[REQUEST] How do I learn more about computers?

[UI-7]

Hello there,

 

I've recently been getting a lot more interested in the hardware and software parts of computers and I've been generally wondering how I can learn things more in depth.

Of course there's the option of googling every definition I stumble upon, reading up on them and watching videos on those topics and terms, but for me that has only ended in endless rabbitholes of terminology and weird engineering stuff that I am not nearly experienced enough to actually decipher.

 

So I thought that I'd ask here, if any of you had a general way of how I could go about learning the different functions, terms, use cases and processes concerning hardware and its direct software connections.

[WhitetailAni]

I learned by:
1. Listening to my dad's work meetings (he works in IT with datacenters), then asking him what x thing was after he was done

2. Watching lots of 2016-2019 LTT videos, as the 2020+ videos aren't really informative so much as entertainment

3. Lots of hands-on experience by tinkering around (it has the downsides of you having to reinstall Windows a lot though, if you run Windows)

 

I don't learn by hands-on - I prefer to watch someone else do it first and then try to copy what they do, but once I've figured out the basic concept it's pretty easy to do whatever the thing is. Everyone's different though so this may not work for you.

 

EDIT:
I also have a tendency to go down knowledge rabbit holes. While trying to figure out how to stick Homebrew on my Wii I found a video on how, and the next video was on the history of cracking the Wii, which led to a Reddit post, which led to another YouTube video, which led to a description of the Wii's hardware, and so on. By the time I was done reading everything I had a solid grasp on how to softmod my Wii and how people figured out how to softmod Wiis. I also learned that RVL-001 Wiis have the ability to play back DVDs.

[CT854]

Immersion's the key here.

 

Line up some videos from tech YouTubers (LTT's older videos, TechQuickie, and GamersNexus are my favorite starting points) and just... start watching videos. Absorb what they're talking about. If you don't understand something, look it up and embrace the rabbit holes. Just, make sure you only go as far as you feel comfortable absorbing info for. And revisit things, see if you've missed anything in a video or concept you've seen before.

 

I just talked about this in a different post but another way of learning is looking at a question someone else is asking about where you know what they're asking, and feel comfortable looking up a solution for, whether you feel comfortable offering a solution to them or not. I wouldn't recommend doing this until you've had some more background knowledge, but this is a good way to learn more about tech and how to apply it.

[Moonzy]

22 minutes ago, UI-7 said:

endless rabbitholes of terminology

depends on how deep you wanna go

most consumers dont need to know more than few things

 

i'd say start from the basics and slowly move on to deeper stuffs

LTT for basics, gamer nexus for intermediate, then AHOC or Derbauer's channel for more in-depth (for hardware)

[GDRRiley]

==moved to general discussion==

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

8 hours ago, UI-7 said:

Hello there,

 

I've recently been getting a lot more interested in the hardware and software parts of computers and I've been generally wondering how I can learn things more in depth.

Of course there's the option of googling every definition I stumble upon, reading up on them and watching videos on those topics and terms, but for me that has only ended in endless rabbitholes of terminology and weird engineering stuff that I am not nearly experienced enough to actually decipher.

 

So I thought that I'd ask here, if any of you had a general way of how I could go about learning the different functions, terms, use cases and processes concerning hardware and its direct software connections.

Dink around with old hardware. If you break something, oh well. The monetary investment wouldn't be high anyways. 

[justconstruction]

I learned everything through steps. Start with learning what each component of a computer is. Then, go and learn everything you can about each component and it's purpose. It is important to not get caught up in brands and the differences between them; becuase even though one brand may do something to make it's product better than another brand's; they still serve the same purpose and have the same basic parts. In my early stages of learning, I found that it helped to make diagrams and things like that to sort the information so that it was right in front of me. When I saw something I had never learned before, I started to persue it to see if it worth learning about at the time. You don't want to take in too much information at once nor do you want to focus on useless information which may make you forget the importent information. It also really help to have a real peice of each thing, so you can see everything up close. That is my advice and it helped me to learn the important stuff fairly easily, but every person is different. Alot of it is learning on the way though, so don't worry if you are not an expert after learning everything you 'need' to.

[Giganthrax]

Watch tech channels like LTT, Gamersnexus, JayZ, Paul's Hardware, Craft Computing, and so on. You'll naturally learn a ton just from doing that and generally feel more comfortable about hardware because you'll repeatedly see what everything looks like in action.

 

You should also tinker with your computers. If you use your main PC for work and are afraid of accidentaly screwing something up, make some virtual machines and fool around with different software and operating systems inside them. Get an older computer (but not too old, it should have at least 2-4gb of ram and be 64bit for a meaningful experience) and tinker with it as well. Find personal projects you like and try to make them work on your own.