Getting started with electronics

Hey all,

I'd like to get started with electronics, I'm familiar with most of the concepts of electronics (having finished an A-level in physics and soon to be starting a degree in it) but I really don't know where start when it comes to development boards etc.

I've searched all over the net but there seem to be so many different devices and information is scattered everywhere it's hard to get much of an idea of what everything is..

I've been looking into the Arduino boards but I've been hearing a lot about BASIC Stamp boards as well.. With so many choices I just don't know where to start!

So if anyone has an experience in this area and could offer any advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron.

Saying that you want to get started with electronics is kind of like saying you want to get started with computers..it's too general.
Are you interested in discrete/analog/audio stuff? Basic digital circuits? Embedded CPUs ?

Some ideas:
- Check your local library for
"Art of Electronics" and "Floyd: Electronic Devices" for some thorough theoretical treatment.
- Get a kid's electronic project kit
- Read http://www.hackaday.com/ and come up with your own ideas

I would consider Basic stamp to be cheating since you are using a very high level language- getting comfortable with 555 and 74xx ICs is probably more challenging and rewarding. If you want to get into microprocessors check out the "AVR Butterfly".

i have an arduino. it seems to be almost the same as the avr butterfly.

i don't really have a clue about electronics but attaching stuff to the arduino isn't that hard.

an electronic circuit simulator could be nice for experimenting. is there some free and useable software for this?

There are lots of free circuit simulators (spice-based). I wouldn't consider any of them usable.

I do understand what you're saying about being too general.
I suppose I'm the most interested in how computer processors work, so I'd say anything to do with digital circuits, boolean logic gates etc would be of the most interest to me.

I'll look into those languages you've mentioned and the AVR Butterfly now.. see what that throws up.