Connections: Interesting and Useful Places on the Web
Electronics
- Jameco Electronics
- A very wide selection
of electronic components. Not a very deep selection. Often don't have the
"latest and greatest" but they have most of what a hobbyist would want.
Great prices and great service. Very hobbyist friendly.
- Sparkfun Electronics
- The "cool"
place to buy electronic parts. Hobbyist oriented. Sell the most popular
components, but focus more on modules and kits. Lots of good tutorials.
Good pricing on most items.
- Digikey
- Big Name, Big Time, full line
distributor that is also hobbyist friendly.
- Mouser Electronics
- The other Big Name, Big
Time, full line distributor that is hobbyist friendly. If it is currently being
made, either Mouser or Digikey probably has it. Both are very good to deal with.
Robotics
- Nuts and Volts
- General, hobby oriented electronics magazine. Over 30 years running. Bought
out the other hobby magazines when they folded.
- Servo
- Nuts and Volts sister robotics magazine. Similar to and shares authors with
N&V.
- Circuit Cellar
- Started by Steve Ciarcia from his Circuit Cellar column in Byte. In depth,
engineer level embedded projects and information. "Merged" with the
European Elektor magazine a few years ago and lost several authors, quality
declined, price went WAY up, and they started business practices I didn't
like. I dropped and never renewed my subscription when they started making
harassing phone calls and telling me I said I was going to do something I
never said. YMMV.
- Elektor
- Never read it. Probably never will. See Circuit Cellar above. Very
popular in Europe, apparently.
Hardware, Software, programming, architecture, design, whatever related to computers.
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Retro Computing
I started working with computers in 1979. A lot of what is considered retro now
is what I grew up on. I am interested in all things old-computing. For people
who have never used a computer less than 100 MHz and 256 MB of RAM, there is a
lot to learn. There are a lot of lessons to learn from looking at how things
were done in less than 64K of RAM at 2 MHz. Plus, it's just plain interesting.
The history of how we got here is fascinating.
- Old Computers
- The first place to check when looking at old personal computers. They have
a large number in their museum, with lots of information. Links to other sites
with more information on specific models.
- Retro Technology
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- Retro Archive
- Lots of old computer (more than 10 years old) stuff. Mostly software, with
a large collection of CP/M stuff.
- The Unofficial CP/M web site
- Officially sanctioned, but "unofficial" web site CP/M and Digital Research
software. Source and binary code of various Digital Research software and related
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- Retro Computing
- A lot of information, mostly early personal computers up through the 90s.
There are a lot of sites dealing with electronics and robotics. Here are some of the
best.
- Lets Make Robots
- A community website of smart and friendly people building robots. You can
post your latest build, read about others' work, ask forum questions, and talk
online with other members. Great site. If you build or want to build robots, you
have to go here.
- AVR Freaks
- AVR Freaks is a great resource for anyone using Atmel's line of AVR processors.
A lot of the members are Atmel employees or professional engineers using AVRs. It
is mostly a high level site, and if you ask amateurish questions they better be well
thought out and researched. You can get a lot of good information without ever asking
any questions by looking through the archives.
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PCB Design Tutorial
- The best PCB design document I have EVER seen. Very comprehensive, yet easy to
read. Read lightly through it at first to get started. Come back often to pick
up stuff you missed the first time. Download and keep it handy whenever you are
doing a layout.
Some of my friends, family, and coworkers have websites that may be interesting. I am
also including here other people's sites if they are interesting.
Family
- Elisa
- My lovely, wonderful wife. She sells real estate. If you need to buy or sell a
house in the Pullman, WA area, you can't do better. Of course, I'm not biased or anything.
- Christana
- Christana, my multi-talented daughter. Plays flute, guitar, and piano. Draws and
paints beautiful pictures. Writes wonderful, creative stories. Makes things. Runs cross
country.
- Jacob
- Jacob, my wild son. Loves anything that shoots or blows up (wonder where he gets that?).
Has more Airsoft and BB guns than Wal Mart. Loves You Tube. Builds and fixes things. Lifts
weights. Guess I better be nice to him!
Friends and Coworkers
- Aly Farahat
- Aly is one of the smartest people I've ever met. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering,
a MS in Computer Engineering, and a PhD in Computer Science. Now he's working on Masters in
Mathematics. Has done some very impressive research, which you can read about on his site.
He also is a talented piano player. I enjoy working with him and learning from him. He even
makes me feel good by asking MY advice and opinions!
Other People
- Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair
- Mr Lancaster is one of the true pioneers and very prolific. I have learned an awful lot
from him and been inspired countless times. His books are timeless classics. If you can't find
inspiration or something new to learn on his website you need to change hobbies. You must check
it out.