New junkie here.

[bustedparts]

Good evening all.  My name is Richard Winkelman. I live in West Michigan. I have always love electronics and wanted to pursue a career in electronics. But lack of funding and life happened and now since we have this wonderful thing called the internet I am able to learn from other people's mistakes before I make them. Right now I know the basics. I have been a Automotive Tech and a small engine tech for 20 years. So I know my way around 12 volts. Recently I have run across some extra money and decided to buy some test equipment and a small amount of electronics to help me with my thirst for knowledge. I bought a Scope,Function Generator/counter and a adjustable power supply.  I also went and got a subscription to HackerBoxes and they give me monthly projects that are awesome learning tools! But I am thirsting for more! I am wondering if there is a recommendation for any other learning tools? Online courses, Free or paid. The more hands on the better. I have a bit of a learning disability so if it has to be read it takes 4 times as long because that how many times I have to read it before I understand it. I would take college courses but I have a time and money constraint.  I have taken the PyroEDU classes and they have opened my eyes to alot of new things but they seem to be a little outdated. I dont know it may be me? So any recommended learning would be awesome! Also I listen to the podcast as much as i can! Even if I dont know what the hell you guys are talking about!  I also attached a picture of my mini lab. Any input on how that should be handled would be awesome as well! Thanks guys!
 https://goo.gl/photos/wegb7Gwxh2CBXJkG6

[rstofer]

I like to think of electronics as a huge sandbox and most of us like to play in one area or another.  I like analog computing (op amps) and FPGAs.  Others are into RF or microprocessors or just plain circuit theory.  Some of the students are in deep with the math.

So, what do you want to do?  Do you want to be a code wienie and write a bunch of code for microprocessors?  The Arduino is a good place to start because everything that can be done, has been done and the results posted to the Internet.

Unless you are into fairly heavy math (Differential Equations), you probably won't want to get into analog computing.  OTOH, a lot of people like to build audio projects using op amps.  I haven't done this myself but there are a lot of projects out there.

Digital logic has been my passion for nearly 50 years.  Not that I am any good at it but I started playing with RTL chips back in the very early '70s.  FPGAs are like having 10 million logic gates to work with in a chip the size of a postage stamp.  I can play in there for decades.

Transistor circuits can be interesting and there's quite a bit of work in getting various amplifiers to actually amplify.  Remember, amplifiers oscillate and oscillators don't (a bit of wisdom from a class I took).

So, kick back and think about which part of the sandbox you want to play in.  There's plenty of room no matter where you want to sit.

Oh, and welcome aboard!

[danadak]

If you wanted to get going on processors consider PSOC, I would say PSOC 5LP
family. There are many videos to train from, the SW IDE is free, a simple board
is $ 10. Reason for this recommendation is you get a mordern core, analog onchip,
and a broad variety of advanced HW that you can grow into because of its FPGA
like capability.

http://www.cypress.com/products/psoc-software


Regards, Dana.

[Mr. Scram]

If you wanted to get going on processors consider PSOC, I would say PSOC 5LP
family. There are many videos to train from, the SW IDE is free, a simple board
is $ 10. Reason for this recommendation is you get a mordern core, analog onchip,
and a broad variety of advanced HW that you can grow into because of its FPGA
like capability.

http://www.cypress.com/products/psoc-software


Regards, Dana.

Do you have any kind of connection with PSoC or Cypress?

[Cliff Matthews]

Nah, I think he got PSOC religion after buying a lowly 5LP.. Either that, or he likes to root for an under-appreciated mfg.
Now that the Borg Macroship swallowed Atmel, what else is there to do?  Honestly, I think I have more PDF's on my PC from Dana's suggestions than anyone else. I think of him as the document man.

[Mr. Scram]

Nah, I think he got PSOC religion after buying a lowly 5LP.. Either that, or he likes to root for an under-appreciated mfg.
Now that the Borg Macroship swallowed Atmel, what else is there to do?  Honestly, I think I have more PDF's on my PC from Dana's suggestions than anyone else. I think of him as the document man.

Don't get me wrong, I have found Dana's suggestions elsewhere useful too. It's just that I started noticing he's posting about PSoC everywhere. That's not an issue per se, but considering everyone is very candid about their affiliations here, the question popped up. I haven't found Dana disadvantaging anyone by his suggestions, so we're all good.

I can imagine him being a retired former employee, for example, lovingly trying to push the products he worked on, or the company he worked for.

[bustedparts]

Well I really am not sure what field of study I want to go for. I really do enjoy robotics and anything put into motion with electronics. But I still have to dive into the other courses on digital electronics that I am taking to get a clearer picture on which way to go. I attached a picture of my first amp! https://goo.gl/photos/PeFLD12umwzVEeZf6 why wont my picture show up when I place it in the [img]?

[Mr. Scram]

Well I really am not sure what field of study I want to go for. I really do enjoy robotics and anything put into motion with electronics. But I still have to dive into the other courses on digital electronics that I am taking to get a clearer picture on which way to go. I attached a picture of my first amp! https://goo.gl/photos/PeFLD12umwzVEeZf6 why wont my picture show up when I place it in the [img]?

You need a proper file path ending with .jpg, .png or another appropriate file type. These fancy Google adress paths don't seem to work and are a pain in general.

[rstofer]

Well I really am not sure what field of study I want to go for. I really do enjoy robotics and anything put into motion with electronics. But I still have to dive into the other courses on digital electronics that I am taking to get a clearer picture on which way to go. I attached a picture of my first amp! https://goo.gl/photos/PeFLD12umwzVEeZf6 why wont my picture show up when I place it in the [img]?

You're taking classes?  College or...?

Robotics is fun because there is equal measure of mechanical and electronics.  In the end, it's mostly code wienie work.  I love writing code!

There are obvious platforms for entry level robotics like the Arduino or, backing up, anything from Parallax.  One thing you have to give to Parallax, they have a TON of documentation.  Lots and lots of projects.  But I think the Arduino is just as approachable and is clearly a few steps up.  In my opinion, of course...

Then we get into the ARM processors and there are more choices than imaginable.  My favorite is the mbed (www.mbed.org) because I like their online toolchain.  Nothing to install.

If you want to add vision, you need to head over toward the Raspberry PI or anything that runs Linux in a big hurry.  Then there is the entire line of STM32F boards - these are some very powerful microcontrollers although I need to work on understanding their environment.  I never had anybody hand me a full HAL and I'm not sure what to do with it.

IoT (Internet of Things) is the latest craze.  People simply must talk with their thermostat from their cell phone while sipping Mai Tais at the local tavern.  No point in heating the house if you got a better offer.

In my view, the most fun with digital is with FPGAs.  With these you can create about anything.

The digital part of the sandbox is pretty interesting.  There's a lot going on.

[Brumby]

Welcome to the forum!

You are bound to find a wide range of interests and experience here to help you in just about any direction you head.


Just understand ....

.... and now since we have this wonderful thing called the internet I am able to learn from other people's mistakes before I make them.

... you will make some of those mistakes.  You will possibly come up with a couple of creative ones and you may even come up with one that hasn't been done before - but there's a lot of us who have done some dumb things over the years, so that might be difficult.

Hopefully, those mistakes won't be serious or expensive - and in that vein, since you have a scope, I offer you this little gem from Dave...



Don't worry if you can't understand everything in one or two viewings - just remember where you put the ground clip is very important.  You can then work out from there.

[tpowell1830]

I can't figure out what you will like, however, here are a few links of places that I learn or get ideas from:

[link]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA/videos[/link]
[link]https://macrofab.com/blog/podcast/[/link]
[link]https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab/videos[/link]
[link]https://www.youtube.com/user/w2aew/videos[/link]
[link]https://www.youtube.com/user/contextualelectronic/videos[/link]
[link]https://www.youtube.com/user/reppesis/videos[/link]

Enjoy!

[bustedparts]

I am taking like online courses. No college at this point. I can't afford it and time is limited.  Anything I can get for free or a reasonable cost I will do.

[bustedparts]

I have watched this video like 10 times to drill it into my head! I don't want this happening!

Welcome to the forum!

You are bound to find a wide range of interests and experience here to help you in just about any direction you head.


Just understand ....

.... and now since we have this wonderful thing called the internet I am able to learn from other people's mistakes before I make them.

... you will make some of those mistakes.  You will possibly come up with a couple of creative ones and you may even come up with one that hasn't been done before - but there's a lot of us who have done some dumb things over the years, so that might be difficult.

Hopefully, those mistakes won't be serious or expensive - and in that vein, since you have a scope, I offer you this little gem from Dave...



Don't worry if you can't understand everything in one or two viewings - just remember where you put the ground clip is very important.  You can then work out from there.