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Fun With Computer Electronics: Build 20 Electronic Projects With the Same Type of Chips Used Inside Computers
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Author: Luann Colombo, Peter Georgeson, Conn McQuinn
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0836223063
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (October, 1996)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 335,465
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Fun With Computer Electronics by Colombo
This work carefully defines basic electronics concepts.
It is written for a wide constituency including young
children and early teens. The work would be very helpful
in formulating a grade school or early high school project
in science. Advanced terms are defined in simple english.
i.e. insulators, conductors, chips, diodes, modems, resistors,
capacitors and the piezo transducer.Midway through the book,
the author describes how to assemble a workbench and test
the circuitry. Later on, the author describes the vocabulary
of truth tables i.e. AND, OR, XOR and NAND
There is even a section on binary numbers. This work is
an excellent introduction into the complex area of electricity.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A excellent introduction to Digital Electronics and Logic
This kit and book might just light a spark in a childs mind. Great and easy to understand projects using common components and integrated circuits. You can even get all of the chips and components from this book at Radio Shack and reproduce some of the projects on your own. The 10 Led Chaser/Sequencer makes really cool fake car alarm warning lights for your dash. The authors choice of components is great because it simplifies the circuits you build quite a bit. Putting the breadboard together you experiment on is very easy. I don't really have anything bad to say about it. Please be careful with the chips until you understand the way they work. They are CMOS and easy to damage if wired wrong. CMOS chips can also be damaged by static so you don't want to go scuffing your feet across the carpet before using the kit. Just touch your kitchen faucet and get rid of the static electricity in your body before touching the chip leads.
Rating: 3 out of 5
My Kit Had a Defective Chip..Watch Out
I guess one way to learn about computer electronics is to buy a kit that has a defective chip and then do ad hoc diagnostics on each component using a 9-volt battery to determine that the Toshiba TC4011BP ain't workin'.This is not what I had in mind when I bought this kit, but it *was* my "out-of-the-box experience." I've learned a lot about LEDs and logic gates, but I've had to use my imagination instead of confirming my understanding with LEDs that actually emit light. Oh well: typical "Made In China" quality, even if the bad chip in question was originally Japanese. The too cute documentation is, in places, too cute, and I found several obvious errors in the booklet that could have been fixed if someone had just bothered to follow *all* of the instructions. For example, you're told to take out "the three red and black wires" when there are obviously only two of each in the kit. But at least the author tries to use complete sentences, unlike the majority of hardware data sheets coming out of South Korea. But some of the projects are very clever. I think I could probably do a better job if I just made the time do "build a better mousetrap"...Maybe I should.
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