Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
1–10 of 85 posts
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#2The juxtaposition between the cleanliness of the software and the absolute travesty of a schematic is jarring. But it still works!
I applaud the author for wading into analog electronics. Pretty much everyone nowadays would just put a timer on a micro and be done in 2 minutes. No fun in that. There is something to be said about the minimal elegance of purely analog designs, and a special rewarding feeling for wrangling electrons in their native habit rather than their boxed up binary bins.
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#3"That is not a hair question."
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#4As a electronics tinkerer just getting started I loved that moment when I first opened up some analog device and just ... recognized everything. A great little writeup!
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#5I was programming well before I was learned anything about analog electronic circuits. I had the Radio Shack 160-in-one like anyone else and I could follow the directions but I didn't understand what was happening because I was thinking of it as an orderly pipeline, almost like a conveyor belt, where each component was doing a task. It wasn't until college when we studied LRC circuits in physics that it finally clicked for me. What the individual components do by themselves is not very interesting but it's their behavior when you put them together, that the magic happens. Essentially you are creating a vibration, a wave. You are creating a resonating system. Your waves can be in various dimensions like current and voltage. You can adjust the magnitude and frequency of the waves to perform useful tasks.
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#6My kid is about to learn a bit of electronics as I plan to replace some PS5 joysticks with TMR replacements. Cracking open without destroying, documenting dissemble so we know where everything goes back and quite a bit of de-soldering, re-soldering. Should be interesting...
I remember in high school signing up for this electronics stuff. I was just learning what a resistor was and a few engineer kids over the two semesters bought and built an original Apple I kit. Ah, growing up in the silicon valley...
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#7I was programming well before I was learned anything about analog electronic circuits. I had the Radio Shack 160-in-one like anyone else and I could follow the directions but I didn't understand what was happening because I was thinking of it as an orderly pipeline, almost like a conveyor belt, where each component was doing a task. It wasn't until college when we studied LRC circuits in physics that it finally click…
I begged and begged, but never got the 160-in-one. =\
I did put together a lot of Radio Shack project-in-a-boxes though.
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#8I was programming well before I was learned anything about analog electronic circuits. I had the Radio Shack 160-in-one like anyone else and I could follow the directions but I didn't understand what was happening because I was thinking of it as an orderly pipeline, almost like a conveyor belt, where each component was doing a task. It wasn't until college when we studied LRC circuits in physics that it finally click…
Do you happen to know of any good modern alternatives to those vintage Radio Shack kits?
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#9I was programming well before I was learned anything about analog electronic circuits. I had the Radio Shack 160-in-one like anyone else and I could follow the directions but I didn't understand what was happening because I was thinking of it as an orderly pipeline, almost like a conveyor belt, where each component was doing a task. It wasn't until college when we studied LRC circuits in physics that it finally click…
Do you happen to know of any good modern alternatives to those vintage Radio Shack kits?
You might check out this store that opened recently in rural Indiana.
Re: Learning basic electronics by building fireflies
#10I was programming well before I was learned anything about analog electronic circuits. I had the Radio Shack 160-in-one like anyone else and I could follow the directions but I didn't understand what was happening because I was thinking of it as an orderly pipeline, almost like a conveyor belt, where each component was doing a task. It wasn't until college when we studied LRC circuits in physics that it finally click…
Do you happen to know of any good modern alternatives to those vintage Radio Shack kits?
Yes there was one called Snap Circuits that I got for my kids.