Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods &

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat Jun 19 22:14:32 2004

>
> It's worse than that. Most people in electronics today don't even have a
> good understanding of basic components such as diodes, transistors,
> capacitors etc. A good example was the guy on this list that claimed

A lot of people don't understand _wire_ properly ;-). Of course that is
one of the most complex parts of your circuit in general.

> voltage didn't matter in a power supply, only current. VERY few of the

I once had a row with an idiot who decided that the 100 off 100nF
decoupling capacitors I'd shown across the supply lines (this was a large
board...) could be replaced by a single 10uF electrolytic mear the power
connector. This was on a board of ECL clocking at 100+ MHz.....

> people that I know that have Electrical Engineering degrees can even read a
> color code or can identify simple parts such as a resistor from a diode. I

Most people with EE degrees over here can find and solve the equations a
lot better than I can, but have no idea what they mean, or why they're
applicable, or what the components actually are. Somebody once asked me
for a 362.8 ohm (or something like that) resistor to use as an LED
current limiter because that's what the formula had told him to use...

-tony
Received on Sat Jun 19 2004 - 22:14:32 BST