Make: Electronics by Charles Platt (read me a book .TXT) 📕

the PICAXE, but has many more extensions. The BASIC Stamp is available for use with a wide range of peripheral devices, including many alphanumeric dot-matrix displays.

On the downside, you’ll find that everything associated with the BASIC Stamp is a bit more expensive than in the PICAXE world, and the download procedure isn’t quite as simple.

One of the more recent developments in the world of MCUs is the Arduino, which is both sophisticated and powerful. It does require programming in the C language. This language is a little more difficult to understand, and has only the vaguest similarity to the syntax that is used in the PICAXE and BASIC Stamp. On the other hand, because C dominates the larger world of computing, learning it might not be such a bad idea—and the Arduino offers some truly amazing capabilities. Because it is so popular, there are also many software tools, documentation, user forums, and many enthusatic hobbyists to help you. Two other Make: Books titles that I mentioned previously, Getting Started with Arduino and Making Things Talk, provide a great introduction.

In Closing

I believe that the purpose of an introductory book is to give you a taste of a wide range of possibilities, leaving you to decide for yourself what you want to explore next. Electronics is ideal for those of us who like to do things ourselves, because almost any application—from robotics, to radio-controlled aircraft, to telecommunications, to computing hardware—allows opportunities that we can explore at home, with limited resources.

As you delve deeper into the areas of electronics that interest you most, I trust you’ll have a satisfying learning experience. But most of all, I hope you have lots of fun along the way.

Appendix. Online Retail Sources and Manufacturers

This appendix contains URLs for companies mentioned as retail sources or manufacturers, along with the commonly used name of the source and the company name.

Colloquially used name

Actual corporate or company name

URL

3M

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.

http://solutions.3m.com/en_US/

Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware Corporation

http://www.acehardware.com

Advanced Micro Circuits

Advanced Micro Circuits Corp

http://www.advancedmicrocircuits.com

Akro-Mils

Myers Industries, Inc.

http://www.akro-mils.com

Alcoswitch

Division of Tyco Electronics Corporation

http://www.tycoelectronics.com/catalog/menu/en/18025

All Electronics

All Electronics Corporation

http://www.allelectronics.com

All Spectrum Electronics

All Spectrum Electronics

http://www.allspectrum.com

All-Battery.com

Tenergy Corporation

http://www.all-battery.com

Alpha potentiometers

Alpha Products Inc.

http://www.alphapotentiometers.net

ALPS pushbutton

ALPS Electric Co., Ltd.

http://www.alps.com

Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc.

http://www.amazon.com

Amprobe

Amprobe Test Tools

http://www.amprobe.com

Arduino

No corporate identity

http://www.arduino.cc

ArtCity

ArtCity

http://www.artcity.com

AutoZone

AutoZone, Inc.

http://www.autozone.com

Avago

Avago Technologies

http://www.avagotech.com

BASIC Stamp

Brand owned by Parallax, Inc.

http://www.parallax.com

BI Technologies

BI Technologies Corporation

http://www.bitechnologies.com

BK Precision

B&K Precision Corp.

http://www.bkprecision.com

Bussmann fuses

Cooper Bussman, Inc.

http://www.cooperbussmann.com

C&K switch

CoActive Technologies, Inc.

http://www.ck-components.com

Chicago lighting

CML Innovative Technologies

http://www.cml-it.com

CraftAmerica

Cardinal Enterprises

http://www.craftamerica.com

Darice

Darice Inc.

http://www.darice.com

DeWalt

DeWalt Industrial Tool Company

http://www.dewalt.com

Digi-Key

Digi-Key Corporation

http://www.digikey.com

Directed switches

Directed Electronics Inc.

http://www.directed.com

Doctronics

Doctronics Educational Publishing

http://www.doctronics.co.uk

eBay

eBay Inc.

http://www.ebay.com

Elenco

Elenco Electronics Inc.

http://www.elenco.com

Everlight

Everlight Electronic Co. Ltd.

http://www.everlight.com

Extech

Extech Instruments Corporation

http://www.extech.com

Fairchild

Fairchild Semiconductor Incorporated

http://www.fairchildsemi.com

FTM

FTM Incorporated

http://thefabricatorssource.com

Fujitsu

Fujitsu America, Inc.

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/

GB wire strippers

Gardner Bender Inc.

http://www.gardnerbender.com

Hobbylinc

Hobbylinc Hobbies

http://www.hobbylinc.com

Home Depot

Homer TLC, Inc.

http://www.homedepot.com

Ideal wire strippers

Ideal Industries Inc.

http://www.idealindustries.com

Jameco

Jameco Electronics

http://www.jameco.com

K&J Magnetics

K&J Magnetics Inc.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com

Kingbright

Kingbright Corporation

http://www.kingbrightusa.com

Kobiconn

No web page found; use mouser.com

KVM Tools

KVM Tools Inc.

http://www.kvmtools.com

Lowe’s hardware

LF, LLC

http://www.lowes.com

Lumex

Lumex Inc.

http://www.lumex.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr Supply Company

http://www.mcmaster.com

Megahobby

Megahobby.com

http://www.megahobby.com

Meter Superstore

Division of SRS Market Solutions Inc.

http://www.metersuperstore.com

Michaels craft stores

Michaels Stores, Inc.

http://www.michaelscrafts.com

Mill-Max

Mill-Max Manufacturing Corp.

http://www.mill-max.com

Mitutoyo

Mitutoyo America Corporation

http://www.mitutoyo.com

Motorola

Motorola, Inc.

http://www.motorola.com/us

Mouser electronics

Mouser Electronics, Inc.

http://www.mouser.com

Mueller alligator clip

Mueller Electric Company

http://www.muellerelectric.com

Newark

Subsidiary of Premier Farnell plc

http://www.newark.com

NKK switches

Nihon Kaiheiki Industry Co. Ltd.

http://www.nkkswitches.com

NXP semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors

http://www.nxp.com

Omron

Omron Corporation

http://www.omron.com

On Semiconductor

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC

http://www.onsemi.com

Optek

Subsidiary of TT Electronics plc

http://www.optekinc.com

Panasonic

Panasonic Electric Works Corporation

http://pewa.panasonic.com

PanaVise

Panavise Products, Inc.

http://www.panavise.com

Parallax

Parallax, Inc.

http://www.parallax.com

Pep Boys

Pep Boys-Manny, Moe and Jack

http://www.pepboys.com

Philips

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.

http://www.usa.philips.com

PICAXE

Revolution Education Ltd.

http://www.rev-ed.co.uk

Piedmont Plastics

Piedmont Plastics, Inc.

http://www.piedmontplastics.com

Plano storages boxes

Plano Molding Company

http://www.planomolding.com

Pomona test equipment

Pomona Electronics Inc.

http://www.pomonaelectronics.com

RadioShack

RadioShack Corporation

http://www.radioshack.com

Sears

Sears Brands, LLC

http://www.sears.com

SparkFun Electronics

Sparkfun Electronics

http://www.sparkfun.com

Stanley tools

The Stanley Works

http://www.stanleytools.com

STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics Group

http://www.st.com

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated

http://www.ti.com

Tower Hobbies

Tower Hobbies

http://www.towerhobbies.com

Twin Industries

Twin Industries

http://www.twinind.com

Tyco

Tyco Electronics Corporation

http://www.tycoelectronics.com

Vaughan

Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg.

http://hammernet.com/vaughan/

Velleman keyboards

Velleman nv

http://www.velleman.eu

Vishay

Vishay Intertechnology Inc.

http://www.vishay.com

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

http://www.walmart.com

Weller

Division of Cooper Industries, LLC

http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/weller/

X-Acto

Division of Elmer’s Products, Inc.

http://www.xacto.com

Xcelite

Division of Cooper Industries, LLC

http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/xcelite/

Xytronic

Xytronic Industries Ltd.

http://www.xytronic-usa.com

Acknowledgments

My association with MAKE magazine began when its editor, Mark Frauenfelder, asked me to write for it. I have always been very grateful to Mark for his support of my work. Through him I became acquainted with the exceptionally capable and motivated production staff at MAKE. Gareth Branwyn eventually suggested that I might like to write an introductory guide to electronics, so I am indebted to Gareth for initiating this project and supervising it as my editor. After I wrote an outline in which I described my idea for “Learning by Discovery” and the associated concept that cutting open components or burning them up can be an educational activity, MAKE’s publisher, Dale Dougherty, uttered the memorable phrase, “I want this book!” Therefore I offer special thanks to Dale for his belief in my abilities. Dan Woods, the associate publisher, was also extremely supportive.

The production process was swift, competent, and painless. For this I thank my editor at O’Reilly, Brian Jepson; senior production editor Rachel Monaghan; copyeditor Nancy Kotary; proofreader Nancy Reinhardt; indexer Julie Hawks; designer Ron Bilodeau; and Robert Romano, who tweaked my illustrations. Most of all I am indebted to Bunnie Huang, my technical advisor, who reviewed the text in detail and knows a bunch of stuff that I don’t know. Any residual errors are still my fault, even though I would prefer to blame them on Bunnie.

Thanks also to Matt Mets, Becky Stern, Collin Cunningham, Marc de Vinck, Phillip Torrone, Limor Fried, John Edgar Park, John Baichtal, and Jonathan Wolfe for helping out with some last-minute project testing.

Lastly I have to mention the genius of John Warnock and Charles Geschke, founders of Adobe Systems and creators of the very beautiful PostScript language, which revolutionized all of publishing. The horror of attempting to create this book using graphic-arts tools from…some other company…is almost unimaginable. In fact, without Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, and InDesign, I doubt I would have attempted the task. I am also indebted to the Canon 1Ds with 100mm macro lens, which took many of the pictures in this book.

No free samples or other favors were received from any of the vendors mentioned herein, with the exception of two sample books from MAKE, which I read to ensure that I was not duplicating anything that had already been published.

Colophon

The heading and cover font are BentonSans, the text font is Myriad Pro, and the code font is TheSansMonoCondensed.

About the Author

Charles Platt became interested in computers when he acquired an Ohio Scientific C4P in 1979. After writing and selling software by mail order, he taught classes in BASIC programming, MS-DOS, and subsequently Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. He wrote five computer books during the 1980s.

He has also written science-fiction novels such as The Silicon Man (published originally by