{Had to re-send this as from my ISP I can't hit the address in the
reply, "oh well!"}
I offered the thought of some electronics references, as I see
occasional questions that make me wonder; People can do things without
a full understanding, I "got the opportunity" to re-build the engine on
my first car, without any clue what I was doing whatsoever, nor any help
(My parents were dicorcing each other at the time), and I did pretty
well, I only ended up with ONE part left over (and it was just the warm
air inlet to the preheat air for the carbeurettors (and it hadn't had
the foil tube to the intake manifold, was why I ended up with it left
over...) I fixed that after a LONG day of head-scratching! Eventually
even learned that the cylinder on top of the engine was the ALTERNATOR,
not the STARTER MOTOR, as I got a chance to review it all as the pieces
were being machined for me... A WearComp isn't all that much more
dangerous, nor difficult, than a car, just different details.
[BTW, Your story reminds me of the time (high school) I was teaching a
kid (very bright, gifted young boy! 5 or so.) about electronics; I
elected to stop tutoring him when (a) I found I was having to teach him
math in order to teach him Ohm's Law (he didn't know multiplication
yet!), and (b) he took his parent's stereo apart, with the power ON not
OFF, i.e. he was ignoring half of what I said, the safety part... Or at
least PART of it, he DID manage NOT to kill himself, at least!]
I'm all for teaching kids as much as they can understand, as soon as
they can deal with it, BUT: if they show an inability to make safe
choices, they cannot handle it! (Wish I could stop one adult I know
with bad safety habits, some days!)
And (IMHO, at least) just because someone doesn't know all of
electronics, shouldn't mean they cannot do MOST of designing & building
a wearable; with appropriate help, at least! My blind friend Mary does
ISA board installation in her XTs, by touch, which I would have said
"Was
Impossible" had I not watched her set jumpers & install boards with a
little reading support (of documentation) from a volunteer. Really
different to see her trying to run SpinRite, though...
So long as a electronics "newbie" WANTS a wearable, and knows enough
to
know when to ask for help, why try to tell them they cannot have a
machine that will help them? My girlfriend, Robin, is a Quadriplegic
("functional quad" is the technical term, she has some hand use.) She
doesn't know much about electronics; She's getting a wearable,
eventually, I'd bet. And I feel that getting a wearable will motivate
her to learn more electronics... (Her electric wheelchair will carry it
for her, most likely.) And while I'll have to be her hands for some of
building it, she'll do everything she CAN, and you can bet I'll make
sure the SAFETY parts are explained to her. It just doesn't take a
"rocket scientist", though, to cut & fold & drill sheet metal, drill
mounting holes, and install an isolated power converter, etc. - you just
need to know WHY to choose an isolated or non-isolated converter, what
parts to string together & how, how to solder properly, and what NOT to
do, and then borrow a good technician now & again to look over the
design & implementation, to check it all out... (I'd trade work with
someone
good at metalwork, happily!; I do their wiring in turn for not having to
do my metalwork, as I'm not super good at, & don't have good tools for,
metalwork! Yet, at least <G> I can learn. And I can buy more tools
<VBEG>)
Mark Willis
Neill Newman wrote:
>
> Mark Willis wrote:
> > #2 is something that comes to mind from all the tech questions I see
> > on the mailing list; Does it make sense to get some links to how to
> > solder, what the basic electronics parts are & look like & numbering
> > schemes, and so on, for those who aren't experienced technicians?
(It'd
> > be some work, of course...) Just a thought (and maybe there's a
> > different "learn electronics" listserve out there!)
> >
>
> I think (I am not sure though) that most of the people on this list are
> techies. I think everybody makes a fair assumption that most of the
> people here have some technical expertise, be that software, hardware or
> both.
> I would be advise anybody that if they didn't feel comftable to work on
> electronic or electrical equiptment then they souldn't do it, there is
> only so much you can read on these subjects, but in order to become a
> competent technician/engineer takes a lot more than reading a book or a
> web site. There are also a safety consideration to think about.
>
> If anybody decides that they would like to know more, find a local TV /
> computer repair shop and have a chat with an engineer, or with somebody
> who does this kinda thing for a living. There is a mountain of knowledge
> that just can't be documented, and is passed down via word of mouth.
>
> In the PC marketplace there is no guarantee as to wether ANYTHING will
> work with anything else, and this is echoed on the numerous newsgroups
> with people saying "my X dosent work with my Y, the company won't/can't
> help" and months can be spent on what may seem a simple problem.
> The bottom line is, if you have any doubts, rethink the situation. It
> will probably be more productive in the long term.
>
> I hope I haven't put anybody off, assembling a machine which works,
> solving all the little problems with it, and showing it off to people
> gives a great feeling of achievement, but it takes a lot of hard work,
> and not everybody appreciates that.
>
> Neill
>
> (P.S. I learned a lot about electronic stuff, when aged 4, I took apart
> my parents TV with a pair of scissors, and literally cutting the
> components off the board !! even at that tender age I knew to unplug it
> and not to touch the HT lead !.
> Needless to say I have done a lot worse since ;-) )
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Neill Newman Tel: Home 01206 874261
> Department of Electronics Systems Engineering Work 01206 873708
> University of Essex Fax: "" 01206 872900
> http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~njnewm/ mailto:
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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