Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

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Jarn9767
 
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Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

I am a 16 yr old boy that would like to learn electronics. Right now I just do simple computer software fixes. I would appreciate your help since I want to study computer engineering. Thanks in advance!!!!

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

We have a nice tutorial here - have a look and see what you think.
http://learn.adafruit.com/arduino-tutorial

For a more detailed introduction, this site is pretty good:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/index.html

What's your budget for equipment?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Electronics is an applied science: we build stuff, we take measurements, then we try to figure out what the measurements mean.

That cycle -- build, measure, understand -- is the basic step of all electronics. The more you do it, the more you'll learn. The faster you do it, the better you can keep your understanding in sync with your observations.

Books, classes, and prior experience can make the 'understand' step go faster, but they don't replace the 'build' and 'measure' steps. Observations are real knowledge, everything else is guesswork. As you gain experience you'll learn how to make really good guesses.. in fact, being able to predict the value of a measurement before making it is pretty much the definition of being good at any applied science.. but a prediction is only as good as the measurement that validates it.

So teach yourself the habit of making guesses and taking measurements to test them. When you solder a resistor into a PCB, figure out what voltage, current, or resistance you should see and measure to make sure the circuit does what you expect. When you read about circuits or components, zero in on some piece you can build and measure, then build it and measure it. Once you think you understand that, add another piece or two and do it all again.

Make a habit of writing things down. Your notebook is as important a tool as your soldering iron or multimeter. It's easy to tinker with a circuit until it does something interesting (or stops working at all) then realize you have no idea how you got there. Write down a description of the next measurement you plan to make, your prediction for the value, and the actual value you got. Once you get done at the bench, go through your notes and figure out what you did.

Highlight the places where the measurement didn't match your prediction. Those are the fenceposts that mark the boundaries of your understanding. Let your first prediction for any new circuit be "I have no idea" and your second be "the measurement I got last time". That's enough of a framework to get you started. Keep a list of "measurements I don't understand" and use that to guide your study. Never let a measurement you don't understand go unrecorded, don't rest until you've cleared each item off the list, and when your list is empty go find new ways to fill it up again.

There are very few interesting measurements you can make without instruments, so get them and learn how to use them. Instruments only give you useful information about a circuit within their limits though, so learn what the limits are, why they exist, and how to arrange things so you can get meaningful information from the instruments you have. You'll learn a lot about electronics just doing that.

Start with whatever tools you can afford and acquire more expensive ones when you just can't get the measurements you need from the ones you have. My Fluke 87 multimeter cost $400, but I need it to measure circuits with more than 10M of resistance. My B&K 40,000 count meter cost $130, but I need it to get measurements accurate to 10uV without passing the signal through some kind of amplifier.

My instruments of choice for general "what's going on here?" measurements are $7-10 hardware-store analog multimeters though.. the numerical precision sucks, but a swinging needle is closer to being an oscilloscope than any digital readout. I can afford to connect half a dozen of them to a circuit and measure several things at once (an important skill to learn), and if one of the needles does something interesting, I can decide which of the more expensive instruments will tell me what's happening at that point.

The better you get at predicting measurements, the better you'll be able to run the process backwards.. designing circuits that will give you the appropriate measurements where you want them. The more circuits you design, the more you'll learn about the kids of measurements you *want* to make when designing circuits, and then you can learn how to design for those.

For books, start with _Getting Started in Electronics_ by Forest Mims: http://www.adafruit.com/products/517 He has a knack for making the "build it and see what it does" parts fun, and gives you enough theory to understand what the circuits do.

Then try _Practical Electronics for Inventors_ http://www.adafruit.com/products/1261 That gives you more general theory.

Once you're through that, get a copy of _The Art of Electronics_ when you can http://www.adafruit.com/products/309 It's a combination of general theory and specific information about kinds of components that you need when doing circuit design.

Mostly though, just make stuff and have fun. The learning happens automatically.

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

I'm looking foward on all these links & your experiences. Thank you so much! Hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve.

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

I got a Apple iMac G3/233 Original - Bondi (Rev. A & B), here's a link http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/i ... ac_ab.html and it doesn't want to boot up my initial guess was the software and with research it may be 80% of the problem but it does not have a cd optic drive what would you suggest me to do. I completely opened the mac everything looked fine also replaced a small battery that could had been the problem in research. I was wondering if there is a way for me to try different part like taking the hard drive out and putting it in a different computer in order to install the software but its connector is different from any other connectors any help.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

It doesn't boot? Do you get the startup chimes when you turn the power on? You should get a single chord. If you get multiple tones (or no sound at all) then the computer has a hardware problem.

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

It does have its normal start up chime, and then nothing else the power button which is supposed to turn green stays orange.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Nothing on the screen, then. Hmmm. If it couldn't find a bootable drive, then it would at least put up a screen telling you that. Did you just get this? Those computers had issues with the video board, as I recall. I'm thinking that your video board is dead.

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

This Mac was given to me damaged and got it running for just on time later it didn't run which I am 75% sure it is the software but I have a problem it has no cd optical drive and it is off by budget to get the original but I do have an external one as internal but the cable are different any suggestion.
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Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

If it could be the video board how can I make sure it is that?

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Have you got an Apple store nearby?

What was that in the picture? Is that your extra CDROM drive?

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

No that is the original cd drive but if you need any pictures please let me know and there is no actual apple store in Puerto Rico only a certified store. I really want to have experiences that is why I am trying hard to find a solution.If you would like here is my email just in case: [email protected]

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

What kind of interface does your external drive have? USB? FireWire? Either of those ought to work with the iMac. If you want to actually install the external into the iMac, you'll have to take it apart. It should have a compatible interface internally.

But I really think your iMac is broken. I don't think it's a software problem.

There must be some sort of Apple repair depot or Apple reseller in Puerto Rico. It's tough for me to tell you anything without having the iMac in front of me. You really ought to take it to a repair shop.

Jarn9767
 
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Re: Can anyone help me! Suggestions to learn!

Post by Jarn9767 »

Thank you so much for your help I know it is almost impossible to tell me what is wrong without looking at it. I'll see what I can do.

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