Hi everyone,
I'm sure glad I found this forum. Perhaps some of my questions have been asked and answered elsewhere, but I am looking for advice so I can head off in a specific direction.
At the moment I have no knowledge of electronics, except for being able to recognise basic circuits and components that you might find in a high school physics books for example, being able to convert to and from number systems and the very basics of digital logic circuits.
My short term goal is to have a workbench, tools and components to work with so I can do some practical work. I will probably start with kits.
Mid-term, I'd like to be able to design my own circuits with a focus on digital circuits; specifically those found in the computing area. Being able to put together parts found in a microprocessor is what I'd like to do.
Long term is to design and build my own computer system, like Bill's Magic-1 which can be found at his site, http://www.homebrewcpu.com. I am not sure whether I will use 7400 TTL ICs though. Ideally over time I'd also like to be knowledgeable enough to grab a Xilinx or other FPGA kit, implement a microprocessor and understand working with standard I/O like PS/2 for a keyboard, VGA to hook up a monitor and USB to connect a hard drive.
At the moment, if I tried to build anything you could safely assume I'd solder a stray finger to my breadboard.
I'm trying to plan my way ahead and get stuck into it. Here are some books I have and those I plan to get:
Have:
Plan to get:
Does anyone recommend (or not) the books I plan to get? Am I on the right track for where I eventually want to end up, if anyone knows?
Right now I just want to know some really good books to get started with. I'll follow the advice on kits and the tools I'll need at The Electronics Club site: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com. If anyone could add anything to the practical side of things to get me up and running any advice there would be helpful too.
Thanks if you can offer any tips!
I'm sure glad I found this forum. Perhaps some of my questions have been asked and answered elsewhere, but I am looking for advice so I can head off in a specific direction.
At the moment I have no knowledge of electronics, except for being able to recognise basic circuits and components that you might find in a high school physics books for example, being able to convert to and from number systems and the very basics of digital logic circuits.
My short term goal is to have a workbench, tools and components to work with so I can do some practical work. I will probably start with kits.
Mid-term, I'd like to be able to design my own circuits with a focus on digital circuits; specifically those found in the computing area. Being able to put together parts found in a microprocessor is what I'd like to do.
Long term is to design and build my own computer system, like Bill's Magic-1 which can be found at his site, http://www.homebrewcpu.com. I am not sure whether I will use 7400 TTL ICs though. Ideally over time I'd also like to be knowledgeable enough to grab a Xilinx or other FPGA kit, implement a microprocessor and understand working with standard I/O like PS/2 for a keyboard, VGA to hook up a monitor and USB to connect a hard drive.
At the moment, if I tried to build anything you could safely assume I'd solder a stray finger to my breadboard.
I'm trying to plan my way ahead and get stuck into it. Here are some books I have and those I plan to get:
Have:
- Understanding Digital Computers, 2nd Ed., Forrest Mims III.
- Getting Started in Electronics, Forrest Mims III.
- Basic Technical Mathematics with Calculus SI Version, 8th Ed. Allyn Washington.
Plan to get:
- Electricity Demystified, Stan Gibilisco
- Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, Stan Gibilisco
- The Essence of Logic Circuits, 2nd Ed., Stephen Unger
- Digital Systems, Principles and Applications, 10th Ed, Tocci et. al.
- Principles of Electric Circuits, Conventional Flow Version, 9th Ed., Thomas Floyd.
- Digital Fundamentals, 10th Ed, Thomas Floyd. (Suppose having extras would be helpful)
- Complete Digital Design, A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Electronics and Computer Architecture, Mark Balch.
- Various on computer architecture, e.g. Hennessey and Patterson
- Engineering Mathematics, 6th Ed., K. Booth.
- Something good that includes instruction on VHDL and/or Verilog
- MATLAB plus books
- Circuit simulation software
- Practical books for constructing circuits
- Lots of back issues of good popular electronics type magazines
Does anyone recommend (or not) the books I plan to get? Am I on the right track for where I eventually want to end up, if anyone knows?
Right now I just want to know some really good books to get started with. I'll follow the advice on kits and the tools I'll need at The Electronics Club site: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com. If anyone could add anything to the practical side of things to get me up and running any advice there would be helpful too.
Thanks if you can offer any tips!