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Show me a factory in the US that makes small electronic components. I was in the process of establishing a small business. Some of the key components I need are only made in China. This increase in shipping costs will kill my business before it starts.

Sure.

Parallax, you have heard of them right?

I can do one better, there's 2,974 businesses in the US which match your description.

No business has a right to exist. Particularly startups by someone that couldn't find even one of nearly 3,000 suppliers employing 150k American workers and producing 42 billion in revenue annually.

Point of order, the Parallax Propeller has been open source (in that they give you VHDL code and photolito files) for a couple of years now. Give them credit. https://www.parallax.com/micro...

http://obex.parallax.com/objec...

Another way to crack HARESâ(TM) encryption, says Torrey, would be to take advantage of a debugging feature in some chips... But taking advantage of that feature requires a five-figure-priced JTAG debugger, not a device most reverse engineers tend to have lying around."

Lol, five-figures...some "security researcher." Guess he's never been to DEFCON or Black Hat or ShmooCON...or ever even Googled "JTAG."

JTAGulators are $144
http://parallax.com/product/32115

More info - http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/jtagulator/

https://www.radioshack.com/pro...
Parallax has a nice kit that works with a Arduino. http://www.parallax.com/robots...

Thank you for your service!

*shrug* Samsung Electronics has some tempting little eight-ARMed chips that would feel great on a Mini-ITX motherboard. Still not FOSS, but if that's really important to you, there's lowRISC (Berkeley RISC-V including development toolchain and Linux image) and just now Parallax's Propeller for your I/O needs...

Maybe Lockheed should take a look at this: http://obex.parallax.com/objec... Or ask DYIDrones.

Especially now you can get the Boe Bot as an Arduino Shield http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/arduino/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/820/Default.aspx (just add an Arduino).

I'll add in Boe Bots:
http://www.parallax.com/go/boebot

These are really simple to set up (especially if you're not really a hardware/circuits guy) and are a lot of fun to play with. Very limited processor, but that's not such a bad thing to start out. There's quite a lot of add on sensors/motors, etc, so you can accomplish quite a lot.
It's great for building path finding/obstacle avoision types of projects. If you take a liking to robotics though, you'll probably want to move into something more powerful pretty quick. But it is a nice cheap way to get some experience with the basics.

Further reading at http://forums.parallax.com/

Look at http://www.parallax.com/Store/Robots/FlyingPlatforms/tabid/964/ProductID/799/List/0/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName

If you are looking at microcontrollers, I would suggest the Parallax Propeller
It's an 8 core 32 bit micro that lets you add peripherals in software.

Wire a bluetooth or wifi module to some IO pins and toss a BT/wifi object into a core to let it poll for commands.
Or you can wire a nintendo or super nintendo controller directly to it, and load a shift register object into a core to poll the game pad.
On the low end, a TSOP IR receiver module and object can be setup to take commands from any old remote you have laying in the junk drawer.

An IR reciever and an IR led both wired up on multiple robots would allow for some interesting inter-robot communications and swarm behavior.

Another core can be driving the stepper motors and watching for new commands to change what it's currently doing.

Wire some IO to a GPS module and have a core polling that to update the current location in ram.

Since all 8 cores run independently from each other, you won't need to muck around with things like interrupts or try to squeeze a bunch of autonomous modules into one monolithic program.

The propeller is 3.3v (but 5v tolerant) which makes it electrically compatible with Adriano shields, and there are a number of shields already supported by existing objects. Parallax runs an object exchange site where the community shares these objects, and you can find one to drive pretty much any common (or not so common) hardware.

It has a native interpreted language called Spin that makes multi-core programming pretty simple, and also can be coded in assembly for time sensitive operations.
There are a number of compilers made by 3rd parties to let you code in C (in fact there is a gcc project going on in the forums) as well as basic, pbasic, forth, and a few other languages.

I even just recently learned of an IDE called 12 blocks that uses a form of Scratch, where you build up a program by dragging blocks onto the work space, and it can output Spin.

As each of the 8 cores has its own video generation hardware and two high precision counters, there have been a number of home brew video game consoles made using the propeller. By just wiring up an IO line to an RCA jack, you can output NTSC or PAL. A couple more IO lines and it can do VGA too.

It's quite the powerful little micro, might be worth checking it out.

Well, I don't know much about what an average Bangladeshi village has on hand but I'm going to wager that it's a very wide spectrum. So my personal advice is no matter what you find to be your solution, you should provide the DIY equivalent any DIY-able components of the pieces. In this way you can treat yourself as a one man thinktank and you can publish this stuff under CCBY3.0 and your project may enjoy self sufficiency without requiring your constant attention.

So to start at the core of it, I would personally select a $25 non-ethernet (Type A?) Raspberry Pi, an $8 USB keyboard and $5 flash card. From there those little devices have the RCA Video (analog) out and also an HDMI out. So if one of your computers goes bad, you can always rig it up to one of these little guys. However, I also understand that you need more displays. Now this is where you have the option to become a rockstar superman. If you are not afraid of code and working GPIO pins I would suggest purchasing some of these little guys first getting it to simply display and read across what they are typing and secondly maybe use one row to take in a file that progresses in typing difficult and displays that on the first line while it waits for input and validates on the second line (might even have room to use LEDs or something else on the RPi for score keeper/carrot/stick. If you document all this, it might turn out that the villagers get wise on how to ripe a seven segment display out of anything and hook it up to these GPIO pins?

So how to power this? Well the easy way would be to use what you have already available for power but get some of these guys and daisy chain these guys from one of your existing computers until they don't produce enough power. I would suggest researching that screen and the Pi and figuring out what their power draw is. Maybe get some cheap fuses to protect your hardware. A lot of broken appliances still have good electric motors in them and electric motors often produce energy as turbines if you spin them. Now, the big problem is how do you clean the power if people are cranking these turbines with their hands or connected to a bike's gear set? That's something I'm not much of an expert in. I do know the Pis run off of two rechargeable AA batteries just great but you also have to take care if they're planning to try to charge those batteries with a hand cranked appliance motor. From my understanding it's pretty tough to not screw stuff up if you're dealing with human generated power. Had to keep that steady and to find existing ways to clean it down to what tiny sensitive devices need.

The upswing of all this would be that the RPis are versatile, any of those students could really do a whole bunch of things with these. And if you make this a part of the Raspberry Pi wiki, you might get people helping you with those screens -- might. At least others will be able to use your work.

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596510510.do
http://www.digilentinc.com/index.cfm
http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
http://www.parallax.com/

The Propeller multicore Micro-controller can do all of those things and is now sold on the shelf at radio-shack. if you are not afraid of a little soldering, you can build it up and load it with software modules readily available as part of the Propeller Object Exchange, OBEX, (under the MIT license) for communication, displays, storage, and pretty much anything else under the sun (if not in the exchange, check the forums). There is even a modified Linux that will run on one.

Propeller: https://www.parallax.com/tabid/407/Default.aspx
Free Code: http://obex.parallax.com/
Linux Based OS: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?123795-spinix&highlight=linux

The Propeller multicore Micro-controller can do all of those things and is now sold on the shelf at radio-shack. if you are not afraid of a little soldering, you can build it up and load it with software modules readily available as part of the Propeller Object Exchange, OBEX, (under the MIT license) for communication, displays, storage, and pretty much anything else under the sun (if not in the exchange, check the forums). There is even a modified Linux that will run on one.

Propeller: https://www.parallax.com/tabid/407/Default.aspx
Free Code: http://obex.parallax.com/
Linux Based OS: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?123795-spinix&highlight=linux

The Propeller multicore Micro-controller can do all of those things and is now sold on the shelf at radio-shack. if you are not afraid of a little soldering, you can build it up and load it with software modules readily available as part of the Propeller Object Exchange, OBEX, (under the MIT license) for communication, displays, storage, and pretty much anything else under the sun (if not in the exchange, check the forums). There is even a modified Linux that will run on one.

Propeller: https://www.parallax.com/tabid/407/Default.aspx
Free Code: http://obex.parallax.com/
Linux Based OS: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?123795-spinix&highlight=linux

I have about 10+ years of experience with the FIRST Robotics competition. For an "all inclusive robotics" kit you will need to increase your budget. However, electronics and software kits are in budget. Here's my list:

1. Innovation FIRST's Vex Robtic system. This is hands down the best system available. The kit is basic enough that you can get something working while also open enough that the possibilities are limitless. You can interface your own custom circuits with it. It comes with default software in source code form that you can modify to whatever you would like. It also has mechanical kits where you can build almost anything. It's also not flimsy. This is one of the most expensive options, but you can start around $300 and add on for years.

2. Lego MindstormsI would reccomend this kit for someone younger (8 or so.) It's not quite as extensible mechanically or electrically but is easier to use.

With those two out of the way and actually answering your post based on the budget, I would recommend a Basic Stamp kit from Parallax. The kits are aimed at learning electronics and software. They're not a lot to them mechanically, you need additional parts and know-how for that. The kits are low cost and require you to learn. I cut my teeth on the Basic Stamp 2 (BS2) and I turned out to be a successful software engineer.

This isn't Linux. It's a BASIC Stamp replacement, 30 years too late.

Aurduno is far ahead for dinky-machine low level programming. It has a rational way for newbies to deal with interrupts, which you need down at that level.

Personally, I think the next step up ought to be a QNX on a chip system. QNX scales down further than Linux does; you can run QNX with no disk or writable flash. and get something useful going in well under 1MB. You still have a real OS, with processes, threads, a POSIX API, etc. It's still free for non-commercial use, although not open source. Now that RIM owns QNX, maybe they'll do something in that area. But I doubt it.

These days, you don't even need an FPGA. Take any fast multicore chip like Parallax Propeller or fast multithreaded chip like XMOS XC-1 and you can emulate pretty much any retro 4 or 8 bit CPU at native or faster speed. With video output. All pretty much single chip -- all you need is a clock crystal and some voltage regulators. The propeller has 8 completely independent cores called cogs, each with 4 kbytes of dedicated RAM, and 32 kbytes of shared RAM in so-called hub. XC-1 has hardware multithreading with zero-overhead thread switching: it can run 8 threads in parallel, and thread switch is done after each single instruction, and those usually each take 1 cycle so you have true 400/500 MIPS performance, with 32 bit transfers.

There is a single cog Z80 implementation for Propeller, called ZiCOG, and it runs at about the speed of a Z80. Not cycle accurate, though. On XMOS, you can trivially run an order of magnitude faster, or more, and be cycle accurate at native speed. Both Propeller and XC-1 enable you to have a single-chip emulation of pretty much any 8 bit computer -- that is the CPU and everything else, with sound and video output. It's somewhat less work on XC-1 to keep it cycle accurate.

There's a difference between what amounts to a dumb D/A converter with a bunch of support logic for video timing, and a card that's a whole computer in and of itself. Realtime video rendering on par with a dumb graphics card can easily be done 100% in software these days, even on rather lowball hardware -- just look at what's possible with a single chip Parallax Propeller microcontroller. A slightly more powerful hardware would be the XMOS XS1 platform. Both of those platforms let you have 1024x768 VGA or HDMI output, defined completely in software.

As for the "standardised" registers on Matrox/S3/Tseng: you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. All those cards were emulating the legacy IBM register set, but this was only a looked-down-upon legacy compatibility mode for low-resolution modes -- maybe up to 16 color 800x600. All of the cards you listed had mutually incompatible register sets that you had to access for native operation at full resolution, and for access to blitter and other acceleration primitives. The best you could hope for was that the VESA BIOS didn't have bugs and that the flat framebuffer native video modes would work, but that was without you knowing anything about registers. You just made a mode switch call into the BIOS, and then inquired about where the framebuffer was; from thereon you were on your own.

The fast pace of progress in graphic cards pretty much makes it impossible to have any sort of a consortium-driven standard for access to hardware. Whatever would be publicly available would lag a generation or two behind shipping hardware. Making solid, interoperable standards is hard. If you want it done quickly, especially in parallel with hardware development, you need to hire a lot of extra, very experienced (not cheap) talent. Of course ATI and NVidia have their in-house spec/documentation teams, but they only have to worry about making something that will keep their own divisions in sync. It doesn't have to be understandable outside of their doors. Don't underestimate the information content of corporate culture: there's plenty of documents that I've seen that are next to useless simply because one would need to be "then and there" to get the context necessary for understanding.

Another option is to use the Parallax Propeller microcontroller. It's got 8 cores, 80Mhz clock speed, and 32k of ram, and you can either program in its higher-level Spin language or get right down into assembler. The Arduino is fun to learn on and accessible to people who don't have a strong programming background, but working with the Propeller is like advancing to the varsity squad.

The BASIC Stamp kit from parralax is pretty nifty. It will let you get started on simple projects right away. I bought one from Radio Shack on a whim and really liked it. It does a good job of explaining the digital portions of the circuit examples it gives. The downside is it doesn't explain much about the analog portions of those circuits so you'll probably want to look into other resources for that info.

http://www.parallax.com/tabid/270/default.aspx#New

There's no such thing as a "basic microcontroler".

BASIC Stamp Microcontroller Module

(Yes, I know that's not what you meant.)

You can always make your own

It works great, only $75

If you nullify software patents, then you call into question all that is hardware patents, because there is NOTHING that can be done in software, that can't be done in hardware.

Indeed I DID call into question hardware patents. I'm far from convinced they are necessary. Indeed I could point you at an American company, that develops novel and non-obvious chips including a unique multi-core microcontroller. They've never applied for a patent for any product or technology, and they are possibly the most creative small company I know. The company is Parallax, and the microcontroller is the Propeller.

I feel that you completely ignored my comments on the implications of 'non-obviousness' being a criteria.

That's because I agreed with it, as far as it went.

My post basically called you out on your insult to the pervious poster: "Bah, spoken obviously as someone who doesn't actually try and make anything new and useful." It's simply an untrue categorization of people that don't agree with patents that they are not people who work on creating new and useful technology and products.

Get him a Propeller micro controller kit from Parallax Inc http://www.parallax.com/tabid/407/Default.aspx A Propeller is a 32 bit micro-controller (well in fact 8 processors in a chip) with some RAM. Parallax have a number of ready made boards so that this thing is easy to program from USB. The IDE is dead easy to use. Starting out the first steps in programming with this is inspiring because one can immediately get things in the real world to happen. From flashing LEDs to controlling robots, to generating video. The high level language it uses, Spin, is sort of Pascal/Python/C like, very easy to begin programming with. When you get serious it's assembly language is about the easiest there is. The Propeller does VGA and TV video, there is even a games oriented kit. It's the closest thing we have to the C64 we have in this modern world. Wish I had one when I was 12.

Agreed. I was using these kits around that age.

Depending on how advanced and ambitious they are, they have some like that one but with microcontrollers as well.

There's also ready-made robotics kits like Lego Mindstorms and Boe Bot http://www.parallax.com/tabid/411/Default.aspx

Linux is more compatible with hardware than any other operating system ever. This is not even debatable.

Microsoft has prevented their partners from opening their APIs to Linux applications to the detriment of their partners and the pace of innovation in many ways. For myself I can find no better example than Parallax, where an open interface would have saved their USB servo controller for wide use but instead they have discontinued it for no reason. It would have enabled robotic control for all forms of Linux and drivers were under way.

There are C headers that will let you interface *directly* with the parallel port, and all you need on the hardware end are a couple opto-isolators for safety.

For $6ish, you can get a USB to TTL Serial chip, or a USB to LPT chip, and use those exact same C headers to program for, as the devices use the USB standard for serial and parallel interfaces and drivers.

Makes it really nice so your parallel port device only has a single 4 wire cable between it and the PC, with the 8-16 IO pins wired up in the same enclosure/protoboard the rest of your project is on!

There are C headers that will let you interface *directly* with the parallel port, and all you need on the hardware end are a couple opto-isolators for safety.

For $6ish, you can get a USB to TTL Serial chip, or a USB to LPT chip, and use those exact same C headers to program for, as the devices use the USB standard for serial and parallel interfaces and drivers.

Makes it really nice so your parallel port device only has a single 4 wire cable between it and the PC, with the 8-16 IO pins wired up in the same enclosure/protoboard the rest of your project is on!

http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/hydra/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/467/Default.aspx I know it's 200 bucks but you're really buying the book more than the hardware. The book it comes with starts out at the very beginning of how console and computer hardware works and how it can be used for gaming. This is the best place to start. There's an entire community of people that can help you as well if you get this unit. When it's done you'll know everything from what signal is coming out of the controller when you push a button to calculating the inverse square root of a light source to produce shadows or however that's done. Once you grasp how to program for this unit you can easily graduate to more complex things.

That's more linked to their CPU choice. On the DS, it may have cost a bunch of money(and power consumption) to add more RAM.

On more modern ARM SoCs (like the OMAP 3530), jumping from 128MB to 256MB would be negligible in cost.

On a Propellar, adding 512KB might cost you $20, more than the OMAP 3530 RAM upgrade.

in the U.S. sending payloads into "near space" on a fairly regular basis. It's much more common than most people would suspect. I've seen a rough estimate of ~1500 people in the U.S. who are involved with near space experimentation. It's very cool stuff and one of the few minimally regulated amateur sciences still available to those so inclined in the U.S.

An excellent primer is the Near Space Book: http://www.parallax.com/tabid/567/Default.aspx

Here are several links to active near space groups:

Treasure Valley Near Space Program: http://www.tvnsp.org/

Arizona Near Space Research: http://www.ansr.org/node/7

JP Aerospace: http://www.jpaerospace.com/

Most of these groups often need help with tracking and launching and at very least will share what they have learned with those interested.

I got a kick out of reading his blog. Seems like a really neat project to learn how computers work at the lowest level.

I agree with you about the choice of microcontroller, though. Atmel AVRs are very popular, and are available in significantly more powerful varieties. Check out this one; it has 16KiB of S-RAM on the CPU, so you can save yourself the 2x8KiB chips he used, which means reduced cost.

Another one to consider is the Parallax Propeller. They aren't too popular, but have impressive capabilities, ignoring the price. It's basically an ultra-low-power 8-core microcontroller. The design is... fascinating. They created it with the same philosophy as older CPUs; rather than stamping big blocks together, every transistor was charted out by hand. (well, for the most part :P ) Apparently it has no interrupt handling, which introduces some different programming philosophies as well.

And failing that... a Cortex m3. That's a powerful one. Although it uses a standard un-interesting architecture, it's also quite fast. With enough RAM you could do SNES-level stuff quite easily.

Abandoned? They're still producing them in quantity. They're still useful.

What happens to tech lines that don't continue to improve?

AMD announced the end of design for Geode products

So it's over. I have a huge rack of stuff like this I keep around for its general utility or because it's irreplaceable. You just can't get Parallax USB servo controllers any more [sigh]. But once they say they're done advancing the design, it's no longer interesting from a new developments point of view. It's abandoned. Eventually somebody will come out with a design that has some similar features plus a few new and interesting ones. Sales will dwindle and they'll wind up on the remainders rack at shops like All Electronics, but only now and then. And then they're gone.

It's the circle of liiiiife.

PHP, definitely. Although I've started with Java myself, I'd say PHP is an extremely simple (yet powerful) language to boot with. Its flexibility and rather clean code mean you don't have to delve right into more abstract concepts such as pointers or classes right away, but it does offer them if you need it. I also like things such as expandable arrays or dynamic typing. They might not be the best things to rely on to write clear code, but they have the advantage, again, of being simple to use. Arrays can get pretty messy when you need to determine their length and then initialize them.

I'd also suggest working with more than just programming. While some children will like it, I think there are other potentially interesting paths to take. For example, you could let them program robots. The Boe-Bot is a good start with basic features and a host of options if you want them. The language is a modification of Basic called PBasic. The main advantage of robots is that they get a goal. Programming software, when you have no specific need for something, can be hard; you look for a reason to make something, a plan, but you find nothing. With a robot, they'll immediately want to try to make tons of stuff with it so it can move around, react to movement, touch, sound, color, light, whatever... There can be quite a bit of fun to be had with that!

Parallax make a variety of low-cost micro-controllers, with education kits available. Their Propeller micro-controller sounds intiguing - 8 cores running at 80MHz - but the venerable Basic Stamp series is probably more mature and easier to learn. (I haven't tried either, but I'm tempted to get a Propeller kit just to see what it is capable of.)

Here is a Propeller being tortured at 190 deg. C - don't try this at home, kids. :D

Once I do that I can effectively use my usb-to-serial adapter.

Many USB-to-serial adapters use the cheap (FTDI) chips from Parallax : controller chip. Also many USB powered tools like the Stingray USB Oscilloscope and the Parallax USB servo controller, both of which are sweet pieces of gear. Parallax is not Linux friendly. FTDI drivers are not Open. Work on this is underway, I believe.

Once I do that I can effectively use my usb-to-serial adapter.

Many USB-to-serial adapters use the cheap (FTDI) chips from Parallax : controller chip. Also many USB powered tools like the Stingray USB Oscilloscope and the Parallax USB servo controller, both of which are sweet pieces of gear. Parallax is not Linux friendly. FTDI drivers are not Open. Work on this is underway, I believe.

The rat has no brain, hard for it to sense much of anything.

Actually, in a related article, they have managed to get the rat body to run off of a Basic Stamp.

They probably are not planning to build the computer exactly the same way it was done in the 1980's. They are probably planning to copy just a few stylistic items.

For instance, a modern micro-controller CPU would integrate almost the entire Apple II motherboard onto one chip, including the RAM, ROM, and peripherals. You can use the cheap hack (like the Apple II did) to generate composite video signals from just a few TTL output pins. If you pick the right microcontroller, DMA can be used to automatically output the video bitstream, and a built in counter timer can be used to generate the video clock. Additionally, most microcontrollers have I/O pins designed for keyboard scanning built into them. The result is one chip and a few miscellaneous components accomplishes everything on the motherboard of the original Apple II.

Unfortunately, you will still need a case, power supply, and keyboard. The keyboard could be the most expensive part of the design.

The rough approach of creating a bootable computer from a microcontroller is in widespread use. When I start a new micro-controller design, I frequently program a small boot monitor into the early versions of the CPU. This allows me to download new programs and manually test the on-board peripherals. Communication is done via RS-232 to a local PC. Occasionally, the same approach is used in Windows and Linux when doing kernel debugging from a remote PC. There is nothing to stop someone from programming a microcontroller in a higher level language like BASIC. Parallax has built a product around it, namely the BASIC Stamp. In practice, if you already have an in-circuit programmable microcontroller attached to a PC, then it is often easier to program on the PC and transfer a compiled C program as opposed to hacking with BASIC and assembly. However, this varies from application to application, with what the designers preferences are, and how old-school and hard-core of a hardware hacker that you are dealing with.

Parallax has an excellent set of products including sensors, actuators and controller that go along with well writing documentation and training manuals. http://www.parallax.com/

Give microcontrollers a try. The Parallax Basic stamp kits make it really easy to get started. good examples in available books covering lots of different topics. Lots of examples around the 'net too. http://www.parallax.com/

BoeBot. Small Robot. Solderless breadboard. Instructions. Programmable.

For the basics, you can earn your Amateur Radio Licenses. They require you learn some basic electronic principles that are beyond most of the kits.

I have played with the kits and they did not help. What I had to know to earn my amateur extra radio license required more knowledge. No morse code anymore, just 3 multiple choice licenses where all the questions are published.

What you learn is also specific to radios. Filters, amplifiers( sound and power), transmitter and receiver circuits. You learn what it means to apply Kirchhoff's laws. Also to put resistors, capacitors and inductors in serial or parallel configurations. The basics of analyzing power through circuits.

The basic books from amazon work well with the kits from radio shack. Make sure what you get has a breadboard. So I do not think that the snap electronics kits are good for adults. At the makers fair, there was the kit from sparkle labs, http://kits.sparklelabs.com/. The initial parts from sparkle labs are great, but the instructions are bad. But this kit, along with purchasing a reasonable digital multimeter and a book from amazon would be a great start. The kits sold by make magazine are excellent, http://www.makershed.com/. Make magazine is also a great resource,http://makezine.com/magazine/.

For the meter, spend the $50 for one that will test your components, resistors, capacitors, diodes and transistors also.

If you dive in and buy a soldering iron, do not cheap out. Spend the $40 for the basic Weller red soldering station or $110 for the basic blue station. Buy a pointy tip, $5. The chisel tip that comes with it is not good for soldering boards.

There are plenty of books that cover the topic with sample circuits. Look at the books offered at http://arrl.org./

A book "Hand's On Radio Experiments" is an excellent book. It publishes the first 60 articles written for ARRL's QST magazine. You can also buy a kit with all the parts needed to do the experiments. The book (http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1255) and the parts kit (http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1255K) is $100 from the ARRL.

Most of the above covers analog electronics. For digital electronics, there is a lot of support for digital electronics. The basic stamp kits are great for that. They sell very proven kits, http://www.parallax.com/ with very well written manuals that will take more than a weekend to go through. Also through the make magazine site you'll find project sites for other micro processors used by hobbyists.

Also, to have guided lessons, a class with lab at the local community college is also a great way to go if you have the time. After all the long winded crap above, if you really want to learn and want more than to look at a board and know what the parts are, this is probably the best way to go. Either way, depending on the depths of the knowledge you are looking for, it is between months and a couple years of learning.

Hope I see you at a booth selling a kit at the maker faire in a couple of years.

Long ass winded sermon over.

If they think there's a lack of creative home computing platforms they haven't looked very far. Here's a system dedicated to learning games programming and comes with a good book that teaches it. The system has an 8 core microcontroller, and to program it, you get down to the bare metal, even writing your own video drivers to create a NTSC or PAL signal. I wish they'd had this back in the days when I was learning.

http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerProgrammingKits/tabid/144/CategoryID/20/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/467/Default.aspx

I thought this thru a while ago. I really wanted to do hobby electronics but products like this (BUG) were all very high level. The product I have come to love is the Parallax Javelin Stamp Developers Kit.

Here's what you get:
- Developer's Electonics Breadboard
- JVM on a Chip
- Every peripheral device under the sun that can talk via RS232
- Java IDE with realtime debugging
- Ability to program and download java boot classes onto a SD chip
- Completely "open source"

Check it out: http://www.parallax.com/ProductInfo/JavelinStampGeneralInformation/tabid/255/Default.aspx [parallax.com]

I thought this thru a while ago. I really wanted to do hobby electronics but products like this (BUG) were all very high level. The product I have come to love is the Parallax Javelin Stamp Developers Kit. Here's what you get: - Developer's Electonics Breadboard - JVM on a Chip - Every peripheral device under the sun that can talk via RS232 - Java IDE with realtime debugging - Ability to program and download java boot classes onto a SD chip - Completely "open source" Check it out: http://www.parallax.com/ProductInfo/JavelinStampGeneralInformation/tabid/255/Default.aspx

Every time someone asks Slashdot a question like this, the hysteria crowd comes out of the woodwork to scream about how it's absolutely impossible for an "amateur" to do it, and you absolutely must hire a "professional," lest something tragic happen, ranging from the ever-popular "you'll lose your job!" to a bucket of dead puppies or something.

Yes, I realize that professionals are sometimes necessary, especially in situations where life is clearly at stake (pilots, medical, law, etc.) I'm sure some jackass will show up to tell me how this is an industrial furnace and that clearly means that a professional is warranted, but we have no idea what the particulars of this situation are. Just stick to the freakin' question, people.

It used to be the case that "professional" implied not only a degree of competence, but also a certain amount of integrity and experience. But that's just not true any more. All it means now is that someone gets a paycheck for doing something. Often it means that they're experts in nothing more than doing something as cheaply as possible.

For what it's worth, I'm personally fond of the Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Many, many people are also fond of Microchip's offerings in the PIC line. But for rapid development, something like the Parallax BASIC Stamp is probably the way to go. They're cheap and easy (like a good woman) and let you focus on the task at hand rather than the bit-level details of how to read sensors, etc.