T&L Publications

I teach a electronics design and part of the class is construction. I see that on the Apple store there is the SE500 series from McCAD. This is what was used in the book "Back to the Garage" where they built a replica of the original Apple 1 computer. I thought that this might be a great project for the class while teaching the basics. However the SE500 series needed for the project costs about $24 which isn't a lot but I thought I would ask if anyone has already constructed this and what their experience was?

I wrote and asked the company about a Windows version and they said that that would be available soon. This might be a great solution for me since my students could do this project either on a PC or Mac OS and thus use their own computers eliminating a big headache for me.

Or does anyone have a better solution?

for just teaching construction, I think that project has too many nodes and goes well beyond just construction. The risk of a non functional project is high and may discourage beginners. If on the other hand, you were also emphasizing troubleshooting and digital design or analysis then a computer might be a good project.

For construction I would recommend something more fun like a little robot. It teaches more than just soldering components to a PCB but also brings in lots of connectors and electromechanical components. Its a lot more fun to watch work than a few characters on a screen.

For digital training, I would go with Microcontrollers and not bother with general purpose Computers. The skills they learn programming small uControllers with vendor supplied Development kits will leave them with more possible DIY projects than a stodgey old PC which we all already have. The cost to the students should also be much lower with USB interfaced Dev Kits and IDE software going for as low as $20. Just add your own sensors and output devices, write some code and you have an amazingly flexible base project.