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I get free shipping from Jameco for in stock items. Minimum online order is $10 USD. Resistors are typically 100 for $4.

http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/content/free-shipping-club-electronic-components.html?CID=HPFreeShippingClub

The SN74HCT00N is cheaper ($0.25) than the plain old 7400 ($1.29).

SN74HCT00N: http://www.jameco.com/z/SN74HCT00N-Texas-Instruments-NAND-Gate-4-Element-2-Input-CMOS-14-Pin-PDIP_815402.html
7400: http://www.jameco.com/z/7400-Major-Brands-QUAD-2-INPUT-POSITIVE-NAND-GATE-DIP-14_48979.html

The SN74HCT00N is cheaper ($0.25) than the plain old 7400 ($1.29).

SN74HCT00N: http://www.jameco.com/z/SN74HCT00N-Texas-Instruments-NAND-Gate-4-Element-2-Input-CMOS-14-Pin-PDIP_815402.html
7400: http://www.jameco.com/z/7400-Major-Brands-QUAD-2-INPUT-POSITIVE-NAND-GATE-DIP-14_48979.html

Or you can order through Jameco.

http://www.jameco.com/

If you spend $25+ on your order, you get free shipment on your next order.

http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Content/free-shipping-club-electronic-components.html

Or you can order through Jameco.

http://www.jameco.com/

If you spend $25+ on your order, you get free shipment on your next order.

http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Content/free-shipping-club-electronic-components.html

Alas, Jameco doesn't carry the part. Which is a shame. Since Jameco is in the next county over from Silicon Valley, my orders typically arrive in the next day mail.

The big chunky electronic parts are still around. The Internet is your friend in rediscovering your lost childhood. Here are some links to get started.

http://www.jameco.com/
http://www.555-timer-circuits.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

*sigh* Corrected link.

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2224243_-1

Microsoft's contribution to this kit is Windows 10 Lite OS installed on the memory card. Jameco sells a similar kit for $60. If you're willing to scrounge around for individual parts, you might put together a identical kit that cost less.

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2156164_-1

Here's a product review of a handful of small, inexpensive oscilloscopes. http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/w... They look kind of handy compared to my ancient HP.

"I've been looking into getting a Raspberry Pi, but I end up needing a case, a display, and some way to power it, and wanting some degree of portability. It seems to me that even the most outdated cellphone has far superior features (screen, touch screen, Wifi, 3g/4g camera(s), battery etc) in a much better form factor. The only thing that is missing are the digital/analog in/out pins. So why not flip it around and make a USB or bluetooth peripheral board with just the pins? I've been looking for this and can't find any, but does anyone know of any in the corners of the internet? I don't care what phone platform."

I think this might be adaptable. Although its original intent was as an XBee interface, the catalog explicitly states it can be used for USB-to-TTL. Presumably by tapping the points where the ZBee's GPIO pins break out:

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2159285_-1

I'm surprised nobody has made any 'Dysan' style bladeless computer fans. Probably higher power, but close to silent. Based on Apple's slimy patenting of magnetic power cord attachment (which had been used in other places for many years), it's probably patentable.

not really bladeless. It's only bladeless if you include "can't see the blades that are there" as part of your definition of bladeless. There is an impeller fan concealed in the base of every dyson air mover.

Relays have voltage and current limits as well.

Indeed, in line voltage applications, you also need to consider the type of load. A purely resistive load, like a space heater, is the easiest on the relays since all they'll see is whatever voltage and current the heater runs on. Other items, like compact fluorescent bulbs, contain capacitors which will charge instantly when power is applied, which creates a brief spike in current flow at a time when the relay contacts are most susceptible to damage (when they're not fully engaged). Even worse are inductive loads as they are capable of creating much higher voltages when power is disconnected.

To make things worse, relays are often marked for loads they can't handle. For example, when building a bank of switched outlets, I first used some cheap relays marked "6A 300VAC" which one might expect to be just fine for switching less than half an amp of compact fluorescent bulbs. However, it took only ten minutes for relays to begin failing. One might say it was because of the inrush of current when the bulbs are first connected to power, but I suspect the problem was simply that the relays weren't actually good for such a load even if it were purely resistive. You have to consider the effects that high voltages will have on the relay contacts when they open and close. Anyway, I replaced the relays with some of these, though I believe they were closer to $5 a piece when I bought them, and I never had a problem after that.

Anyway, I wouldn't assume a switched outlet is good for any sort of load that it isn't specified to handle, and even for those it is, I'd still be suspicious.

It seems designed for the electronics hobbyist, given that it comes with no case, no wall-wart, and no cable. Electronics hobbyists have that stuff in a box somewhere, so paying for it again would just kind of waste their money.

However, from the point of view of an electronics hobbyist, I just look at the web site and think "where the fuck is the datasheet?" I don't order $1 parts, let alone $25 parts, without first looking into what kind of bullshit is involved in using it.

I see it has some GPIO pins, but there's no mention of their capabilities (analog/digital, are they all I/O capable or only some input and some output, etc.) and so I'm left to guess that I could probably do something with it. I guess.

However, I can also look at the datasheet for an AT89S52 and see exactly what's involved in using it, and at $1.75 a piece, I can order a dozen of them for $25 so if I break a few it's no big deal. ...and I did, and they're quite useful little things. At $1 a piece (they were cheaper when I bought them) you can toss one into any project. I used one along with an FT245RL to build a USB programmer for the chips (which I programmed via my parallel port since I didn't have a programmer yet). Since then I've generally be using them to interface with my computer, by connecting them to FT245RL and programming them to read from SPI ADC chips or some other digital chips. They're actually quite ideal for filling the gap between a PC and the electronics world. PCs lack I/O ports, and generally aren't very good at real time tasks. The little CPU in the AT89S52 can do real-time tasks then send the data off to the PC via the FT245RL which has a 64-byte buffer. I once used it to build an eight channel EEG, with it simply doing the timing so that the samples were read at the correct rate, and driving the SPI bus of the ADC chips. ...and that in-circuit programmability is wonderful since, if my code doesn't work, I just type new code and run the command to program it -- I don't even have to touch the electronics.

However, as for the Raspberry Pi, I don't know what I'd do with it. Presently I'm using one of the AT89S52 to gather wet/dry bulb measurements to monitor humidity levels. The data is sent to my computer, where ploticus turns it into a graph that an HTML page in my web browser constantly refreshes. I suppose I could try to do that, but the Raspberry Pi has no RTC, and thus can't properly collect the data without another computer involved. So either way I have to use my PC, and the Pi costs $35 (if I want that network port so I can get the time) or $25 and some clever hack to let it communicate with my computer to send the data there since it has no way to time stamp it. ...or I can use my AT89S52 + FT245RL solution for about $6. (Hey, if the Pi can ignore the costs of cables, power supplies, and SD cards, I can ignore the cost of a USB socket, cable, power supply, and a home-made circuit board. ...or actually, I don't even need the power supply because those two chips aren't going to draw 100 mA, so it can be USB powered.)

I do see people on the internet amused by using an Arduino to make an LED flash. Perhaps the Pi is marketed towards those types.

I can personally recommend these: http://www.dfrobot.com/ http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/robot/robotstore.html http://www.societyofrobots.com/

(Just as a side note: the electronics hobbyist community has gotten used to dealing with surface-mount parts.)

Also check out:

Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/ (Sells arduino and other microcontrollers, as well as "heathkit-like" solder-it-yourself electronics kits).

Dangerous Prototypes: http://dangerousprototypes.com/ (Among other things, they were involved with designing a naked-board, 16-channel w/12K sample depth, 100 megasample/sec digital logic analyzer -- for US$50. Then some guy took the firmware and added as many features that he could based upon an HP 16550a timing logic analyzer.)

Seeedstudio: http://www.seeedstudio.com/ (they're a store that sells cool hardware for arduino and others -- I think they're in China, though)

Digikey for all sorts of electronic parts: http://www.digikey.com/

Jameco Electronics for parts and electronic kits: http://www.jameco.com/

Save the receipts from your component purchases in electronic form so you can search them. This is handy not just for reordering but also if you want the exact part number (to look up the specs) which might not be easily determined by looking at the part.

Finally if you are collecting SMT chip caps/resistors, diodes and transistors, you can use these flip-top cases which let you store 128 different values in a small space. http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_164267_-1 There isn't much room for labeling so these are best for resistors and caps where you just need to indicate a value for each item, and the other details for the family can be labeled on the outside of the case.

Save the receipts from your component purchases in electronic form so you can search them. This is handy not just for reordering but also if you want the exact part number (to look up the specs) which might not be easily determined by looking at the part.

Finally if you are collecting SMT chip caps/resistors, diodes and transistors, you can use these flip-top cases which let you store 128 different values in a small space. http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_164267_-1 There isn't much room for labeling so these are best for resistors and caps where you just need to indicate a value for each item, and the other details for the family can be labeled on the outside of the case.

That's excellent. They're the right size, the smallest I've seen. However, in 10,000 quantities they cost $2.65. I'm surprised they are so expensive. That's more than the cost of an entire 8088 microprocessor.

We don't need a lot of functionality. We just need the RFID chip to say, "Hi, I'm 5633984." Or, whatever number was permanently assigned.

P4s? Pah, new kid on the block. Here, have a 6502. Only $6!

My favorite electronics components store has something like that. Or did a few years back, when I was in the Bay area on other business and stopped by one afternoon.

Their "storefront" was the front of their warehouse, a waiting-room looking area with a couple of registers and some assorted other folks behind a counter. The seating area, and the counter top, had current and recent copies of their paper catalog and big stacks of order forms.

Pick up an order form, page through the catalog, fill in your order, hand it to one of the nice folks behind the counter who goes back to the warehouse to pull your order.

A few minutes later, the nice person comes back with a basket full of your order. You have it rung up at the counter, pay, and leave with the goodies (in a plastic shopping bag, if I recall).

This is a place that almost certainly must have done most of its retail business electronically via web or email, even that long ago. So a brick-and-mortar retail nexus is entirely possible, as long as you're not a just-in-time no-inventory middleman kind of retailer.

license, so that a EE can pass with flying colors without studying.

Do they still require the person to be able to build their own transceiver? Or is it just a bunch of regulations entry level licenses require? If it's just regulations I wonder why they even bother. I'd need to review or study but I want to relearn, because of an accident my memory was damaged, how to build radios. I picked up an electronics learning lab for this, unfortunately all I could find was a digital lab, I didn't see any analogue labs. However I only went to local shops, if I look online such as at Jameco I probably would find analogue labs, but I'd rather be able to return it locally if it doesn't work. I used to like going to Skycraft in Orlando, FL, but I moved away and don't know of any places like it locally.

Falcon

I would suggest a project that is simple enough to understand, yet has a demonstrable practical circuit that they may choose to use after the class is over. One idea that quickly comes to mind is a simple (2-3-transistor or 2-3-per-channel (stereo)) audio amplifier, suitable to powering a small speaker, with a jack to connect to MP3 player.

It demonstrates one of two basic modes of operation for transistors, one of the most important semiconductor devices (diodes and ICs are others) that is a building block for analog (and digital) electronics. The other mode is when the transistor acts as a switch BTW.

You can cover electron and conventional current flow, waves (sound), and feedback as physics topics.

For the parts, using a mail-order suppler like Digi-Key, Mouser, or Jameco (US / Canada) you should be able to buy the parts for about $5 including the connector and a small speaker.

See Simple 3 Transistor Audio Amp (50 milliwatt) from Bill Bowden's hobby circuits web site.

The interface could be problematic, but somebody will have the means to read the data off of the EPROM into our quantum-tunneling diamond-substrate 100GHz personal computer interface devices. Or that dusty Pentium 2GHz non-DRM computer in the basement.

Getting Started in Electronics is starting to show its age, in so far as some of the parts used (UJTs) in the projects are not so easy to find, and neglects the large growth area of microcontrollers which can be cheaper than discontinued ICs.

Practical Electronics for Inventors suffers from a large number of errors, mostly typographical, but as a self-taught learning aid, this is frustrating.

My personal favorite beginning book for electronics suitable for adults is Guide to Understanding Electricity and Electronics by Randy Slone (ISBN 0071360573). Not without its own flaws, but contains a nice balance of theory and hands-on practical learning exercises that I feel comfortable recommending it. Another which I do not have a copy of myself, is Understanding Basic Electronics by ARRL. It may be somewhat geared towards RF topics, because it is published by the national USA amateur radio organization, but because they have most of the amateur radio topics covered in another textbook, it should be suitable for general electronics.

The next part is usage of discrete digital logic is now minimal being replaced by programming logic devices like PALs, FPGAs, or microcontrollers like Atmel's AVR and Microchip's PIC, to name only two of the most popular 8-bit microcontrollers available.

Jameco is maybe the most beginner friendly mail-order storefront. Their dead tree catalog is small enough you can find what you are looking for, even if you don't know everything about it. Their prices are reasonable, far cheaper than buying everything from Radio Shack, and you can easier expand to use Digikey, Mouser, Newark, and the hundreds of various surplus (typically new overstock / old stock, but not always) electronics websites. Octopart.com and FindChips.com help finding parts. There is another meta-search but I don't find as useful to amateurs.

Looking at hobbyist robotic, and amateur radio websites, as they have sub-interests within them that are oriented towards electronics. You may even find a local club in your area.

Magazines like Nuts'n'Volts, Servo, and CircuitCellar, Make magazine are good sources for hobbyist friendly resources.

No one kit, and no one book is enough to satisfy most people's self-taught education in electronics. Just as no one book will teach you everything to know about computers (TAOCP?)

jameco.com and digikey.com both sell resistor, capacitor, and transistor assortments, where you get a bag that has 1000 or so components of various values. Sometimes you can even get them in nice individually-labelled drawer sets. It's much more convenient than trying to buy them on your own.
here's an example of a jameco assortment. yeah, that's a bit expensive, but believe me you will appreciate it once you've tried buying things in small quantities.
It's harder to justify kits of capacitors since you don't know what type you're going to need.

Ask yourself what you want to learn. Radio stuff is different than analog stuff, is different than digital/interface stuff, is (somewhat) different than power stuff. If you like digital, an assortment of 74-series chips might be worthwhile.

IMHO, even though I work for the company that invented the 741, and we use the curve tracer that Bob Widlar used to characterize it, it's a pretty obsolete item. There are so many good opamps out there, that do a fabulous job for the same price.

For transistors I'd recommend a bunch of 2n2222's. They'll get you the hang of what works and what doesn't. FET's are better than transistors: they work the way you think transistors should. Any IRF will work well. Snag is: if you touch the gate lead, the one that controls whether the FET is on or off, chances are you'll fry it from your body's built-up voltage. Treat them very carefully: only work with them when your body's grounded. Same goes with most digital IC's.

Parent's right: you need power supplies. You can't do anything without them and batteries just won't cut it.
Find some old AT-style supplies. You can use an ATX but you have to jigger it to get it to run: it won't just run by itself (in my experience) so you have to jumper across some wires so it thinks it's driving a load. That'll give you +12 and +5 volts. If you need some other voltage buy some LM338 adjustable regulators and some 47 uF electrolytic caps. You put 12v into the LM338 and add a variable resistor and a cap across the output and you can get anything from about 1 volt up to about 10 volts on a 12v supply. It's a cheap way to make a reasonable adjustable source. If you're going to be trying to get 4 amps out of it you'll need a heatsink.

It's nice to get a grab bag of LED's and diodes: sometimes they come in useful. Always put a current-limit resistor in series with an LED. You'll never go wrong with a 1K resistor soldered to one leg of the LED: that way you nearly can't fry it.

Read hack-a-day and see what other people are doing. Check out back issues of nuts-n-volts magazine at a local library. Read the Forrest Mims engineer notebooks. Look at places like epanorama.net or web-ee.com and see what they offer. There is an overwhelming amount of material free for the taking.

The relay I'm most familiar with is just under one cubic inch and dissipates about 150mW during operation, based on my own measurements -- 5V@20mA is not sufficient to latch it, but 30mA is.
It's this relay, which, admittedly, is a monster power relay.

Point being, I think the truth is somewhere between the two positions. This thing's drawing an eighth of a watt and it's a *tiny* relay, physically, but it's vast overkill for any relay you'd find in any consumer electronics device outside heaters and ovens.

And your pun is reVolting: all it does is hAmper your argument. Seriously, cohm on: you can do better.

Here is your kit:
Part 1
Part 2

Good Luck :)

Here is your kit:
Part 1
Part 2

Good Luck :)

As an EE who started off with one of those 50-in-one kits when I was 8, I have a few recommendations. I had a 200-in-one, but the more impressive projects on it required so many wires it was nigh-impossible to get things to stay working. Put one in and two fall out.

You can start with one of those kits, but once you get to the point where you'll really learn what you're doing, go look for books and kits separately. Look for books by Forrest Mims III and Don Lancaster (TTL Cookbook and CMOS Cookbook are classics). Check their sites out as well.

As for parts sources, for online shopping, I'd recommend Digi-Key. Jameco is a little pricey, but they have some really interesting parts, including a lot of older stuff. All Electronics is a place I used to buy from a lot; they have a lot of manufacturer surplus parts, so it's kind of like shopping in a flea market or surplus auction. Another surplus shop is MPJA. Newark and Mouser are good places to look when you want some specific part that Digi-Key doesn't have.

For starters, you'll want to buy a modular breadboard, and one of the pre-cut wire kits for them. Or, if you want to blow some more dough, you might want to get one of the Analog Design Lab or Digital Design Lab things that has a bunch of things like power supplies, LEDs, and switches integrated into it already. Also look for parts assortments, like resistor and capacitor assortments (e.g. Digi-Key items RS125-ND and PHD1-KIT-ND). If you're going to be doing digital work, you'll probably want to get lots (20 or so) of 10K resistors (for pullups) and 0.1 uF capacitors (for decoupling).

Radio Shack is where you go as a last resort. Their selection is lousy and prices are worse.

As an EE who started off with one of those 50-in-one kits when I was 8, I have a few recommendations. I had a 200-in-one, but the more impressive projects on it required so many wires it was nigh-impossible to get things to stay working. Put one in and two fall out.

You can start with one of those kits, but once you get to the point where you'll really learn what you're doing, go look for books and kits separately. Look for books by Forrest Mims III and Don Lancaster (TTL Cookbook and CMOS Cookbook are classics). Check their sites out as well.

As for parts sources, for online shopping, I'd recommend Digi-Key. Jameco is a little pricey, but they have some really interesting parts, including a lot of older stuff. All Electronics is a place I used to buy from a lot; they have a lot of manufacturer surplus parts, so it's kind of like shopping in a flea market or surplus auction. Another surplus shop is MPJA. Newark and Mouser are good places to look when you want some specific part that Digi-Key doesn't have.

For starters, you'll want to buy a modular breadboard, and one of the pre-cut wire kits for them. Or, if you want to blow some more dough, you might want to get one of the Analog Design Lab or Digital Design Lab things that has a bunch of things like power supplies, LEDs, and switches integrated into it already. Also look for parts assortments, like resistor and capacitor assortments (e.g. Digi-Key items RS125-ND and PHD1-KIT-ND). If you're going to be doing digital work, you'll probably want to get lots (20 or so) of 10K resistors (for pullups) and 0.1 uF capacitors (for decoupling).

Radio Shack is where you go as a last resort. Their selection is lousy and prices are worse.

As an EE who started off with one of those 50-in-one kits when I was 8, I have a few recommendations. I had a 200-in-one, but the more impressive projects on it required so many wires it was nigh-impossible to get things to stay working. Put one in and two fall out.

You can start with one of those kits, but once you get to the point where you'll really learn what you're doing, go look for books and kits separately. Look for books by Forrest Mims III and Don Lancaster (TTL Cookbook and CMOS Cookbook are classics). Check their sites out as well.

As for parts sources, for online shopping, I'd recommend Digi-Key. Jameco is a little pricey, but they have some really interesting parts, including a lot of older stuff. All Electronics is a place I used to buy from a lot; they have a lot of manufacturer surplus parts, so it's kind of like shopping in a flea market or surplus auction. Another surplus shop is MPJA. Newark and Mouser are good places to look when you want some specific part that Digi-Key doesn't have.

For starters, you'll want to buy a modular breadboard, and one of the pre-cut wire kits for them. Or, if you want to blow some more dough, you might want to get one of the Analog Design Lab or Digital Design Lab things that has a bunch of things like power supplies, LEDs, and switches integrated into it already. Also look for parts assortments, like resistor and capacitor assortments (e.g. Digi-Key items RS125-ND and PHD1-KIT-ND). If you're going to be doing digital work, you'll probably want to get lots (20 or so) of 10K resistors (for pullups) and 0.1 uF capacitors (for decoupling).

Radio Shack is where you go as a last resort. Their selection is lousy and prices are worse.

As an EE who started off with one of those 50-in-one kits when I was 8, I have a few recommendations. I had a 200-in-one, but the more impressive projects on it required so many wires it was nigh-impossible to get things to stay working. Put one in and two fall out.

You can start with one of those kits, but once you get to the point where you'll really learn what you're doing, go look for books and kits separately. Look for books by Forrest Mims III and Don Lancaster (TTL Cookbook and CMOS Cookbook are classics). Check their sites out as well.

As for parts sources, for online shopping, I'd recommend Digi-Key. Jameco is a little pricey, but they have some really interesting parts, including a lot of older stuff. All Electronics is a place I used to buy from a lot; they have a lot of manufacturer surplus parts, so it's kind of like shopping in a flea market or surplus auction. Another surplus shop is MPJA. Newark and Mouser are good places to look when you want some specific part that Digi-Key doesn't have.

For starters, you'll want to buy a modular breadboard, and one of the pre-cut wire kits for them. Or, if you want to blow some more dough, you might want to get one of the Analog Design Lab or Digital Design Lab things that has a bunch of things like power supplies, LEDs, and switches integrated into it already. Also look for parts assortments, like resistor and capacitor assortments (e.g. Digi-Key items RS125-ND and PHD1-KIT-ND). If you're going to be doing digital work, you'll probably want to get lots (20 or so) of 10K resistors (for pullups) and 0.1 uF capacitors (for decoupling).

Radio Shack is where you go as a last resort. Their selection is lousy and prices are worse.

The question is basically, "If there were a DRM system that didn't do the things that DRM does, would you be opposed to it?"

My answer is still yes, for at least the following reasons:

1. It adds to the non-recurring engineering costs of digital media devices. When you design a device that handles media, you have to pay your engineers deal with the DRM aspect of it.
2. It adds to the unit costs of digital media devices. You have to add extra/more powerful hardware to every device in order to do the encryption or whatnot.
3. It stifles innovation. Right now, you can pick up the parts for a new device from your favourite electronics distributor (e.g. Digi-Key, Jameco, etc), and build a digital media device. With DRM, the parts you need will necessarily not be available to you. Even if the parts were available (which they wouldn't be), there would likely be legal barriers to entry into the market. All of this spells doom for small-budget inventors.

Bottom line: DRM is bad for consumers.

• Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics (4th ed.) by Stan Gibilisco
• Guide to Understanding Electricity and Electronics by G. Randy Slone
• Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III
• The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - IMHO an excellent reference, not as useful for the newbie
• Basic Electronics by Bernard Grob
• Understanding Basic Electronics by Larry D. Wolfgang
• Practical Electronics for Inventors (2nd ed.) by Paul Scherz

The first thing to realise there are plenty of technology related hobbyists around the world, although most are not high profile and some may be different very different demographics than yourself.

Some (hobby) groups to consider looking towards for ideas and help include: woodworkers, metalworkers (hobbyists using micromills and mini-lathes from TaigTools and Sherline, etc.), model railroads, model aircrafts (static and RC), robotics, amateur radio (ham), 2600, LUGs, and Artist Run Centres/Communities

Random list of some I use or know of:
  Make magazine http://www.makezine.com/
  Instructables http://www.instructables.com/
  ARRL http://www.arrl.org/
  http://www.sparkfun.com/ (check out their tutorials)
  http://www.fpga4fun.com/ / http://www.knjn.com/
  QRP-L http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qrp-l/>
  GQRP http://www.gqrp.com/
  http://www.pololu.com/ (cheap stencils laser cut, e.g. 3x4 for $32)
  http://www.diyaudio.com/
  http://www.digikey.com/ (if you're still buying electronics from Radio Shack, get these 3 catalogs now!)
  http://www.mouser.com/
  http://www.jameco.com/
  the ton of various surplus/NOS dealers online
  http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
  http://www.seattlerobotics.org/
  http://www.chibots.org/index.php
  DorkBot
  http://eyebeam.org/production/production.php?page= tools
  MIT CBA FAB http://fab.cba.mit.edu/
  http://www.leevalley.com/
  http://www.smallparts.com/
  http://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/
  http://www.wmberg.com/
  http://www.acklandsgrainger.com/
  http://www.grainger.com/
  http://www.onlinemetals.com/
  http://www.amqrp.com/
  http://www.princessauto.com/
  http://www.sherline.com/
  http://www.taigtools.com/

Get 1 thermally insulating box (with sub-divisions), 2 fans, a power supply (AC-DC), and some of these:

http://jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Produc tDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&p roductId=172056

and you're set. You use one fan to cool the hot side, and the other to blow air over the cold side to distribute the cold air.

If you find the right geometry for the box it might just be efficient.

Sounds like a good course... I wish I had something like that when i was in highschool :). Anyways, for parts, http://digikey.com/ is probably the best. You might also want to check out http://jameco.com/. If you're teaching robotics, you'll probably want some simple MCUs to teach basic microcontroller concepts with. I would suggest a simple PIC micro from http://microchip.com/ or better yet a BASIC stamp from http://www.parallax.com/

I really have to wonder where people actually use these.

• Digi-Key (USA and Canada). Flat cheap shipping, sell most things in small quantities.
• Mouser.
• Jameco, although Jameco have crappy shipping to canada.
• Newark.

As well, there are a few off-axis surplus places (allelectronics.com, for example) that have super deals on things compared to the big suppliers, but less selection. Do you know a good surplus place? Add it to this thread!

radioshack? *coughradioshackisevilcough*

Your idea of using surplus is only good is you have whatever said surplus already laying around. I don't happen to have any of the old parts you mention (gameboys, zip drives, scanner, etc.) lying around, or you have a large enough surplus supply (electronic goldmine, ocean state electronics, ebay but prices get whacked quickly) on the market.

Experimenting with cheap 8-bit microcontrollers such as Microchip's PIC or Atmel's AVRs is quite cheap, and typically all you need is a chip and one (really cheap if want) device - a programmer to transfer the (binary/hex) programs from your PC to the microcontroller's flash memory.

You will quickly outgrow Radio Shack unless you need a part right now and you don't have the right one in your own stock pile, often referred to as a "junk box" regardless of actual physical size. You should be getting the free catalogs (or CDs) from Digikey, Mouser, Newark, and Jameco. These all have usable online ordering systems and reasonable minimum order & shipping fees. UK geeks check G3SEK's UK Component and Tool Suppliers web page.

Many useful projects can be made for less than $100 even if you need to buy all the parts. After you build a collection of common parts (common resistors, capacitor values, PIC 16F628, AVR AT90S2313, red & green LEDs, 2N2222A, 2N3904, 2N3906, 2N4401, 2N4403, 2N4416, 4N25, 1N4148, 1N4001, 1N4007, etc.) and tools this cost will go down.

The real question is do they assume a general audience or do they assume a "knowledgeable user" is their target market? If the stuff is purely "cookbook" & kit building (AmQRP kits as an example) with little or no encouragement (and knowledge transfer) for the average Make reader to explore and expand it won't survive IMHO. BTW AmQRP kits on their own are pretty limited at expanding your knowledge, but combined with the AMQRP Homebrewer magazine and Conference Proceedings they do teach a lot. There is also the QRP-L mailing list which is very useful for technical questions (and has a rich archive)

I think it should be what Nuts and Volts magazine tries to be, but without the "legacy" dead weight and filler articles. A gentler introduction to most of the Circuit Cellar type stuff.

If people think this will recreate the Homebrew Computer Club, I expect they will be mistaken, but if you expect it to awaken the curiousity and encourage youth to learn about electronics, then I hope it is a brillent success.

In the end, I am curious and not quite sure what to expect of Make. It could be really lame if all it ends up being is computer geeks pretending to be electronic engineers (or electronic hobbyists). I hope that at least 10% of it expands what I know, which is more than I can say of books like Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks (O'Reilly) and Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty. I am more interested in reading stuff like Hacking the Xbox (An Introduction to Reverse Engineering) by Andrew "bunnie" Huang which starts simple but gets into FPGAs and reverse engineering.

From Atmel: 8051.

Some drivers/latches from Micrel.

And of course some LED blocks from Sun LED.

The 8051 handles incoming serial data as well as acting as a 'RAM DAC' to load the lines on the Micrels which act as line drivers to the LED displays.

The Micrel's can be bit-banged in a serial-ish protocol which corellates to outputs on the 8-16 pins on each micrel (ie: think of it as programming a multipin output chip via a serialish link).

The 8051 constantly changes which row of LED block its updating and goes about it's business. Ideally, the 8051 should be changing rows 70 times a second for a good clean refresh rate.

These really aren't any different from the LCD modules you can pick up from Jameco, Hosfelt, or MPJA (or perhaps Digikey).

And lets not forget Find Chips for all of your parts searching needs.

We use the Chipcorder at work for our music-on-hold. It runs for months without attention. Jameco is one of many distributors of these chips.

They'll directly drive a speaker, though not very loud. (it'll work in a quiet place; you'll need an external amplifier if there's noise) There's very few parts needed besides the chip.

For electronic components including discretes and logic: Jameco Electronics

for hard drives and all manner of equipment: Computer Giants

The latter saved me lots of $$ on my Cheetah 15K.3's

Well, actually...

5 Volt DC Power Supply, Jameco Part Number 112070
1.9" x 2.2" x 1.95"

Full height file cabinet, Office Mac Item Number 01200578
52" x 25" x 15"

So you could fit about 2392 of them in that file cabinet... SORRY I'M BORED!!

jameco is pretty good, too. Their selection is much smaller than DigiKey's but it's oriented slightly more towards the hobbyist. They both have good online and free paper catalogs.

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