Where to learn about integrated circuits and such

General Discussions
#1

Hey guys, I just got finished with my first java course at school and have been pretty fascinated about it being that I am finally taking classes dealing with my majors (computer science and computer engineering) I know that eventually I’ll end up in classes that teach me all this stuff but I dont think it’ll be anytime soon, but im very curious about integrated circuits and designing circuits and computers and such.

Anyways I have been trying to do some research, but have come up mostly empty on where to begin when learning about all this, I’m a hands on learner so I’m hoping to find some kind of kit that comes with a breadbox and a book or somthing to help get me started with learning about all the terminology and simple stuff and I eventually want to work my way up to doing projects kind of like this

Anyone have any clue where I can start with this stuff?

#2

Don’t start with building computers on breadboards. Nowadays we already have computers and make that process more easy. I would recommend using a program like Logisim. It has worked very, very well for me and is useful to get all the logic work done without having to care about the physical way to organize cables :slight_smile:

#3

arduino board? I have 5 of them and they are easy and fun and cheap. You don’t even need to get a soldering iron. But starting there and say adding some sensors etc are a really good place to start IMO. For more advanced stuff try putting a micro AVR (the 8 pin ones) on a bread board and get it going. With clocks and stuff you may want to try some discrete logic first from the 74 series. Last time i was in the US, Radio Shack still sold them. Analog? Well then a op amp circuit say to make your earphones louder or a “burger” speaker.

Also if you have a little more cash there is always FPGAs which i had fun with in UNI. This does require a lot more work. But still manageable.

In all cases there is a lot of reading and learning needed. Arduinos have lots on the internet. I learnt lots of this from books, some quite expensive. I guess there should be a lot online.