New to electronics FAQ

[Mikebits]

Greetings, as the author of the new to electronics FAQ I have to say, I think the time has come to bury this document into the hidden recesses of the archives somewhere. I originally posted this article in 2008, and by now I image most of the links are no longer valid. I suggest this FAQ be removed or someone should update it, and it won't be me, I just don't have the time these days.

Thanks for reading.

 

[JimB]

Good point Mike.

I have just had a quick look and found a number of dead links.

If anyone wants to create a whole new FAQ, that will be good and we can let you old one go off to the great bit bucket in the sky.

If no one wants the challenge, I will go through the old FAQ and take out the dud links and update a few which end up redirected.
Also maybe alter the formatting to make it a bit more readable, (may be!).

JimB

 

[JimB]

For better or worse, I have taken the text of the old FAQ, edited a bit, deleted dead links, put in some new ones and created a new FAQ sticky which is locked, ie it will not allow other posts to that thread.

If anyone has any ideas how the new FAQ may be improved, please post those ideas here in this thread.

When the new FAQ is agreed to be reasonable, I will un-sticky the old one and let it float away.

JimB

 

[Mikebits]

Good Job there Jim, wow you work fast.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

It needs a bit of proof reading/punctuation. Hopefully, later.

 

[JimB]

It needs a bit of proof reading/punctuation. Hopefully, later.

I am usually fairly good at that sort of thing, so please tell what I have missed.
Bare in mind that this was an update rather than a complete re-write, there could be one or two oddities carried over from the original.

Please feel free to give us your comments.

JimB

 

[fezder]

outdated information is quite pointless.....but not always! it's good sometimes to look how things were done in old good days if someone wants to build retro-style but still fully working system/s
updated FAQ would be great

edit: i can't find that FAQ, oh god i'm blind sometimes....

 

[Inquisitive]

Try this https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/new-to-electronics-faq.145497/

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

My revisions. Not shown in bold is: reworded all of the Q? To Q#:. Went from an I to you perspective as if the computer is talking. You need to remove the stuff in [] and change the bold to regular text. There is still some inconsistencies with presentation of links before vs. after. One place I suggested using embedded links. I don't generally like to use them because when the webpage is printed, the info is lost.
Some edits may not have shown up in bold.

KISS


Started in 2008 by Mikebits
Revised in 2015 by JimB

To discuss this new version of the FAQ, go here:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/new-to-electronics-faq.145489/

So, [add comma] you have suddenly been bit by the urge to push electrons across a semiconductor.
Your new to electronics and just starting out. Your not sure how to get started?
Well this post may be a good starting point

Q1: [just numbered questions] You don’t know anything about electronics, where should you start looking?
A: The Internet [Capitalize] is a massive compendium of information pertaining to electronics.
This entire section could take up pages and pages to list all the resources available on line.


Below, are a few links to some electronic websites to get you started. [cleaned up the mess]

**broken link removed**

http://www.hobbyprojects.com/tutorial.html



http://www.williamson-labs.com/480_555.htm

http://www.williamson-labs.com/480_xtor.htm

**broken link removed**



has many tutorials on various aspects of electronics and many projects for you to build.

[re-worded]
Finally, do not forget the Articles and Tools section here on ETO:

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/articles/

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/tools/



[You COULD do the funky links here and embed them i.e. Articles as an embedded link]

Q2: Okay, You know what a resistor and capacitor are, but what is that circle thing with an arrow in it?
A: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/symbol.htm shows you what those symbols mean. [re-worded]


Q3: Hey this looks fun; I am ready to get started; but where do I get all those parts?[punctuation]
A: There are many places to obtain parts to fill up your junk box. A few are listed below and there are many more easily found through an Internet [capitalize] search.

Digi-Key:
Main website www.digikey.com/

Digi-Key UK http://uk.digikey.com/

Digi-Key Canada http://ca.digikey.com/

Digi-Key Germany http://de.digikey.com/

Digi-Key Denmark http://dk.digikey.com

Digi-Key International (This one contains all above links amongst Digi-Key locations.
**broken link removed**

Farnell: http://www.farnell.com/

RS Components: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/

Newark: http://www.newark.com/

Jameco: **broken link removed**

Mouser Electronics: http://www.mouser.com/

Q4: You have a part, but You am not sure what all the pins do. How can you find out? [changed I to you]
A: You need a data sheet for your part.

Q5: What’s a data sheet and where can I get it? {it or one?}
A: A data sheet lists all parameters of an electronic part such as, min max current ratings, voltage ratings, etc. The data sheet also provides pin out information such as power, ground, inputs, and outputs. [formatting]

To find data sheets, try an internet search, www.google.com/
Just enter your part number as a search parameter and away you go. You can also try the links below. Google “<part number> datasheet :filetype PDF” can sometimes be more useful.

http://www.alldatasheet.com/

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/

Q6: You would like to learn about microprocessors. Are there any tutorials out there?
A: There are. Listed below are two that will get you started with the PIC series of microcontrollers.


https://www.electro-tech-online.com/articles/nigel-goodwins-tutorials-in-c.467/

Information in the PIC manufacturers' [Possessive – added apostophie]website:
The various PIC types
**broken link removed**

Supporting documentation and software: [Added a colon]
**broken link removed**

 

[atferrari]

Hola Mike, Jim, Inq

Regarding the title of this sticky, and thinking like what I believe a newcomer to all this is, I tried, well, googled with few different words and it seems to me that "new", in the realm of a search, is somewhat "misleading" because you have more chances of being directed to anything related to new components, press' news, new technologies and so on, but hardly about to what a newbie should / could do.

Three words that gave straightforward results were "beginner", "newbie" and probably the best, "starting", combined with "electronics".

Maybe all resides on if native or non-native. Not sure myself.

But as my former used always to say, I could be dead wrong.

 

[Mikebits]

Good point, if ETO is concerned with SEO...

 

[JimB]

I have just had a session editing the FAQ.

I have changed the title, gracias Agustin, and implemented many (not all) of the changes suggested by KISS.

Good point, if ETO is concerned with SEO...

What is SEO ?

JimB

 

[JoeJester]

Search Engine Optimization