Countdown ..... Help!

I would like to build a countdown timer circuit. I need it to be able to countdown from various times up to 10 minutes. I would use four 7 segment LEDs to display minutes and seconds. I want to do this all without using a PIC for practice. All the circuits I find seem to be lacking what i need. If anyone could help me out i would realy appreciate it.

Hi,
For your countdown timer, you'll need presettable down counters. A 14029B would be an appropriate chip for this, it'll count up or down, in binary or bcd, and it's presettable. Here's a link to a datasheet:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2004/08/MC14029B-DPDF.pdf
You'll probably want to use the 14511B display drivers too. They will drive either CA or CC led displays or LCD's. Here's a datasheet link:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2004/08/MC14511B-DPDF.pdf
JB

Thank you for all the information jbeng. The only problem with it; i don't really know how to apply it. The actual wiring it is a little confusing. I don't really know how to incorporate the two chips but something tells me I need 4 of the 14511B in order to display minutes and seconds... Do you know where I may be able to pick up a how to; or better yet, a schematic of the something that would be very similar to what I would like to do. Also those chips if they get hooked up wrong!!! How easy is it to ruin them meaning....chances are I'm going to screw up once or twice making this. Will I destroy the chip and have to keep buying new ones everytime. Or are they pretty indestructable???? Thanks again for all your help