How did you get into electronic engineering

Want to just shoot the breeze? Forum 42 is the place!

Moderator:Moderators

User avatar
Fofo
Posts:6
Joined:Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:33 pm
How did you get into electronic engineering

Post by Fofo » Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:02 am

How did you learn what you know now about electronic devices ;
University, books, experimenting, ..?

I'm very impressed by what I've seen on usersites and have always had great fascination for electronic gadgets. But while we get a fair amount of physics in school, it's rarely practice.
Where would you suggest to start if you want to know more about this?

User avatar
SpongeBuell
Senior Member
Posts:5190
Joined:Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:52 am
Location:Colorado
Contact:

Post by SpongeBuell » Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:44 am

Well, if you enjoy the art of portablization, go here
Life of Brian wrote:
RYW wrote:RYW:

Rare
Yellow
Weasel
I'll be honest with you - I would have never guessed that.

User avatar
Fofo
Posts:6
Joined:Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:33 pm

Post by Fofo » Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:17 pm

Thanks, looks like it has some helpful stuff up there.

But I think portabilization might be a bit too expensive (and hard?) to start off, wouldn't want to ruin all my game systems within a week :D

User avatar
Sparkfist
Forum Administrator
Posts:6754
Joined:Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:12 am
Location:Michigan
Contact:

Post by Sparkfist » Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:33 pm

Well the reason we (or atleast I do) say its easier to start off with is, you're doing modifications to the hardware. Everything is already set up for you, other option is to learn how to make a costom circuit and set it up on a board.

I took electronics in high school and even though the ciruits never got that complecated remembering how to put it on the board was the hardest part for me. Also the knowlege/info for these projects is free and in some cases invaluble.
vskid wrote:Nerd = likes school, does all their homework, dies if they don't get 100% on every assignment
Geek = likes technology, dies if the power goes out and his UPS dies too

I am a geek.

User avatar
gannon
Moderator
Posts:6974
Joined:Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:48 pm
Location:Near that one big lake
Contact:

Post by gannon » Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:44 pm

I happened to teach myself all I know about electronics. Through that and experimenting I've gotten pretty good with most things to do with electronics over a few months.
I still really don't know much about electronic theory and complex circuits though, but that's something that will probably take a lot longer to get a hold of.

User avatar
Fofo
Posts:6
Joined:Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:33 pm

Post by Fofo » Sun Jul 04, 2004 3:34 pm

So doesn't it happen that you fry hardware parts without the theoretical background?
But damn, in just a few months, that's pretty impressive.

Too bad my SNES is broken and I sold my PSX. Still got an N64 lying around tho, guess I'll screw that one open, see what its guts look like and do some experimenting with it. I'll probably have to go look for some store that sells all those crazy electronic parts, because we don't have the fabled radioshack over here :roll:

--

Oh and this is a link I found somewhere on the site SpongeBuell referred me to that has good basics on some aspects of electronics, I'll put it here in case another lost sheep ends up in this thread :
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ch ... ing-blocks

User avatar
gannon
Moderator
Posts:6974
Joined:Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:48 pm
Location:Near that one big lake
Contact:

Post by gannon » Sun Jul 04, 2004 7:56 pm

Yeah, I actually broke quite a few things while learning from them. Here's a small list.
2 N64s
1 NES
1 NES-on-a-chip
1 SNES
1 PS2 (While I actually didn't break my first one, I did break the V5 one that I got)
and a few other things for sure.
But still, I've learned enough from them, especially the fact that just because there's a big grounding strip on the side of a unit, it can't be cut off without killing the console sometimes....

Edit:
Make that 3 n64s :cry:

User avatar
SpongeBuell
Senior Member
Posts:5190
Joined:Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:52 am
Location:Colorado
Contact:

Post by SpongeBuell » Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:15 pm

What's nice about portablization is that different systems are easier to portablize, and not all things done that fry things are always necessary. Some things just give a smaller size or better playtime.

Also, portablization is a good way to learn electonics from a hands-on way. My Spanish teacher, probably the best teacher I have ever had, said that the best way to learn a language is to go to that country and actually speak it, not just do worksheets, etc. This theory can be applied to electronics as well IMO.
Life of Brian wrote:
RYW wrote:RYW:

Rare
Yellow
Weasel
I'll be honest with you - I would have never guessed that.

User avatar
cennar
Senior Member
Posts:2939
Joined:Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:57 am
Location:yesterdays brothel, and todays vaccume store
Contact:

Post by cennar » Mon Jul 05, 2004 2:31 am

SpongeBuell wrote:Well, if you enjoy the art of portablization, go here
i want them to update one day soon i love that site

oh and the high school electronics thing yeah we sold my teachers durgs and i kind of got kicked out only when i poured acid on this jurks head.. hes fine his hairs wierd colors but where even, he hit me i lit his hair on fire and some chick hit him with a bat.
yeah i got most of what i know from copulate around with things and figuring out how they worked.
Image

User avatar
Fofo
Posts:6
Joined:Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:33 pm

Post by Fofo » Mon Jul 05, 2004 2:41 am

gannon wrote: 3 N64s
1 NES
1 NES-on-a-chip
1 SNES
1 PS2 (While I actually didn't break my first one, I did break the V5 one
Awch ^^

So seeing you fried 3 N64's I take it it isn't the easiest system to portablize?

User avatar
Sparkfist
Forum Administrator
Posts:6754
Joined:Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:12 am
Location:Michigan
Contact:

Post by Sparkfist » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:04 am

The thing about electronics is that you need to check and recheck your work (and that sometimes hard) otherwise things like loose metal can cross connections and fry or a messed up power connection can put power where its not suppost to go.

Possibly the reason Gannon has fried 3 N64 is it has two voltages and you have to watch that, as well moving the cart port. I feel if/when I work on the Dreamcast I'll fry atleast one before I've completed it.
vskid wrote:Nerd = likes school, does all their homework, dies if they don't get 100% on every assignment
Geek = likes technology, dies if the power goes out and his UPS dies too

I am a geek.

User avatar
gannon
Moderator
Posts:6974
Joined:Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:48 pm
Location:Near that one big lake
Contact:

Post by gannon » Mon Jul 05, 2004 12:34 pm

let's see,
1st n64 fried because a resistor fell off of the bottom of it when it hit my workbench.
2nd n64 fried when I cut off the ground strips on the side assuming that there was no more than 2 pcb layers in the n64
3rd n64 fried by clumsiness. I was testing it on batteries and the + wire slipped out of my hand and hit a pin on the cpu that goes to the gpu.

I'm still not sure how the ps2 broke, I might have jumped a few things on it when I was testing out the modified dvd drive.

User avatar
benheck
Site Admin
Posts:1880
Joined:Wed Dec 31, 1969 6:00 pm
Location:Wisconsin - Land of Beer and Cheese and Beer
Contact:

Post by benheck » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:28 pm

The original Ben Heck here. Here's my tally thus far:

8 Atari 2600 Jr's
2 Atari 2600 4-switches
1 PS2
3 pocket TV's

And counting...

User avatar
Sparkfist
Forum Administrator
Posts:6754
Joined:Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:12 am
Location:Michigan
Contact:

Post by Sparkfist » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:31 am

Say Ben just a question why do you have PS2 on the list but not the PSOne? Also you probably just gave us the answer to the poll in the 128bit fourm.
vskid wrote:Nerd = likes school, does all their homework, dies if they don't get 100% on every assignment
Geek = likes technology, dies if the power goes out and his UPS dies too

I am a geek.

User avatar
cennar
Senior Member
Posts:2939
Joined:Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:57 am
Location:yesterdays brothel, and todays vaccume store
Contact:

Post by cennar » Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:14 pm

ok heres my dead list
1 n64
3 nes<--- they where all messed up before any who
1 gba<--- and just reused the parts

thats it... oh and i cant say it enughf if you relocate the cart you will almost always copulate your n64.
Image

Post Reply