Hello Everyone,

It has become increasingly apparent that my busy schedule no longer permits administration of the "Lessons In Electric Circuits" textbook series. As you probably already know, there are entire unfinished chapters that have been that way for years, and despite my best intentions they will likely go unfinished so long as I remain the primary author and project coordinator.

Given the wide acceptance of these books by hobbyists and educators alike, not to mention the demonstrative role they play as a showcase for the power and promise of open-source publishing, it would be a shame to simply abort the project. I need to find qualified persons willing to take control of authorship and project management for these books, and so I have turned to you.

The reasons for my inability to continue as I have in the past are as follows:

(1) I am trying to further my own education in the field of electrical engineering, which is difficult enough given my profession as a full-time teacher.

(2) The "Socratic Electronics" project -- another open-source educational resource for electronics instruction -- has proven to be of greater educational value to my students than the book series, and this project is demanding more and more of my time.

(3) My wife and I plan to build a house in the near future, which is a very necessary component of our future financial independence.

(4) I am still mired in a time-consuming and emotionally exhausting political battle at the college where I work, regarding academic standards and quality of education.

The high quality of administration exhibited by the "All About Circuits" website, combined with the technical competence of the forum moderators, suggests a reasonable group of successors for authorship and project management of the books. Please consider this offer, and let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

Tony Kuphaldt

 

Hi Tony,

Firstly, let me say Thank you for such a superb textbook that you have kindly provided for free to us engineers and hobbyists alike, I am sure I am not alone in saying that I have learnt much from your work, and for this I am greatful.

From a personal perspective, I wouldn't be able to take on the mantle of the textbook with my commitments to my Masters at University, though as anyone knows on these forums, I am always willing to help out where I can. I hope you do find someone to take on the job of completing this superb textbook - both you and it deserve it.

Dave

 

Thanks for the kind words, Dave. It would be unreasonable of me to expect any one person to take on a project of this size, so future control of the books would best fall to a team of individuals. The combined expertise of the AllAboutCircuits moderators and its site administrator(s) suggests a team worthy of the task.

I also wanted to let the site Administrator know that there is a brand-new chapter in the Digital volume (volume 4), from Dennis Crunkilton. It's on Karnaugh Mapping. All I've had time to do is skim the writing, so I can't assure freedom from errors, but it looks like pretty good stuff. In the spirit of open-source development, I decided to release now and debug later.

- Tony

 

Now that Tony has accepted my chapter, I am interested in continuing as a contributing author. I expect to finish the "Shift Register" chapter of the Digital Volume IV in about another month. (I told Toney that the next chapter was going to be the "Combinational Logic" chapter, but that looked like a long chapter to me. Will work on it next.) I may also consider adminstration of the project (note that I left out creative guidance), if no one else is itching to take over that. By that, I mean updating the books in the series, as updates become available.

To do the adminstative part you probably need to be comfortable with the Linux tools that he, and now I, use. For mre deatils see "Contributing to this Project" at http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuit...evel/index.html Though it is possible, in theory, to do it on a windows platform. If anyone has those skills, the desire and the time, go for it.

I am mostly interested in fillling out uncompleted chapters in all volumes, in particular the Digital volume in the short run.


Sincerely,

Dennis Crunkilton

 

Hi,

In Dcrunkilton, I am pleased that some one has taken on the role of taking this project forward. I studied Digital System Design some years back and would be pleased to lend a helping hand in proof-reading your contribution should you require it.

On the whole, I'm sure that my fellow moderators and I would only be to glad to help where possible.

Dave

 

Dave,

I'll let you know when I get the next chapter "Shift Registers" completed.

Dennis

 

First off, i'm really sorry about the late reply. I've been trying my best to stay away from the computer for the summer (I spend far too much time on it during the school year heh)

Tony, I just want to say thank you for all of your hard work. Thousands of people have benefited from your work, and i'm sure they are all very thankful for the amazing job you did.
The best of luck to you, and your future projects!

Personally, I lack the knowledge to help continue with this project, but if I can help out at all, please let me know. I would be happy to setup a new forum section (or just use this one) to provide an area where those who are interested in helping continue the project could communicate.

Dcrunkilton, I just added your Karnaugh Mapping section to this site (sorry about the delay). Awsome job! I received a few emails a week from people wondering why that section is missing, so I know you've made a lot of people happy