how to identify ICs

hi

I'm a 3rd year EE and when i read schematics and make a component list i can't really identify what is what-let alone packages and footprints-, whether transistor, or regulator, sometimes even caps. But when i go to the local electronics shop, the seller can identify them all, not only that he also can locate replacements if the component is not there. I feel really imbarrassed because i don't have this knowledge although i'm good at theory and solving problems, but don't have any idea about the real world and what is manufactured by who?!

I know that the seller or any one can not read all the datasheets out there to have this knowledge, that is impossible. Also many companies create components with the same number but with different arrangement, others creat the same components with different numbers. NOW THIS IS OVERWHELMING, but i guess that there is some standard followed, or some document tells componies and sellers what is what and how to name it or the industry would be a mess.

So what i need is to know whether there is such document or standard, and where to find it?

thanx

 

It takes a while to break into the system, so to speak. I have 4 major catalogs and a couple of minor ones, for a total of over 11,000 pages, updated quarterly. It can be overwhelming.

 

Well thanx for your reply Bertus, although i have a remark on your signature and there is a story which supports it. While searching the web for datasheets as usual, i found that site http://www.datasheetarchive.com offering databooks for free. I didn't believe it at first, so i downloaded one or two and it was true the site offered these databooks for free. Because at that time i believed that they will stay there and i could download any of them later when needed, i didn't download more of them.

A year later i needed to find a databook for the very same purpose of my post, to identify devices by thier nomenclature. And for my surprise the site didn't offer them any more, it became a regular datasheet site. A good lesson, when you find something you need to be knowing somewhere in your lifetime learn it, download it, read it do whatever to aquire it....and if you find a duplicate or another place to find it then drop it off your back-that is when you have a choice-because in an ever-fast changing world like the one we live in there are no guarantees.

now with that said if you know a site that provide databooks for free i would be thankful if you told about it.


thanx

 

Take a look at the list we have posted - http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=3246.

 

ok now i know the Digi-Key and Mouser catalogs are for download and i'll try one of them then decide what to do next. i knew a bunch of the sites mentioned in the thread including the first three, but i didn't know that any would offer downloading HIS content.
the site i mentioned earlier offered original databooks from intel, st, national, texas....etc., just like those appearing on the home page of this site http://www.datasheets.org.uk just as a teaser, but the images linked to real pdfs.

now don't get me wrong, i don't want to download every thing my browser could reach and sip the web dry-if i could ever dream of. i just want a structured document to even supply a basis for further research, that's it-not to mention acquiring the whole thing.

i would like also to know what catalogs did you mean by major, and where to get them/how well are they going to fulfil my needs?

thanx

 

It's a secret secret code that only us anointed OF's are privy to.

 

If you get catalogs from Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark, Allied, and Jameco, you should be able to get anything. Or, if they don't have it, you don't need it. Circuit Specialists has better PCB stock, though.

Sorry, almost forgot Richardson for tubes.