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Great article but this statement struck me as blind nostalgia. > Somehow, there is less magic in playing with Arduino and Raspberry pi than simple diodes. The

Great article but this statement struck me as blind nostalgia. > Somehow, there is less magic in playing with Arduino and Raspberry pi than simple diodes. The lack of magic is likely due to being an adult. I'm sure certain kids still find this stuff just as magical.

linker3000 11y ago
To a degree, yes, but in my capacity as a moderator in /r/electroncis on Reddit, my heart sinks a little when a person asks what's the best way to get into electronics and someone replies that they should get an Arduino and a few interface shields or a bunch of LEDs and start turning things on and off. Programming I/O or PWM signals is considered by many to be 'electronics'.
- jcoffland 11y ago
  It's certainly much more likely to lead to a more profitable career. Do you wind your own transformers and use vacuum tubes? The really old guys would look down on cheating by using transistors and store bought coils. It's all just nostalgia. People can and should find the magic in different places than the previous generations did.
  - linker3000 11y ago
    > Do you wind your own transformers and use vacuum tubes? Have done in the past. The trouble is, starting with an Arduino is a bit like wanting to be an engine specialist so buying an engine and fitting it to a chassic and wheels, but never digging in the opposite direction.
- jakobegger 11y ago
  The first time I tinkered with a microcontroller was such a relief for me. Analog circuits seemed to never work just right; digital logic seems much less finical.
driverdan 11y ago
Modern SoCs and microcontrollers are just as magical to me now as LEDs and motors and buzzers were when I was a kid. The fact that you can get a wireless internet connected computer for <$5 (eg ESP8266) blows my mind every time I think about it. I never imagined how cheap electronics would be when I was young.
erroneousfunk 11y ago
I volunteer on Sundays at the Boston Museum of Science, and lead an activity showing kids how to make circuits out of Play-Doh (yup, regular Play-Doh -- it conducts electricity!), 9 volt batteries, LEDs, motors, and a few other odds and ends. You'd be shocked at how many kids -- mostly boys in the 8-13 range -- show up at the activity, full of confidence, the parents are telling me how their genius child is constantly doing Arduinos/Rasberry pis/Little Bits/electrical engineering flavor-of-the-month toy at home, the kids are like "Oh, I already know how to do this!" I hand them they equipment, and they promptly take all the leads for the LED and the battery and jam them into the single ball of Play-Doh expecting it to do something. Well, it does do something -- it short-circuits my battery is what it does! Microcontrollers and simple circuits are just so different, the skills are different, the mindset is different, and people tend to react to them differently. Once the kids, or adults, do finally get the LED to light up, they're often just completely blown away, in a way that you or I might find a little silly. Parents are constantly taking pictures, filming their kids doing this for, like, 10 minutes, just shocked (not literally!) and amazed that they're actually controlling electricity. It feels a little primal/fundamental and magical. Like you're interacting directly with some previously-mysterious force of nature, whereas some of the other electrical engineering tools feel more like "appliances," which people use every day. I've seen thousands of reactions to people playing with the programmable robots, and Little Bits, Makey Makey (which also teaches circuits, but there's a lot of other "stuff" going on), Lego Mindstorms, but I have to say that those things never get quite the immediate and primal reaction that Play-Doh, LEDs, and 9 volt batteries get. They're just such different things.

linker3000 11y ago

To a degree, yes, but in my capacity as a moderator in /r/electroncis on Reddit, my heart sinks a little when a person asks what's the best way to get into electronics and someone replies that they should get an Arduino and a few interface shields or a bunch of LEDs and start turning things on and off. Programming I/O or PWM signals is considered by many to be 'electronics'.

jcoffland 11y ago
It's certainly much more likely to lead to a more profitable career. Do you wind your own transformers and use vacuum tubes? The really old guys would look down on cheating by using transistors and store bought coils. It's all just nostalgia. People can and should find the magic in different places than the previous generations did.
- linker3000 11y ago
  > Do you wind your own transformers and use vacuum tubes? Have done in the past. The trouble is, starting with an Arduino is a bit like wanting to be an engine specialist so buying an engine and fitting it to a chassic and wheels, but never digging in the opposite direction.
jakobegger 11y ago
The first time I tinkered with a microcontroller was such a relief for me. Analog circuits seemed to never work just right; digital logic seems much less finical.

driverdan 11y ago

Modern SoCs and microcontrollers are just as magical to me now as LEDs and motors and buzzers were when I was a kid. The fact that you can get a wireless internet connected computer for <$5 (eg ESP8266) blows my mind every time I think about it. I never imagined how cheap electronics would be when I was young.

erroneousfunk 11y ago

I volunteer on Sundays at the Boston Museum of Science, and lead an activity showing kids how to make circuits out of Play-Doh (yup, regular Play-Doh -- it conducts electricity!), 9 volt batteries, LEDs, motors, and a few other odds and ends. You'd be shocked at how many kids -- mostly boys in the 8-13 range -- show up at the activity, full of confidence, the parents are telling me how their genius child is constantly doing Arduinos/Rasberry pis/Little Bits/electrical engineering flavor-of-the-month toy at home, the kids are like "Oh, I already know how to do this!" I hand them they equipment, and they promptly take all the leads for the LED and the battery and jam them into the single ball of Play-Doh expecting it to do something. Well, it does do something -- it short-circuits my battery is what it does! Microcontrollers and simple circuits are just so different, the skills are different, the mindset is different, and people tend to react to them differently. Once the kids, or adults, do finally get the LED to light up, they're often just completely blown away, in a way that you or I might find a little silly. Parents are constantly taking pictures, filming their kids doing this for, like, 10 minutes, just shocked (not literally!) and amazed that they're actually controlling electricity. It feels a little primal/fundamental and magical. Like you're interacting directly with some previously-mysterious force of nature, whereas some of the other electrical engineering tools feel more like "appliances," which people use every day. I've seen thousands of reactions to people playing with the programmable robots, and Little Bits, Makey Makey (which also teaches circuits, but there's a lot of other "stuff" going on), Lego Mindstorms, but I have to say that those things never get quite the immediate and primal reaction that Play-Doh, LEDs, and 9 volt batteries get. They're just such different things.