------¢From: Jeff McWilliams¢¢Subject: AtariLab¢¢¢The Atari lightlab plugged into the joystick port and has RCA type connectors for Voltage, Ground, the Two paddle inputs, and the Digital inputs/outputs of the corresponding bits or PortA of the PIA chip.¢¢It comes with a manual, a thermistor (electronic temperature sensor), and a cartridge that will read the thermistors values, calibrate it, record the data on cassette or disk, and even graph the data over a time domain.¢¢The manual is excellent for Gradeschool science and maybe even some high school science classes.¢¢The light module comes with a light and light sensor. It also has polarizing filters and some other stuff, including a test tube I think for shining light through chemicals. This tells you something about the properties of the solution but I am not sure what. It also has a cartridge and lab manual.¢¢It will show as a percentage how much light is reaching the sensor. It is quite sensitive. The lab manuals have all sorts of experiments and stuff you can do with the different sensors. I think the light module will let you record light and temperature data simultaneously. There are some great ideas for science projects in the lab manuals.. I think two temp. sensors or two light sensors could be hooked in at once. The manuals give you the program code needed to make your own BASIC programs to read the different¢sensors. When I brought the lab kits home from the show my uncle was very interested in the temp sensor because he works for a factory which among other things plates parts for GM. They use temp. sensors alot to monitor the plating baths and stuff.¢¢Thermistors could be bought but would have to be calibrated and I don't know if what would need to be done to treat them so they can be dipped in solutions. The Atari temp. sensor is coated so as to be nonconductive to electricity.¢¢¢Jeff McWilliams¢GEnie: J.MCWILLIAM3¢"Atari 8-bit die hards never run out of power"¢
