My first soldering iron was not that long ago, and it, too, was a massive Weller (just 140W though). I had gotten to its limits of how small it could solder though, and it was time to move on to a pencil-type one. But I still have the ol' gun right here!
Had all those books and neatly arranged them into a binder. Learned more from those than most of the engineering courses in college.
Did anyone ever really learn from those spring connector kits? They sound so good and yet… meh. Even fell into that trap with the kids. Switches and lights (and maybe a solar cell or motor), great. All those other pieces… nope.
My dad had the big huge soldering gun in your photo… not for precision work indeed!
I ran across your delightful blog via Hackaday. Coincidentally, I worked at DEC during the same period as you, designing and writing diagnostics for VAXstations and NT boot code for Alpha based workstations (and laptops - which I still have). DEC was a company of paradoxes, but I still loved working for them till the very end. I also worked at a Radio Shack as a teenager, and still have a few Forest Mims books with my own circuits scribbled on the spare graph paper pages. I'd give RS credit for enabling me to learn electronics by giving me access to electronic parts in a retail store - which took my knowledge from "books only" to hands on. Aside from burning many dollars, I never felt bad about burning up many components while experimenting, because RS was right down the road with replacements. Loved Heathkit as well :).
While all the other kids were bringing home comic books to read, I was excitedly thumbing through the Shadio Rack Summer Catalog on a Saturday afternoon. I am somewhat ashamed of just how far into adulthood I went back to re-read "Getting Started in Electronics".
This article could be me. Except I was fortunate enough that my neighbor with the TRS-80 was *actually* Forrest Mims. He live two blocks from me, and I knew him through our church. I got to play with lasers as well as his computer collection in middle school and junior high, and it forever shaped the course of my life.
radio shack had some cool things - i got an early speech synthesis chip there, a totally random find while i was looking around. it was great. you sent it phoneme codes via a serial port, and audio came out. it worked pretty well for the time.
Radio were as just as important to 70’s and 80’s culture in Canada as well. My first run in with the store was my older brothers CB craze …. Large home stereos were respectable if a Realistic logo was attached. It was a hot spot to go for car stereos, answering machines, cutting edge to me were the cordless telephones. The Tsr was frustrating , but a great way to kill a Friday night with nothing to show for it.
I went commodore then the XT clones… Leasure suit Larry and Christmas 1987 .
Ps. I owed the 150 electronics set in 78… that was great fun. I learned to figure out basics and even scavenged parts from it sadly for later projects with a train layout. Great times, thanks
This timeframe reminded me of my summer camp learning how to program on a TI-99/4A at the community college. I think soon after my parents got me the vic 20, so this was around ages 10-12 for me. i particularly remember the chunky and clunky keys of the vic20, in addition to the amazing cassette tape storage device. I also remember the cool family who let me use their pc and borrow any software i wanted while their three kids were still riding tricycles, not quite ready for the digital revolution.
Fond memories. I grew up with a TRS80 Model III with https://slope3.io . I learned that machine inside out and backwards. It's great seeing people bring them back to life!
I cut my teeth and grew up on a Radio Shack Color Computer 2 then “upgraded” to the big leagues with the Color Computer 3 and OS-9 Level II. Loved those machines!
My first soldering iron was not that long ago, and it, too, was a massive Weller (just 140W though). I had gotten to its limits of how small it could solder though, and it was time to move on to a pencil-type one. But I still have the ol' gun right here!
FOREST M MIMS FOR THE WIN!!!!!
And he hand drew all those pictures!
Fascinating guy if you look into his bio.
Had all those books and neatly arranged them into a binder. Learned more from those than most of the engineering courses in college.
Did anyone ever really learn from those spring connector kits? They sound so good and yet… meh. Even fell into that trap with the kids. Switches and lights (and maybe a solar cell or motor), great. All those other pieces… nope.
My dad had the big huge soldering gun in your photo… not for precision work indeed!
Great post!
I ran across your delightful blog via Hackaday. Coincidentally, I worked at DEC during the same period as you, designing and writing diagnostics for VAXstations and NT boot code for Alpha based workstations (and laptops - which I still have). DEC was a company of paradoxes, but I still loved working for them till the very end. I also worked at a Radio Shack as a teenager, and still have a few Forest Mims books with my own circuits scribbled on the spare graph paper pages. I'd give RS credit for enabling me to learn electronics by giving me access to electronic parts in a retail store - which took my knowledge from "books only" to hands on. Aside from burning many dollars, I never felt bad about burning up many components while experimenting, because RS was right down the road with replacements. Loved Heathkit as well :).
While all the other kids were bringing home comic books to read, I was excitedly thumbing through the Shadio Rack Summer Catalog on a Saturday afternoon. I am somewhat ashamed of just how far into adulthood I went back to re-read "Getting Started in Electronics".
This article could be me. Except I was fortunate enough that my neighbor with the TRS-80 was *actually* Forrest Mims. He live two blocks from me, and I knew him through our church. I got to play with lasers as well as his computer collection in middle school and junior high, and it forever shaped the course of my life.
radio shack had some cool things - i got an early speech synthesis chip there, a totally random find while i was looking around. it was great. you sent it phoneme codes via a serial port, and audio came out. it worked pretty well for the time.
Radio were as just as important to 70’s and 80’s culture in Canada as well. My first run in with the store was my older brothers CB craze …. Large home stereos were respectable if a Realistic logo was attached. It was a hot spot to go for car stereos, answering machines, cutting edge to me were the cordless telephones. The Tsr was frustrating , but a great way to kill a Friday night with nothing to show for it.
I went commodore then the XT clones… Leasure suit Larry and Christmas 1987 .
Ps. I owed the 150 electronics set in 78… that was great fun. I learned to figure out basics and even scavenged parts from it sadly for later projects with a train layout. Great times, thanks
This timeframe reminded me of my summer camp learning how to program on a TI-99/4A at the community college. I think soon after my parents got me the vic 20, so this was around ages 10-12 for me. i particularly remember the chunky and clunky keys of the vic20, in addition to the amazing cassette tape storage device. I also remember the cool family who let me use their pc and borrow any software i wanted while their three kids were still riding tricycles, not quite ready for the digital revolution.
Fond memories. I grew up with a TRS80 Model III with https://slope3.io . I learned that machine inside out and backwards. It's great seeing people bring them back to life!
I spent countless hours in Radio Shack as a kid, pouring over the catalogs and dreaming up projects with the 555 timers. https://buildnowgg.co/
I cut my teeth and grew up on a Radio Shack Color Computer 2 then “upgraded” to the big leagues with the Color Computer 3 and OS-9 Level II. Loved those machines!