Bench Talk

Mouser Electronics will be an exhibitor at the first North American embedded world conference, October 8-10 in Austin, Texas. The event will showcase AI, cybersecurity, open-source, human-machine interfaces, expert panels, keynotes, and Mouser's “Circuit Showdown.”

It’s times like that when I ask myself….”Now why did I have kids?” The word “cute” comes to mind, but when I realize I could be drinking mojitos in the Caribbean with the extra time and money. A cross country move or camping means whining and crabbiness, dogs and kids that need a restroom stop every 2 hours, and (purposely?) lost toothbrushes….being a parent comes with a sense of resignation at times. It does get balanced out by the good times, and it makes for some really funny memories. For those of you who don’t have kids, kudos to you, the world is getting crowded anyway. But in solidarity with those of us who do have kids, let’s talk about the good side of that venerable venture, because parenting is as old as man. (Neanderthals were parents, too.)

Breadboards are fantastic for experimenting with a circuit design and testing components. Eventually, you will want to move to a more robust solution for a circuit that is intended to escape the confines of laboratory and bravely venture into the real-world.

Development kits (dev kits) save time because they are a ready-made circuit/platform. The purpose of a dev kit is so you can run experiments on it. It’s much cheaper to burn up a dev kit than an original design. A dev kit usually comes as a box with manuals, one or more PCBs, and maybe some cables, a power supply, and software or links to software, and they are perfect for getting a next look past the data sheet. There are dev kits for all kinds of parts from fiber optics to complete design-your-own car remote key fobs. Most processor/CPU/MCU-focused dev kits are complete in that they can be used right out of the box, and maybe you do a little programming to customize things.

“Young people in Britain have become a lost generation who can no longer mend gadgets and appliances because they have grown up in a disposable world.” I recently came across this quote in an article from the U.K. publication ‘The Telegraph’ in a story that discussed the lack of ‘fix it’ ability in younger generations. This notion is attributed to Danielle George, a Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering at the University of Manchester. I certainly agree that, in concept, as electronic devices have gotten smaller, more robust, and cheaper, we as a society (not just 'young people') have collectively bought into the ‘replace-not-repair’ mindset. In addition, we live in an era where like clockwork a new iPhone is delivered every 12 months. We sometimes choose to replace an older broken device for a new one simply to gain access to new features only available in the newer models. Has this coalesced into a generation that can’t repair anything that breaks? Perhaps.

Electronics is an amazing profession and hobby. The notion that one can harness the forces of nature and bend them to one’s whim is immensely satisfying. With the resurgence of the DIY spirit and the evolution of the Maker Movement, getting started in electronics has never been easier. Embedded open source platforms such as Arduino and BeagleBone provide a fantastic jumping in point for learning electronics and software. I could only have dreamt of the resources we have today when I was first starting out. With that in mind, here are my five tips for getting started in electronics based on what I’ve learned over the last 20 years.