I've been slowly teaching myself electronics for the last three years. Started by building electronics kits and gradually over time you start to see similarities between the circuits and questions arise..
Why are there small value capacitors near all the power inputs on the various chips? Why do many of the inputs and outputs have the similar value resistors right near them? What are these diodes doing, going from ground towards the power output?
Curiosity leads to understanding, leads to pattern recognition, leads to greater understanding, and so on.. Now I'm building my own circuits from scratch and routing custom boards in KiCad and it just seems like second nature almost. There are still SO many mysteries and so much more to learn, but once you begin to understand the basics that knowledge allows the next step and so on.. I think all you really need to get started is a soldering iron (get one with adjustable temperature, I love my Hakko but started with a cheaper one), decent multimeter (The UT61E is really great and cheap) and some leaded solder (just don't eat it).. There are cheap digital handh-held scopes these days too and you don't HAVE to have a scope right away.
Components are cheap (check tayda electronics) and it's endlessly fun, especially for those with a side gig working on the computer all the time. I find having something 'real' I can tinker with a great hobby and don't see myself ever stopping at this point.
Why are there small value capacitors near all the power inputs on the various chips? Why do many of the inputs and outputs have the similar value resistors right near them? What are these diodes doing, going from ground towards the power output?
Curiosity leads to understanding, leads to pattern recognition, leads to greater understanding, and so on.. Now I'm building my own circuits from scratch and routing custom boards in KiCad and it just seems like second nature almost. There are still SO many mysteries and so much more to learn, but once you begin to understand the basics that knowledge allows the next step and so on.. I think all you really need to get started is a soldering iron (get one with adjustable temperature, I love my Hakko but started with a cheaper one), decent multimeter (The UT61E is really great and cheap) and some leaded solder (just don't eat it).. There are cheap digital handh-held scopes these days too and you don't HAVE to have a scope right away.
Components are cheap (check tayda electronics) and it's endlessly fun, especially for those with a side gig working on the computer all the time. I find having something 'real' I can tinker with a great hobby and don't see myself ever stopping at this point.