The simplest output from a PC is a COM port (serial) , or printer port (parallel) , I know many PC's do not have them on the MB, but often there is a port on the MB itself that can be extended with COM or P.P. cable.
Max.

 

And USB to serial adapters are less than U.S. $1.00 for those who can't find a serial port.

 

Interfacing with a serial port is not trivial either. And getting a rapidly variable signal out to an D/A converter in either a USB port or a serial ascii port is not a small task. Using a parallel printer port is an interesting option except that I am not certain if any current OS even supports the parallel port for printers.

 

First, there is nothing simple about using a USB interface as far as the circuit part goes. And the software is not trivial either.
If digital displays are an option then how about on-screen digital displays, and avoid the hardware part completely? A display could show the difference between the counts of heads and tails, and that could be a very educational thing, as it might vary a lot in a hurry.

Agreed. At this point in time, I think this might be the simplest was to display this. Avoiding the hardware build takes out a big part of the complexity.

In any case, I will ponder this for a day or two more before closing the question. Perhaps it's time to head to a Mac forum to figure out how this would be accomplished on screen.

Thanks all, for the input so far.

 

Interfacing with a serial port is not trivial either. And getting a rapidly variable signal out to an D/A converter in either a USB port or a serial ascii port is not a small task. Using a parallel printer port is an interesting option except that I am not certain if any current OS even supports the parallel port for printers.

Apple, in its own stubborn way, never supported parallel ports. Forums before the turn of the century (pre 2000, ha) show people arguing the merits of having parallel ports. As far as I know, Apple has not offered this in 25 years, if ever.

 

A valid question was posted before. Can you program a Mac?

Once you can do that, send data to an MCU via a USB port.
After that the sky is the limit.

 

A valid question was posted before. Can you program a Mac?

Once you can do that, send data to an MCU via a USB port.
After that the sky is the limit.

No experience whatsoever programming a Mac, but no reason why I can't look into it. This looks like first base. Thanks.

 

Avoiding the hardware build takes out a big part of the complexity.

What do you hope to get out of this adventure? If your goal is to learn about probability, then you only need pencil, paper, and access to a search engine. If your goal is to learn some programming, focus on that for now and avoid complicating things with external hardware. If your goal is to learn some electronics, I'd recommend starting with the basics: Ohm's law and DC circuits. Follow some tutorials and learn to analyze and build simple circuits on a breadboard.

However, if your goal is to learn a bit about all of these things and end up with a nifty little box that you can point to and say "I built that", then I heartily recommend you get an Arduino kit. These make it incredibly easy to interface software and hardware, and there's tons of web support. While designing your device, you can learn as much or as little as you want about the software and/or hardware side, which makes it a nice way to figure out what you like. Some people find that they love the software side; others find that they dread coding, but feel an inexplicable joy when they're holding a soldering iron. Some truly love both. Pick up an inexpensive kit and see which you are!

 

That is a good suggestion. Thank you.

Currently taking stock of the whole thing. Rapidly simplifying the requirements too. Which is fine. The whole idea was to take a look at feasibility and see what is readily achievable with my limited resources and experience.

The true focus is on probability and to see what happens when the data sets are really large, say, 10 million tosses (does it converge to the mean). The idea of the external retro meter was to give it a little bit of carnival because this experiment will go on for many months. The meter thing is a nice-to-have feature, but not an essential one.

The bottom line is I am trying to have a little bit of fun with all this. Certainly don't want to get bogged down on some "impossible mission" for months on end. I have studies to get done too.

In any case, I will check out the Arduino kit you mentioned. That might be a good starting point.

Thanks again.