Fun with Computer Electronics [Paperback]

Becker & Mayer Ltd. (Author)

Book Description

What makes a computer work? How does it read a disc? How are the messages from the keyboard transmitted to the monitor? These questions and more are answered in the book and through the projects in this book. With a book, cardboard workbench, and reusable plastic box, this kit introduces 20 projects that easily demonstrate the basic concepts of what makes computers work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Book and Access edition (September 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836223063
• ISBN-13: 978-0836223064
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,860,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A excellent introduction to Digital Electronics and Logic, July 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Fun with Computer Electronics (Paperback)

This kit and book might just light a spark in a childs mind. Great and easy to understand projects using common components and integrated circuits. You can even get all of the chips and components from this book at Radio Shack and reproduce some of the projects on your own. The 10 Led Chaser/Sequencer makes really cool fake car alarm warning lights for your dash. The authors choice of components is great because it simplifies the circuits you build quite a bit. Putting the breadboard together you experiment on is very easy. I don't really have anything bad to say about it. Please be careful with the chips until you understand the way they work. They are CMOS and easy to damage if wired wrong. CMOS chips can also be damaged by static so you don't want to go scuffing your feet across the carpet before using the kit. Just touch your kitchen faucet and get rid of the static electricity in your body before touching the chip leads.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun With Computer Electronics by Colombo, August 28, 2003

By 

Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca CPA,... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fun with Computer Electronics (Paperback)

This work carefully defines basic electronics concepts.
It is written for a wide constituency including young
children and early teens. The work would be very helpful
in formulating a grade school or early high school project
in science. Advanced terms are defined in simple english.
i.e. insulators, conductors, chips, diodes, modems, resistors,
capacitors and the piezo transducer.Midway through the book,
the author describes how to assemble a workbench and test
the circuitry. Later on, the author describes the vocabulary
of truth tables i.e. AND, OR, XOR and NAND
There is even a section on binary numbers. This work is
an excellent introduction into the complex area of electricity.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice kit, but has a classic design flaw, December 31, 2008

By 

Wayne Sanborn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fun with Computer Electronics (Paperback)

My kids (6 and 7 years old) got this kit for Christmas from a good friend of ours. Since the target users of the kit appear to be older kids and dad (me) is an electrical engineer, I ended up preparing the kit for my kids. The explanations of components, circuits and functions are nicely written for the intended audience in my opinion. The illustrations are fun and instructive. The kit is not overpriced. It took me a while to assemble the breadboard. It helps if you've done this kind of work before. An impatient novice could get frustrated. The projects seem to be instructive.

Be aware, however, that there is a classic digital design flaw in projects 11, 17, and 20 that may cause some consternation. In these projects, the reset line is driven by a one of the counter's outputs. I won't go into details, but it may result (as it did on mine), in incomplete resets. It's called a "runt pulse" in digital design texts and should be avoided at all costs on real products.

But this is a student kit and there's probably a way to design a fix for this problem with the available kit resources. There will be a quiz next class.