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Hi an Introduction

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(@yellowthree)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

Hi Forum

As a brief introduction I am 56 years young and live in Adelaide Australia, I migrated from Poole, Dorset in the UK 15 years ago (hindsight is a wonderful thing!)

The reason I joined this forum and stumbled across the Youtube Site is in itself a good little story…... When I left School back in 1980 I worked in Electronics, making wiring looms, assembling PCB’s and doing mechanical assembly, I did this for a few years and gradually through a few company promotions went into the design office where I learnt to design printed circuit boards (with a light box, tape of varying widths and lots of black circles!!) I did this for a few more years then left and got offered a better role with another company using the latest and greatest CAD to design circuit boards for the Military, this was when surface mount, double sided and multilayer circuit boards were becoming popular, unfortunately the design company suddenly and unexpectedly shut its office in my town and I lost my job.

At that time nearly all my friends were in construction, seemed to be having fun and earning good money, so I decided to leave electronics and become a carpenter doing new housing (much to my late fathers shock and horror as he owned an electronics company!)…... well I have spent the last 34 years in construction and had honestly totally forgotten that I even did any electronics, as I had wiped it from my resume and from my memory… until a new shiny, bright Electronics supply shop opened not far from where I Live (Altronics is its name… www.altronics.com.au). About 6 months ago I had a thought (and I have no idea why) that I would stop on the way home and have a look inside, as soon as I stepped inside the door it was like stepping back 34 years… the familiar smell of the components, the soldering irons, the shelves of resistors, capacitors, kits, I suddenly realized then that my father was completely right and I should have spent my working life in electronics..... 34 years wasted I thought!!

Needless to say on that visit to Altronics I spent several hundred dollars on build your own electronic kits, soldering iron, tools, solder, PCB assembly rack, cable, breadboards and a few components. When I got home and plugged the iron in it was fantastic, and I’m proud to say my soldering skills were still pretty good even after over 34 years!

Microcomputers like Raspberry Pi and Microcontrollers like Arduino are new and exciting additions to appear in the 34 years out of the industry, but the rest of the components and chipsets do not seem to have changed much.... but early days

Anyhow, lots to learn from this forum and I have lots of projects I would like to construct.


   
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codecage
(@codecage)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1018
 

@yellowthree

Welcome aboard!  This place is like a candy store for electronic enthusiasts to learn new things.

If you used to do PCB design work be sure to check out Kicad.  It is a free PCB design piece of software that is becoming a new standard IMHO.  There is even a very good book available to help you get over the learning curve, which should be rather easy for you with your past experience. The book is "KICAD LIKE A PRO" by Peter Dalmaris.  I believe he lives there in AUS along with you.

Again, welcome.

SteveG


   
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robotBuilder
(@robotbuilder)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 2037
 

@yellowthree

Have often been to Adelaide for holidays and to visit my son and cousins.  I would drop into Altronics on Main North Road and a bit further on, past the Grand Junction, Jaycars to buy a few electronic items to play with. Haven't been able to get there since the covid19 border closures. Bought my first computer, a TRS80, down Jetty Road Glenelg from Tandy Electronics (no longer exists).

 

 


   
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(@yellowthree)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

@codecage Thanks for the info. I will check that out, I would be interested to see how the board design side of the industry has changed. 

I have been racking my brains on what computer system and software I used.... I know back in around 1984 it was the very best and extremely expensive... 

I look forward to learning from the brains in this forum.


   
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(@yellowthree)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

@robotbuilder Hi. 

I must have driven past Altronics a thousand times before it caught my eye.. glad I stopped.

I have been to Jaycar in a few locations since but I prefer Altronics... Also because of the old days back in the UK I always used RS Components and also Farnell, I was thrilled to see RS components are still going and distribute in Australia and Farnell trade under the name Element 14 in Asia/Australia.  Luckily I have an ABN so now have trade accounts at all of these 🙂 


   
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strongheart
(@strongheart)
Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 27
 

Hello, Dronebot World! (I could have coded that in at least 8 different languages).
I'm not a lawyer but I passed the bar enough times without going in that I have the funds to play with electronic gadgets and Corona has given me the time.  
I took an electronics course way, way back in college and was also a Tech plus Amateur once upon a time.  
I have some proficiency in Python, Java, Javascript and web stuff, C/C++ and I still remember basic - Gee Wiz.  I never ruined my interest in these things by making them a profession.
I look forward to having fun and learning here on Dronebot, and I am always happy whenever I can help.  (helpfulness => happiness)   

I miss Lafayette Radio Electronics. 

~steve~

Taking yourself seriously is no laughing matter.
Taking someone else, seriously, it's a federal offense.


   
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Spyder
(@spyder)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 846
 

@strongheart

Welcome aboard Steve

I would send the Welcome-Bot out to greet you, but, we don't allow bots in here, which is odd due to the number of residents actively trying to build them

I'm sure you'll find something of interest around here, and if you don't, you can always build something of interest

I would stay and chat, but I'm in the middle of being totally confused, which is actually normal for me, so, just ignore me until I start making some sort of sense, which never lasts long when it does happen anyway


   
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(@dronebot-workshop)
Workshop Guru Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1051
 
Posted by: @strongheart

I miss Lafayette Radio Electronics.

We didn't have Lafayette in Canada, and I was always jealous about that as I used to drool over their catalog. On one of our cross-continent vacations when I was a teenager I made my parents take a detour in Minneapolis so I could visit a Lafayette store. I purchased a set of quadraphonic headphones (it was the mid-70s and that was a big thing then), probably the most uncomfortable things I've ever stuck on my head.  As a result, thinking of Lafayette makes my head hurt!

Posted by: @spyder

I would send the Welcome-Bot out to greet you, but, we don't allow bots in here, which is odd due to the number of residents actively trying to build them

I'm always amused when I log into my RobotShop account and have to check a box to prove that I'm not a robot - I would think they would like robots there!

😎

Bill

"Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window." — Steve Wozniak


   
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Spyder
(@spyder)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 846
 

@dronebot-workshop

You could always update the capcha...

image

   
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strongheart
(@strongheart)
Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 27
 

@spyder I too am in a state of confusion.
I recently wiped out both hard drive (intentional -after backup), repartitioned for multi boot on one drive and share a /home partition.  Mint 20 and an old Mepis spinoff, MX (Mepis was my first Linux ❤️ )

Getting WX to work and a few other things seem to be a bear (on MX - thought the X would make them related?  ).
So from one crazy to another, thanks for the warm welcome.

Taking yourself seriously is no laughing matter.
Taking someone else, seriously, it's a federal offense.


   
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strongheart
(@strongheart)
Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 27
 

@dronebot-workshop
Thank you Bill for your work and for signing me in to Dronebot.

Lafayette was more of a marvel to me back then,  I only got to play with one or two simple kits back then.
It was the produce store for components and kits.   Sadly, the laziness of the public preferred RadioShack (rip) and it''s ready-for-consumer-use products (mostly CB's) over what Lafayerre had to offer.    In some areas, there are "Radio Barns"  that carry and supply parts. I'm not so fortunate.  Even with one day delivery from Amazon or anyone else, there's a big difference between browsing and walking through any store - the cart gets fuller than intended.

I had a Quad 8-track player.  I think it was a Realistic (Rat Shack).  I only had 2 discrete quad tapes, and funny, Quadrophenia wasn't very good quad separation. 

I'm going to have to build a robot to whisper my password in my ear - that's allowed, right?

~Steve~

 

  

Taking yourself seriously is no laughing matter.
Taking someone else, seriously, it's a federal offense.


   
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strongheart
(@strongheart)
Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 27
 

@spyder
Terms of service agreement:
"No entity consisting of over 50% electronics parts may enter"

Taking yourself seriously is no laughing matter.
Taking someone else, seriously, it's a federal offense.


   
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