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How did it come to be... — Parallax Forums

How did it come to be...

MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
edited 2005-10-04 15:28 in General Discussion
I'd like to know, how did you come to like electronics or robotics? My interest in both started when someone gave me a microwave to take apart and I saw all the cool stuff inside.
bugg

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

those that know binary and those that don't.
www.goldmine-elec.com
www.parallax.com
www.expresspcb.com
www.startrek.com

Comments

  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-19 00:26
    I had a very similar experience. I had a toy CB radio when I was a kid and when I lost interest in it, instead of throwing it away, I took it all apart to se what made it "tick". I saw all the cool stuff inside and wondered how it all worked together. When I got a little older (early teens), I was at Radio Shack and picked up a "Getting started in electronics" by Forest Mims and began to make very simple bread board circuits.

    Mike
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-19 13:03
    I use to study the component section of the Radio Shack catalog back in the late 70s early 80s, dreaming up robots to make with the components. When I turned 12 (1984) I got RS's 100 in 1 Electronics Experimentor Board, and thats all she wrote.

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    ·1+1=10
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2005-09-19 15:03
    I got the 75-in-1 (in the wood case). That was all it took...
    Bean.

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    "SX-Video·Module" Now available from Parallax for only $28.95

    http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30012
    Product web site: www.sxvm.com
    Available soon!! Video overlay(OSD) module...

    "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess"
    Red Green
    ·
  • CJCJ Posts: 470
    edited 2005-09-19 21:51
    I found an old radio shack microcomputer trainer at a flea market, brand new still shrink wrapped, after I was done with it, I thought to myself, What could I do with more power, then I got a BS2.

    Haven't stopped since smile.gif
  • OrionOrion Posts: 236
    edited 2005-09-19 23:16
    When I was about 3 or 4 I use to stick car keys into outlets around the house. Despite my parents attempts to hide the keys, cover outlets I would persist in finding objects to stick into the outlets. Not sure how many times I found the hot wire but it sounds like many times, lol. Not sure if electricity was in my blood or what but, I have been interested in electro-mechanical devices since.
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    edited 2005-09-20 01:35
    Hi Orion;

    Oh how familiar that sounds!!!

    Cheers,

    Peter (pjv)
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2005-09-20 02:57
    My Dad's little transistor radio, in the 60s, the entire back cover·removed to replace the battery and you could see all the parts on the circuit board, that AND the glow of the tubes through the vents on the back of the TV.· Later, my own cassette recorder, then RadioShack P-Boxes, and shortwave radio.
  • DannyDanny Posts: 56
    edited 2005-09-20 03:05
    Heathkit, Lafayette, and being part of the Civil Defense (does this give my age away?) radio network when I was in High School.
    How many of you remember "drop and cover" and home built bomb shelters?

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    "Never create anything you can't control"
    "The amount of intelligence on the planet is fixed... the population is growing"
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-09-21 02:29
    Thanks for all the interest, guys! It's funny how stuff happens, when I first looked at the WAM kit, I thought it would be to complicated. Three days later I got one for my birthday. I'm hooked.
    bugg

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    There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

    those that know binary and those that don't.
    www.goldmine-elec.com
    www.parallax.com
    www.expresspcb.com
    www.startrek.com
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2005-09-21 04:42
    When I was eight years old (1977) seemed to be a significant time for me....

    I had a walkie-talkie, Erector-set with AC motor, and legos with DC motor and gears!!.

    My first "robot" used the lego DC motor to propel an erector-set case (AC motor was too big)
    that housed one of the walkie-talkies. As the "robot" ran around in a circle (about 4ft diameter),
    I was on the other end with the other walkie-talkie speaking and tormenting the dog.

    Soon after I got a 150-in-one kit from radio shack....then a 300-in-one.... then...an Atari 400 computer.
    I was about 10 years old by now, and racking up my programming skills to interface to the peripherals and
    building electronic circuits that would connect to "the outside world".

    ...and now I get play with cool Parallax stuff and build really cool new IC's smilewinkgrin.gif

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2005-09-21 15:42
    Started about 1959-60 with Electronics magazine and Heath kits [noparse][[/noparse]a DIY VOM kit]. I took a bus for two hours everyday during the summer to study a beginning Electronics course at Lowell High School in San Franciso - I was 12 years old and learned Morse Code with the Boy Scouts [noparse][[/noparse]required for rank of First Class].

    Never got my ham licence because the neighbors didn't want the RFI bothering their TVs.

    I do rember 'drop and cover' [noparse][[/noparse]we called it 'Kiss your *** good bye.'] and read a lot of Popular Mechanics on how to build your own Fallout Shelter.

    In the 80s, I worked on the Hanford Nuclear Area where they built the first atom bomb [noparse][[/noparse]so I might glow a bit in the dark].

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    G. Herzog in Taiwan

    Post Edited (Kramer) : 9/21/2005 3:41:51 PM GMT
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-09-22 20:38
    >>In the 80s, I worked on the Hanford Nuclear Area where they built the first atom bomb [noparse][[/noparse]so I might glow a bit in the dark].<<

    Well, I guess we can't lose you, can we!
    bugg

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

    those that know binary and those that don't.
    www.goldmine-elec.com
    www.parallax.com
    www.expresspcb.com
    www.startrek.com
  • Jeffrey C.Jeffrey C. Posts: 17
    edited 2005-09-22 21:00
    My dad took me to see a LEAP and then I got a BOE BOT and now I'm learning all I can.

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    What's all this 1 + 1 = 10 and 8+8=10 stuff?· Tell me please!
  • PLC.DoctorPLC.Doctor Posts: 5
    edited 2005-09-23 04:27
    My dad would bring home stuff from work that I could take apart and then when I was in the sixth grade he bought me the Radio Shack 100 in 1 electronics kit (circa 1971) and have been hooked ever since.

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    ***
    Anything's possible given enough time or money$$$
    ***
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-09-23 13:53
    >>LEAP<<
    ??????????
    bugg

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

    those that know binary and those that don't.
    www.goldmine-elec.com
    www.parallax.com
    www.expresspcb.com
    www.startrek.com
  • nick bernardnick bernard Posts: 329
    edited 2005-09-23 15:14
    Legos, Erector-sets & Nintendo were the foundations of my youth. asside from breaking... uh eh taking electrical devices appart i had no experiance w/ electronics.

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    engineer, fireman, bowler, father, WoW addict [noparse];)[/noparse]
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-09-28 14:32
    >>My dad took me to see a LEAP and then I got a BOE BOT and now I'm learning all I can.<<
    What is LEAP?
    bugg

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    There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

    those that know binary and those that don't.
    www.goldmine-elec.com
    www.parallax.com
    www.expresspcb.com
    www.startrek.com
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-28 18:07
    I believe its a robotics competition

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    ·1+1=10
  • FlyingFishFingerFlyingFishFinger Posts: 461
    edited 2005-09-29 20:36
    Well, here's mine:
    When I was about 7 or eight my friend and I used to take apart all kinds of dysfunctional electronics devices (old tape players,
    those baby RC cars etc ect , whatever we could find) and had our dads soder out all the little resistors, capacitors, solednoids, ever-
    thing in them just for the fascination of them. After about 2 years both of us had quite a collection of components. When I was about ten,
    my parents got me an Electonics Start Kit from KOSMOS (does that exist outside Europe?). When I got bored of the limited projects in
    there (about 20, but all with resistors, caps and transistors) about a year later, my dad got me a Forrest Mims Electronics Learning Lab from Radio Shack (Brought it
    to Germany from one of his work trips here), whose board I still use for prototyping. I started making my own circuits from the compo-
    nents. About 2 years ago then I got a Lego Robotics Invention system. Half a year ago I heard abou the Basic Stamp and I had to have one immediately.
    So that's where I stand now at 15 years old
    Rafael
  • MacGeek117MacGeek117 Posts: 747
    edited 2005-10-02 00:50
    >>About 2 years ago then I got a Lego Robotics Invention system. Half a year ago I heard abou the Basic Stamp and I had to have one immediately.<<

    I have the RIS 2.0. I can have the Boe-Bot follow a modified line follower.

    RoboGeek

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    There are 10 kinds of people in the world,

    those that know binary and those that don't.
    Formally bugg.
    www.goldmine-elec.com
    www.parallax.com
    www.expresspcb.com
    www.startrek.com
    ·
  • SofalogicSofalogic Posts: 49
    edited 2005-10-04 15:28
    What a good question! We all have our different paths. For me it was the lisajous(Did I spell that right?) traces on the old "Outer Limits" show. The mysterious voice and those sign wave traces on the screen. I·got a ham license in JR. High, took some high school electronics and got hooked for life. I haven't stopped learning in the 30 or so years.



    Sofa
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