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Dead: Free Kindle Book- Digital Circuit Design: Principles and Practice (was $14.40) — Parallax Forums

Dead: Free Kindle Book- Digital Circuit Design: Principles and Practice (was $14.40)

tonyp12tonyp12 Posts: 1,951
edited 2015-01-10 08:38 in General Discussion
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basically a sophomore level digital design class, with a little less depth and a little more breadth

LINK: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LFS3A0I

Comments

  • 4x5n4x5n Posts: 745
    edited 2015-01-03 17:10
    Got it, thanks for the heads up!
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2015-01-04 05:14
    Argh, I see $18.. well, $0 on Prime. No Prime here. But maybe I don't really need the book anyway.
  • tonyp12tonyp12 Posts: 1,951
    edited 2015-01-04 06:41
    deal is dead, I read it and is mostly about gate-boolens.
    And nobody use BCD decoders anymore, but the stuff it teaches is good to know.

    PM your email address and I lend it to you for 14days (yes kindle system let me do that, one person at a time)
  • wasswass Posts: 151
    edited 2015-01-04 08:05
    I downloaded it and read it too, it mirrors the intro course I once taught on digital circuit design almost exactly. It teaches the essential stuff as it was 35 years ago or so. However, I doubt that anyone has used a Karnaugh map in quite some time, there's a lot of this book that would seem pretty superfluous today.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-01-04 08:18
    Well, as a kid, mumble, mumble years ago I had a book that I think was called simply "Digital Electronics". I talked a bit about transistors and how they can be used as switching devices, it introduced AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR etc and how they can be made from transistors. It then built up digital circuit blocks like flip-flops, decoders, counters, adders etc. It discussed using the new fangled 74 series devices were only just becoming available for young nerds at home.

    I recall seeing the circuit of the J-K Flip flop using NOR gates in that book for the first time ever, wow it was inspirational, it's burned into my retina still.

    I like to think there is a place in the world for such basic books for kids sill today. Perhaps this is one.
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2015-01-04 09:09
    wass wrote: »
    I downloaded it and read it too, it mirrors the intro course I once taught on digital circuit design almost exactly. It teaches the essential stuff as it was 35 years ago or so. However, I doubt that anyone has used a Karnaugh map in quite some time, there's a lot of this book that would seem pretty superfluous today.

    Best digital book I started with was in 197xxx and that was Don Lancaster's "TTL Cookbook". That and Comer's "Digital Logic and State Machine Design". As to mapping, used it "a while back" for EPLDs. Not useful FPGA or other programmable devices?

    Prime membership does have some good bennies
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2015-01-04 10:12
    Heater. wrote: »
    Well, as a kid, mumble, mumble years ago I had a book that I think was called simply "Digital Electronics". I talked a bit about transistors and how they can be used as switching devices, it introduced AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR etc and how they can be made from transistors. It then built up digital circuit blocks like flip-flops, decoders, counters, adders etc. It discussed using the new fangled 74 series devices were only just becoming available for young nerds at home.

    I recall seeing the circuit of the J-K Flip flop using NOR gates in that book for the first time ever, wow it was inspirational, it's burned into my retina still.

    I like to think there is a place in the world for such basic books for kids sill today. Perhaps this is one.

    My high school introduction to digital electronics was a step by step work book that covered the same basic material. Cannot recall the exact title but it was something along the lines of "A Programmed Text for Digital Electronics". It was an excellent introduction, and imo the fundamental knowledge I got from it was priceless. Everyone involved in computers and electronics would benefit from understanding it at such a fundamental level.
  • 4x5n4x5n Posts: 745
    edited 2015-01-04 11:17
    frank freedman wrote: »
    Best digital book I started with was in 197xxx and that was Don Lancaster's "TTL Cookbook". That and Comer's "Digital Logic and State Machine Design". As to mapping, used it "a while back" for EPLDs. Not useful FPGA or other programmable devices?

    Prime membership does have some good bennies

    I still have the copy of the TTL Cookbook I bought many decades ago! I read through that over and over and over again!
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-01-04 11:22
    And any of Forrest Mimms books at Radio Shack may cover the topics.

    Although they do not show up on the RS web search, I still find them available at the stores.

    (I think I have them all from the 80's)
  • DrPopDrPop Posts: 227
    edited 2015-01-04 13:55
    Publison wrote: »
    And any of Forrest Mimms books at Radio Shack may cover the topics...

    When Kat wanted to learn some electronics, we scored some good Ebay deals on the RadioShack Electronics Learning Lab, SensorsLab, and 300 in One Electronic Project Lab kits.
    So we have the 3 included books by Forrest Mims:
    "Basic Electronics" (transistors and integrated circuits) Workbook I
    "Digital Logic Projects" Workbook II
    "Electronic SensorsLab"

    We've done a few of the projects with the kits like blinking LEDs and made a working Volt Meter, but have a long way to go to get through them all (especially with the Parallax Activity Bot now taking precedence). Are most of the things in those Forrest Mims books still pretty relevant today? Looks like 2000 - 2001 on the copyrights. Or have things sailed on in the past 15 years since they were printed and we should get something more updated?
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2015-01-04 16:44
    DrPop wrote: »
    When Kat wanted to learn some electronics, we scored some good Ebay deals on the RadioShack Electronics Learning Lab, SensorsLab, and 300 in One Electronic Project Lab kits.
    So we have the 3 included books by Forrest Mims:
    "Basic Electronics" (transistors and integrated circuits) Workbook I
    "Digital Logic Projects" Workbook II
    "Electronic SensorsLab"

    We've done a few of the projects with the kits like blinking LEDs and made a working Volt Meter, but have a long way to go to get through them all (especially with the Parallax Activity Bot now taking precedence). Are most of the things in those Forrest Mims books still pretty relevant today? Looks like 2000 - 2001 on the copyrights. Or have things sailed on in the past 15 years since they were printed and we should get something more updated?

    copyright 2000 to old? Nah, not for these. They're fairly basic. I have a couple and the info is still very useful. Learn from them and build from there. Stuff changes and new stuff emerges that won't be in them, but the basics don't change much if at all.
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2015-01-04 17:33
    wass wrote: »
    I downloaded it and read it too, it mirrors the intro course I once taught on digital circuit design almost exactly. It teaches the essential stuff as it was 35 years ago or so. However, I doubt that anyone has used a Karnaugh map in quite some time, there's a lot of this book that would seem pretty superfluous today.
    Ok that sounds like the course I too taught for a short while, nearly 30 years ago in my case.. so I don't really need to lose sleep over not catching the free download. Thanks! :)

    -Tor
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-01-05 00:03
    wass,
    I doubt that anyone has used a Karnaugh map in quite some time...
    So what do kids use to minimize their logic now a days?

    In a search for that question I discovered the Quine-McCluskey algorithm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine%E2%80%93McCluskey_algorithm

    There are free implementations of it in various languages and you can try it out here: http://booleanbot.com/

    Jack Crenshaw discusses it here: http://www.embedded.com/electronics-blogs/programmer-s-toolbox/4025004/All-about-Quine-McClusky

    So this is great, this free book has indirectly taught me something entirely new. And I haven't had my morning coffee yet !
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-01-05 07:58
    Heater. wrote: »
    So what do kids use to minimize their logic now a days?

    Twitter, smartphones, GPS, etc.
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
    edited 2015-01-05 23:14
    I just went to the website, searched for "Forrest Mims" and found them.

    Note - "Mims" has two "m"s in it, not threee!
    Publison wrote: »
    And any of Forrest Mimms books at Radio Shack may cover the topics.

    Although they do not show up on the RS web search, I still find them available at the stores.

    (I think I have them all from the 80's)
  • wasswass Posts: 151
    edited 2015-01-06 09:15
    Heater. wrote: »
    wass,

    So what do kids use to minimize their logic now a days?

    In a search for that question I discovered the Quine-McCluskey algorithm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine%E2%80%93McCluskey_algorithm
    !

    Nice that you found that (thanks for the links!) but that too is a very old method. My point was that almost no one has a need to minimize logical expressions these days as most designers just use a micro or programmable gate array of some type and the problem becomes one of programming and/or compiler optimization of a complex expression. In theory the people that design micros might still need to do this, but I'm sure that their tools do this for them. (I guess there might be a need for this in some super time critical processing too.)

    Still the idea of logical expression minimization is important and should be covered in a modern basic digital design course, but having students spend a lot of time with Karnaugh maps (or Quine-McCluskey tables) would be pointless.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-01-06 09:23
    Jeff Haas wrote: »
    I just went to the website, searched for "Forrest Mims" and found them.

    Note - "Mims" has two "m"s in it, not threee!

    Darn tablet. :)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-01-06 09:42
    erco,
    Twitter, smartphones, GPS, etc.
    Ha! That's the smart kids. The others seem to have chemical means of minimizing their logic...

    wass,

    Now you got me. What's a more recent method than Quine-McCluskey? I might need it if I ever get around to building that CPU out of relays/transistors that I sometimes day dream about.

    I guess you are right, I would hope my FPGA tools are minimizing things for me as best they can (They certainly take long enough about it :) ). Still, we have calculators but it's probably a good idea to learn how to multiply for yourself. Similarly I would hope that students of logic design spend a little time to learn these things.
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2015-01-07 05:40
    Watch out for Kindle formats. Seems some of them do not view on win 8.x. Personally I prefer to get e books in PDF. To much of a pain to try to read one page that references say a graph or table or illustration on another. Also found kindle sucks when you try to mag these last. Ordered "Bakers Dozen", but dumped the kindle version and got a refund from Amazon for these reasons.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,566
    edited 2015-01-07 06:57
    Say what you will, knowing "of" the fundamentals is not the same as actually knowing "the" fundamentals. Fundamentals are essential, bottom line no matter how you slice it. Without them the momentum of the "spinning wheel" will eventually come to a stop and nobody will know how to re-start the wheel again. The mentality that the wheel will somehow just keep spinning is the downfall of many companies and for that matter on a much larger scale and longer cycle ... the downfall of entire civilizations. If history is to repeat itself, then abolishing fundamental concepts is a major contributor to the ultimate demise.
  • wasswass Posts: 151
    edited 2015-01-10 08:38
    Heater. wrote: »
    Now you got me. What's a more recent method than Quine-McCluskey? I might need it if I ever get around to building that CPU out of relays/transistors that I sometimes day dream about.

    Probably nothing. I was just pointing out that both Karnaugh Maps and the Quine-McCluskey method date back to the same time period, the mid 1950's.
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