This repository (https://github.com/bessman/pslab-notebooks) contains a series of tutorials and exercises for the Pocket Science Lab (PSLab) Python library.
Python 3.8+ with pip.
Recommended way to install the pslab package:
- Create a virtual environment called 'pslab': Run
python -m venv pslabon the command line. - Activate the virtual environment.
- On Linux, run
source ./pslab/bin/activate. - On Windows, run
.\pslab\Scripts\activate.bat
- On Linux, run
- Install the dependencies: Run
pip install pslab notebook matplotlib
Once installed, connect the PSLab board and verify that you can connect to it by running pslab collect -c 1 -d 0.00001 oscilloscope. This will sample the voltage on the PSLab's CH1 pin for 10 µs. The output should look something like:
Timestamp,CH1
0.0,0.016129032258064058
0.5,0.016129032258064058
1.0,0.016129032258064058
1.5,0.016129032258064058
2.0,0.016129032258064058
2.5,0.016129032258064058
3.0,0.016129032258064058
3.5,0.016129032258064058
4.0,0.016129032258064058
4.5,0.016129032258064058
5.0,0.016129032258064058
5.5,0.016129032258064058
6.0,0.016129032258064058
6.5,0.016129032258064058
7.0,0.016129032258064058
7.5,0.016129032258064058
8.0,0.016129032258064058
8.5,0.016129032258064058
9.0,0.016129032258064058
9.5,0.016129032258064058
If you get an error saying serial.serialutil.SerialException: Device not found., try another USB-cable.
If you are using Linux and get an error message saying you do not have permission to access the serial port, run pslab install as root. This will add a udev rule allowing regular users to access the PSLab. You may need to trigger udev to reload its ruleset before this takes effect. Consult your distro's documentation for instructions on how to reload udev.
Alternativelly, you can skip the udev rule and instead become a member of the group to which the /dev/tty* device files belong to. On Debian based distros this group is called 'dialout', on Arch based distros it is called 'uucp'. It may be called something else on other distros. Again, consult your distro's documentation for how to become a member of a group.
Once this installation is complete, launch Jupyter Notebooks by running jupyter notebook.
If you are familiar with git you can clone this repo: git clone https://github.com/bessman/pslab-notebooks.
Otherwise you can go into the 'Getting Started' directory and download the notebooks manually.
Then, navigate to the location where you downloaded them with the Jupyter Notebook file browser and run them!