Once upon a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth, when the Apple II was brand
new (and way beyond the means of even a non-starving student) an ASR 33
teletype was pretty desireable, being as how you could save hex files onto
paper tape so as to not have to type them in. In retrospect, I was lucky I
never found one I could afford, but I sure wanted one then.

Anyhow, way back then I built my own computer system out of a donated
Signetics 2650A (nice processor too), a handful of really cool 1024 x 4 SRAMS,
and a bunch of suplus LS TTL for glue logic. All nicely hand wire wrapped
(more fun than knitting!) according to my own drawings. It took months of
evenings, but it came up on the second try and I was just thrilled.

Since then, I have made my living doing software and have forgotten most of
what little I ever knew about electronics. Now, I am interested again and
would like to do a few things with the PIC. But, I think perhaps wire-wrap
is not what I want to do, and maybe I need more than my old 1978 TTL Databook
especially since I would like to to some AD and control and I never did know
anything about analog.

So, here is the newbie question:

Where do I get a quick practical self taught electronics education?

Back when there were the Don Lancaster "CMOS Cookbook", etc books. Just enough
theory to be sound, enough decent examples to show how, and a lot of practical
advice on what works and what doesn't. I am looking for a book or two with
that kind of approach.

I am not looking for "Microcontrollers for Dummies", I already know how to do
software and sort of still understand a little digital logic. But, I am way
out of touch with modern hardware practice and would like to fill in the gaps.

For example:

 What is a reasonable process for making your own boards these days, or is
 wirewrap still it for prototypeing?

 Are FPGA something I can think about using? I have no idea of the reality of
 this sort of thing, but the idea of specifying what you need and plugging it
 into a socket instead of building it out of a pile of chips is compelling.

 Where can I get (or rather which should I get) a reasonable set of databooks
 to familiarize myself with the more standard modern components? Both digital
 and analog please.

 Now that we all have computers, I probably don't have to draw my next
 project by hand. What software (prefer freeware, prefer Linux based, but
 will pay, will use Windows if need be) should I look for?

 It looks like you just order stuff from Digi-Key these days. Is this true,
 or are there other better suppliers? Any good surplus places?

If you know where I can get this information, or even better if you have
an opinion, please let me know. Thanks!

-dg

David Gould           dg@illustra.com            510.869.6383 or 510.305.9468
Informix Software (formerly Illustra)  1111 Broadway #2000  Oakland, CA 94607
 - I realize now that irony has no place in business communications.