Electronics Engineers, Hardware Hackers, etc.

[theraje]

Hey folks,

A few years ago, I was looking into electronics engineering. Long story short, I got sidetracked because of some personal crises. Picked up a renewed interest in it a few days ago, and have been looking at all sorts of projects. My favorite is the "Dungeons of Doom" roguelike game, with a "Penguin Caffeinated Cinnamons" candy tin as an enclosure. :D

Anyway, the prior extent of my knowledge of electronics engineering comes from my days as a youngster playing "Robot Odyssey" on Ye Olde Tandy 1000. Then I discovered the XGameStation kits, and the book "The Black Art of Video Game Console Design" (which I own), and got into it pretty heavily, until... that thing happened.

Well, I was wondering how many people here have some kind of electronics engineering background, whether it's formal or self-taught, or if you are a pro or a hobby hacker. Also, any random tips are appreciated (I know how to make some simple circuits, and how to use a solderless breadboard. No experience with ICs or soldering yet).

:D

[ssam]

a lot of people are basing little electronics projects around programmable micro controllers. one of the most popular is the arduino board, and various variations of it.

[Khakilang]

Well I did assemble IBM compatible PCs where I work. Plug in the processor, RAM, display card, floppy drives and maybe a 20MB hard disk in a huge casing base on customer requirement.

[theraje]

a lot of people are basing little electronics projects around programmable micro controllers. one of the most popular is the arduino board, and various variations of it.

I've seen the Arduino/Freeduino/Seeeduino boards, they're really nice. I also looked at the BASIC Stamp and the Parallax Propeller demo board back when I was first into this stuff. Awesome-looking stuff!


Well I did assemble IBM compatible PCs where I work. Plug in the processor, RAM, display card, floppy drives and maybe a 20MB hard disk in a huge casing base on customer requirement.

Nice. :) I used to do that, but much later (around year 2000). Seems like I'd spit out about ten systems a week, even with all the other work I had. My parents wouldn't really have liked it if I'd tinkered with the innards of their computers... of course, this was in the day before home computers with hard drives were common, and a computer without a hard drive installed still cost a few thousand dollars... and I was only about eight-years-old at the time. ;)

Oh, does anyone know of some good electronics parts distributors? I know Mouser, Digikey, and Jameco (and Radio Shack if one is desperate ;) )... where do you guys get your parts in the US?

[Windows Nerd]

Oh, does anyone know of some good electronics parts distributors? I know Mouser, Digikey, and Jameco (and Radio Shack if one is desperate ;) )... where do you guys get your parts in the US?
Do you mean computer parts, or just electronics (LEDs Resistors, caps, circutboards, wire, ect)?

[theraje]

The latter. Computer parts are everywhere; more interested in where to get components like microcontrollers and the LEDs/resistors/capacitors/etc. you mentioned.

[Windows Nerd]

The latter. Computer parts are everywhere; more interested in where to get components like microcontrollers and the LEDs/resistors/capacitors/etc. you mentioned.
The ones you mentioned are all I really know of. They are the most popular, but I think you will find few knowledgeable people about that here. Maybe try asking on something like the Household Hacker forums (or what you can find there at least, not many people there) or the Instructables.com forums.

Happy Hacking :)

[lz1dsb]

I used to work in a Radio Shack... We're ordering some hard-to-find electronic pars from Farnell. As far as I know, they're UK based, and usually have everything you need, at a price ;)
The best thing though, is that you can order small quantities, which is extremely useful when you work on a small hobby project...
Here in Bulgaria, they're quite popular. I recently purchased parts for my graduation project.

Cheers,
Boyan

[cascade9]

MY dad was (is? I spose 'is', he is still alive) an electronics engineer. I grew up with computers, a giant faraday cage, oscilloscopes and the prevading smell of solder LOL.

I do a little bit of engineering work, but mainly its just a simple recap job on motherboards/monitors, and that is pretty rare. Sometimes I think I would like to get more into it, but I've got wayyyy to much lead and other heavy metals in my system already (yes, I know about lead free solder, but I've got antimony and other stuff in my system already....its just not worth the risk)

BTW, my heavy metal porblems are from being an x-screen printer of tiles and mixer of glazes for tiles.


The latter. Computer parts are everywhere; more interested in where to get components like microcontrollers and the LEDs/resistors/capacitors/etc. you mentioned.

I get mine from jarcar, and amazingly, there is a US jaycar site- seems to be mailorder only though.

http://www.jaycar.us/

I have no idea what the prices and parts selection are like on the Us site, but they are pretty cheap here. One of the better electronics stores I've dealt with.

[cariboo]

I've always found Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/), a good place to shop. They even have a free dead tree catalog.