[comp.edu] request for software

root@mcgill-vision.UUCP (el Root) (06/25/89)

the right one, as most postings seem to deal with Computer Science
type software, so if I am in the wrong place, somebody I'm sure will 
point this out, ao I can correct.
I am teaching a course called Measurement Lab. in the Mechanical 
Engineering Department here at McGill. It is a lecture/lab type course, that
(supposedly :-)) imparts upon first year students (here we call them U1):
some knowledge about how to measure some physical parameters 
(temperature, pressure, etc.), and 
makes them familiar with the more common type of instruments to make these
measurements.
I would like to modernize this course. Hands on experience is IMHO absolutely
required in such a course, but my inventory of equipment is getting old, 
and I cannot justify purchasing special transducers or equipment, common in
industry, but that will be used only by one course in one semester. 
What I am looking for is simulation type software, running on PC XT clones,
where I can let students run "experiments" on the screen. Ultimately this
software would include graphics, 2-D pictures or blockdiagrams would do, so
the student sees something more than just numbers, equations, etc.
I seem to remember (many years ago) a system called Plato, but that ran on 
a large machine.
Is there anyone who perhaps has some programs like this, or knows of a source
where such may be available?

I would appreciate any help and if there is more interest in this, I will
post a summary (with permission, of course) of what there is.

Thanks very much, in advance, for e-mail to:

vroomen@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu
or: vroomen@mcgill-vision.UUCP