Retrogamer09
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Hi,

Basically, I am really interested in understanding why if I am going to add a LED to a gameboy I have to use a resistor for example.

Modding gameboys is something that has really caught my attention but not knowing basic stuff like what a resistor is, what a capacitor is, etc makes me feel powerless.

I really want to know if there is a book that I can read to learn about the basics of electronics, etc so I can be knowledgeable in the future.

I know most of you guys have great skills with electronics, I do not know if you took courses or learned with a book, but I really need an advise.

Thanks

boaconstructor
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Seattle, WA US

Lol books are gay

12ianma
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The best book, google. Seriously. It's free and can answer extremely specific things. Wikipedia actually has good articles about most components.

neilbaldwin
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WOW MAN!
boaconstructor wrote:

Lol books are gay

In the interests of balance, there are heterosexual books available too.

boaconstructor
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Seattle, WA US

o_O

kitsch
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matt's mind
12ianma wrote:

The best book, google. Seriously. It's free and can answer extremely specific things. Wikipedia actually has good articles about most components.

yeah, this.  it sound like sarcastic advise, but its the best source! 

there are tutorials to do certain tasks everywhere, depending on what you want to learn

also, if you've got a community college around, check out the courses offered a lot of them have classes on some entry-level things, avoid the high-voltage classes, they don't apply to you (for the a/c mechanics and stuff).

if you don't have a strong match/science background, there are other more informal ways to learn outside of school, the internet is the best place just wandering around.  type in your question and go!

Retrogamer09
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Allright, I definitely understand what you guys mean when you said go google it! ; however, If you do not have a project in mind nor a specific question but what you want to know is the basics of electronics, I mean I can go and google resistor because I know that exists and it is important but I know there are a lot of other devices that I am not even aware of that I could never google because I do not know them.

So, I was wondering if there is a source where you go and can start learning from the pretty basic stuff, something that will start explaining about the different things I should know but I am not aware of.

Google is usefull If I know already what I am looking for, But what I want to know really is what I am not aware of yet!

And well if books are gay for some people then why don´t you show me the  heterosexual way you used to learn this?

Dr Treble
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Orange County, CA
Retrogamer09 wrote:

Allright, I definitely understand what you guys mean when you said go google it! ; however, If you do not have a project in mind nor a specific question but what you want to know is the basics of electronics, I mean I can go and google resistor because I know that exists and it is important but I know there are a lot of other devices that I am not even aware of that I could never google because I do not know them.

So, I was wondering if there is a source where you go and can start learning from the pretty basic stuff, something that will start explaining about the different things I should know but I am not aware of.

Google is usefull If I know already what I am looking for, But what I want to know really is what I am not aware of yet!

And well if books are gay for some people then why don´t you show me the  heterosexual way you used to learn this?

I've found practice makes perfect and perfect practice is easy practice which are basic projects like Backlighting or something like that. Grab yourself a soldering iron and practice on stuff you won't be devastated to mess up :3
And guides for that kinda stuff are a dime a dozen. I say as they're free. But seriously there's alot of easy stuff and really specific guides for it. So yeah.

Last edited by Dr Treble (Sep 23, 2012 9:23 pm)

kitsch
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matt's mind

it really may help to have some guiding principle though because its a huge world in electronics, so if you don't know specifics about what you'd like to learn, and just want to learn general things, something like an arduino may be up your alley,

its a great way to get into programming and hardware, and there are a shit ton of tutorials out there, and a very warm/large community.

arduino.cc, they're pretty cheap and you can use them as the core of your electronics journey and reap some awesome benefits in the end...

check out the tutorials on that site too, they tell you step-by-step what to do, what parts to get, and what these parts are (and in many cases, what they 'do' in your circuit)

Retrogamer09
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Thanks Matt, That sounds really good!

Thanks for your advise!


kitsch wrote:

it really may help to have some guiding principle though because its a huge world in electronics, so if you don't know specifics about what you'd like to learn, and just want to learn general things, something like an arduino may be up your alley,

its a great way to get into programming and hardware, and there are a shit ton of tutorials out there, and a very warm/large community.

arduino.cc, they're pretty cheap and you can use them as the core of your electronics journey and reap some awesome benefits in the end...

check out the tutorials on that site too, they tell you step-by-step what to do, what parts to get, and what these parts are (and in many cases, what they 'do' in your circuit)

basspuddle
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washington
boaconstructor wrote:

Lol books are gay

This is the best post in the history of this website.

12ianma
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Not kidding, go to a RadioShack and get one of those project books. they honestly will help you get a grasp of electronic basics. Or sign up for the instructables newsletter, and give a go at one of the projects that is featured. the basics in electronics are relatively easy to learn, things like current voltage and resistance. With two you can always find the third.

Make some simple led circuits out of a battery holder from a place like RadioShack or FRYZ (think that's what it's called. None locally more out west) and then some LEDs from there as well. A big old pack of cheaply resistors of all different values does not cost much there either.

Tim
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North Carolina

http://www.nicolascollins.com/handmade.htm (I got to this via recommendation by little scale, whose blog is also full of goodies)

animalstyle
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killadelphia

I learned from Electronics for Dummies - no shit

lots of pictures and easy as hell explanation

it also builds nicely unlike endless google searching

I might have a PDF laying around...

Last edited by animalstyle (Sep 24, 2012 12:02 am)

Retrogamer09
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animalstyle wrote:

I learned from Electronics for Dummies - no shit

lots of pictures and easy as hell explanation

it also builds nicely unlike endless google searching

I might have a PDF laying around...


Perfect, Would you share that PDF with me?

please please!!