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Jerakl
By Jerakl
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So guys, I'm looking into becoming a hardware engineer.

 

What I want to know is, what would be a good hobby to get some knowledge/experience in the area?

What should I persue? I know I asked @Whaler_99 a while back and he said something about networking crappy computers. But I don't have any.

 

TL;DR

I want to know how to get a head start on what I plan on doing in life.

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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Where about do you live? All over the place here (Ontario) we have electronics recycling boxes where you can grab lots of stuff, some working, some not. Get a soldering gun, start playing. Go to second hand computer store, pick up some cheap stuff to start messing with.

 

As an engineer, you want to focus on design? repair? Working directly with computers? Network gear? Security focused...

 

Check on the weeeb... lots of reading, if you can narrow down a focus or two, lots of info...

Forum Links - Community Standards, Privacy Policy, FAQ, Features Suggestions, Bug and Issues.

Folding/Boinc Info - Check out the Folding and Boinc Section, read the Folding Install thread and the Folding FAQ. Info on Boinc is here. Don't forget to join team 223518. Check out other users Folding Rigs for ideas. Don't forget to follow the @LTTCompute for updates and other random posts about the various teams.

Spoiler

Whaler_99 Links - "Green Machine" (watercooled), "Out of the Blue" (watercooled), My 4P Folding rigs, My multi GPU Folding Rigs, The Water Cooling FAQ, My 40TB Storage Server, My Folding Stats. The CM HAF XB review, the Aqualis Pro 450 review, the PrimoChill CTR Phase II Res review, the IcyDock ToughArmor 6x1 review, the 3x2 Storage Cage review, the 5x3 Storage Cage review, my Milwaukee Jobsite Backpack review, my Thermaltake Core X2 review, my CoolerMaster Storm Stryker overview. Link to DA Blogs home.

Follow me on Twitter for updates @Whaler_99

 

 

 

 

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ECE or Computer Engineering sounds like a good place to start...

 

Our university's program deals with pretty much everything from DSP to microarchitecture...

Mutsuki:

CPU: AMD A8 5600K @ 4.2GHz | Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 (rev. 1.0) | RAM: 2 x Kingston Low Profile 4GB 1333MHz | GPU: Sapphire R7 260X OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI | HDD0: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM 3.5" (SATA II) | HDD1: WD Elements (WD Blue 1TB 3.5" SATA II) connected via USB 2.0 | HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm (SATA II) | DVD: Samsung DVD+RW combo drive | PSU: FSP Hexa 600W | Case: Aerocool PGS V | Cooling: DeepCool Gammaxx S40 (stock fan), 2x 120mm Aerocool fan 1xDeepCool 120mm fan from a scrapped heatsink

eMachines D732Z | CPU: Intel Pentium D P6100 | GPU: Intel HD 3000 | RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 1066MHz SODIMM | HDD: Hitachi 320GB 5600RPM

Acer ES13 | CPU: Intel Pentium N4200 | GPU:  Intel HD 505 | RAM: 1x 4GB (unidentified) DDR3L | HDD: (unidentified) 500GB 5600RPM

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If you have a local community collage you could take a few introductory classes over the summer quarter. 

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ECE or Computer Engineering sounds like a good place to start...

 

Our university's program deals with pretty much everything from DSP to microarchitecture...

>I'm 15

>I want to jump the gun.

>Uni stuff doesn't exactly help me when I haven't finished Year 11 semester 1 :P

 

 

Where about do you live? All over the place here (Ontario) we have electronics recycling boxes where you can grab lots of stuff, some working, some not. Get a soldering gun, start playing. Go to second hand computer store, pick up some cheap stuff to start messing with.

 

As an engineer, you want to focus on design? repair? Working directly with computers? Network gear? Security focused...

 

Check on the weeeb... lots of reading, if you can narrow down a focus or two, lots of info...

I live in edmonton alberta. I tried getting some at staples but they said they couldn't because "they were responsible for their customers data" or some crap like that.

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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If you have a local community collage you could take a few introductory classes over the summer quarter. 

We have the University of Alberta... Is that close enough :P?

 

 

 

D-d-d-d-double post

nxq7h4v.jpg

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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>I'm 15

>I want to jump the gun.

>Uni stuff doesn't exactly help me when I haven't finished Year 11 semester 1 :P

 

I suggest brushing up on calculus and physics, then... Those will be essential if you're planning on focusing on hardware design...

 

As for a hobby, try getting an Arduino board and make some stuff...

Mutsuki:

CPU: AMD A8 5600K @ 4.2GHz | Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 (rev. 1.0) | RAM: 2 x Kingston Low Profile 4GB 1333MHz | GPU: Sapphire R7 260X OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI | HDD0: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM 3.5" (SATA II) | HDD1: WD Elements (WD Blue 1TB 3.5" SATA II) connected via USB 2.0 | HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm (SATA II) | DVD: Samsung DVD+RW combo drive | PSU: FSP Hexa 600W | Case: Aerocool PGS V | Cooling: DeepCool Gammaxx S40 (stock fan), 2x 120mm Aerocool fan 1xDeepCool 120mm fan from a scrapped heatsink

eMachines D732Z | CPU: Intel Pentium D P6100 | GPU: Intel HD 3000 | RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 1066MHz SODIMM | HDD: Hitachi 320GB 5600RPM

Acer ES13 | CPU: Intel Pentium N4200 | GPU:  Intel HD 505 | RAM: 1x 4GB (unidentified) DDR3L | HDD: (unidentified) 500GB 5600RPM

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I suggest brushing up on calculus and physics, then... Those will be essential if you're planning on focusing on hardware design...

 

As for a hobby, try getting an Arduino board and make some stuff...

I'm studying really hard in physics right now. It's kinda hard though. We didn't even do review from last year. Right now we're on laws of motion and stuff. From what I can tell we don't deal with anything electricity related this year, or anything that would impact it for that matter. I'm planning on taking Year 12 level physics next semester though.

 

You mean like a rasberry pi?

 

That's an excellent idea.

 

Althought I don't have any modules or stuff for it.

 

I'll do a bit of research.

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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I'm studying really hard in physics right now. It's kinda hard though. We didn't even do review from last year. Right now we're on laws of motion and stuff. From what I can tell we don't deal with anything electricity related this year, or anything that would impact it for that matter. I'm planning on taking Year 12 level physics next semester though.

 

You mean like a rasberry pi?

 

That's an excellent idea.

 

Althought I don't have any modules or stuff for it.

 

I'll do a bit of research.

 

Something like that, only more advanced... If you live in a first world country, modules won't be that hard to find... Heck, they're easy to find even in the capital of my country...

 

You'll be dealing with hardware programming so be ready for some frustration...

 

As for physics, there would be a lot of emphasis on electronics and some quantum physics (if I recall correctly from my ECE curriculum)... As for calculus, there's the statistical applications of calculus which can be quite hard...

 

Some books I can recommend: TC7 (Leithold), Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists 9th ed (Walpole)...

 

As for the arduino, there are other forums for that...

Mutsuki:

CPU: AMD A8 5600K @ 4.2GHz | Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 (rev. 1.0) | RAM: 2 x Kingston Low Profile 4GB 1333MHz | GPU: Sapphire R7 260X OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI | HDD0: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM 3.5" (SATA II) | HDD1: WD Elements (WD Blue 1TB 3.5" SATA II) connected via USB 2.0 | HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm (SATA II) | DVD: Samsung DVD+RW combo drive | PSU: FSP Hexa 600W | Case: Aerocool PGS V | Cooling: DeepCool Gammaxx S40 (stock fan), 2x 120mm Aerocool fan 1xDeepCool 120mm fan from a scrapped heatsink

eMachines D732Z | CPU: Intel Pentium D P6100 | GPU: Intel HD 3000 | RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 1066MHz SODIMM | HDD: Hitachi 320GB 5600RPM

Acer ES13 | CPU: Intel Pentium N4200 | GPU:  Intel HD 505 | RAM: 1x 4GB (unidentified) DDR3L | HDD: (unidentified) 500GB 5600RPM

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When I was in high school there where acouple of kid's that volenteered to help out with the school's network, you could see about doing something like that

Its all about those volumetric clouds

 

 

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You can definitely start by wiring up an Arduino to some LED and blink them. Just follow some tutorial to get it to work first, then figure out why it works. For example, why did the tutorial use 220 ohm resistors instead of 1k? SparkFun is a great place to shop from and they have lots of great tutorials for you to follow too and the community is generally really helpful to those willing to learn. 

 

Once you start college/university, volunteer to help out with a prof's projects or join a club that does fun electronic projects. Hopefully you find someone who is willing to mentor and guide you along the way. Just remember, surviving engineering school doesn't mean anything, it is the experience that you get out of it that determines how great of an engineer you become. And you get that experience by doing, books/lectures/exams are only tools so don't get bogged down by it. I have seen people coming out of engineering school with an A average but can't do anything practical. But some of the guys with C+'s but many side projects doing fabulous work.

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You can definitely start by wiring up an Arduino to some LED and blink them. Just follow some tutorial to get it to work first, then figure out why it works. For example, why did the tutorial use 220 ohm resistors instead of 1k? SparkFun is a great place to shop from and they have lots of great tutorials for you to follow too and the community is generally really helpful to those willing to learn. 

 

Once you start college/university, volunteer to help out with a prof's projects or join a club that does fun electronic projects. Hopefully you find someone who is willing to mentor and guide you along the way. Just remember, surviving engineering school doesn't mean anything, it is the experience that you get out of it that determines how great of an engineer you become. And you get that experience by doing, books/lectures/exams are only tools so don't get bogged down by it. I have seen people coming out of engineering school with an A average but can't do anything practical. But some of the guys with C+'s but many side projects doing fabulous work.

I'm thinking of buying this

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoStarterKit

 

Do you think that would be a good idea?

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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I'm thinking of buying this

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoStarterKit

 

Do you think that would be a good idea?

You can probably buy the parts separately for cheaper, but at this point, I think the extra cost for the packaged deal is worth it because you know these parts will play nice with each other and the tutorials that it comes with are written for people just like you. Good luck man, and remember to have fun! =)

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