Yes! Altho I think I only bought one small project from them once, and I don't remember what it was. But that didstart them sending me their catalog... I wanted that R2-D2 sized robot from them with the claw in the worst way.
I had this book when I was a kid (altho it had a different blue cover then): http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282 It was a great resource and the basis for many a project. With a breadboard and a power supply.. I ended up with hobby drawers fill of electrical components. My dad would let me take broken things (radios, appliances, etc...) apart... I'd keep the switches, lights, electrical components, motors, etc... Later my dad went to work in the high-tech industry, and he'd bring home test assemblies that were being thrown away... another treasure trove of goodies Spence and I just saw that book at Radio Shack the other day. I should get it for him. He's shown an interest in this sort of thing... built his own stun gun out of an old disposable flash camera a bit back :) -sc -----Original Message----- From: Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 12:53 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Remember Heathkit? Those were the days. Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE Technology Coordinator Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA www.eaglemds.com jra...@eaglemds.com ________________________________________ From: Steven M. Caesare [scaes...@caesare.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 12:36 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs My Dad had a tube tester from his Dad (who had a radio then TV repair shop way back when), and used to fix TV’s for friends. Back when they were tubes and discrete components. Transistors, diodes, capacitors (of different flavors), resistors. Soldering irons. Transformers. Voltmeters. O-scopes. I’d sit on his workbench and watch. Then digital came along. TTL circuitry. 555 timer projects. Boolean logic. Flip-flops and oscillators. Now everything is on a chip, and disposable. Not to sound crotchety, because of course the density makes individual component troubleshooting near impossible, but it was a fun time to be able to read a schematic of a television, etc… and be able to determine what an individual component did. -sc From: Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 11:39 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs +1 To take it a step further…It seems that most people in this business these days don’t have a clue what a transistor or a P-N Junction is. My father played with some of the first transistors ever available to the public. Practically everything I know (or at least the technical foundation thereof), I learned from him. I learned how to count by counting electronic components for him…transistors, LEDs, ICs…and no, the cadmium, lead, nickel, etc that I handled as a young child didn’t affect me in the leas…le…leas…least. <insert vision of my head twitching as I type…> And of course, don’t forget about vacuum tubes… Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE Technology Coordinator Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA jra...@eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::mailto:%20jra...@eaglemds.com> www.eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::http://www.eaglemds.com/> ________________________________ From: Steven M. Caesare [mailto:scaes...@caesare.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 8:22 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs I know. It’s probably how the previous generation felt about punch cards and mag tape reels. -sc From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 7:24 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: CompTIA certs We're all much better off for having had to learn that stuff back in the day. The younguns today are cheated by comparison, and don't even know it. -ASB: http://xeesm.com/AndrewBaker Sent from my Verizon Smartphone ________________________________ From: "Steven M. Caesare" <scaes...@caesare.com> Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 19:10:44 -0500 To: NT System Admin Issues<ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com> Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Ahh yes… Helix. And the LIM* spec that allowed precious memory above the 1MB expanded memory area to be used. -sc *Lotus –Intel-Microsoft From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 5:32 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: CompTIA certs Helix Netroom was my favorite! They had a nice high memory mouse driver. -ASB: http://xeesm.com/AndrewBaker Sent from my Verizon Smartphone ________________________________ From: "Steven M. Caesare" <scaes...@caesare.com> Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 15:55:20 -0500 To: NT System Admin Issues<ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com> Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Snob… EMM386 and DoubleSpace not good enuff for you huh? Let me guess you ran QuarterDesk or GEM too? ☺ -sc From: Kim Longenbaugh [mailto:k...@colonialsavings.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 2:44 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs I have to go tweak my QEMM settings again, and see if I can get DiskDoubler to squeeze a few more bytes of storage out of my ST-225 HD, which by the way, shakes the whole desk as the heads seek. After that, I have to work on getting Win 3.0 to work better in my DeskPro window. ________________________________ From: Steven M. Caesare [mailto:scaes...@caesare.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 1:35 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Excuse me, I have to go install my math coprocessor. -sc From: Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 2:17 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Ok, I’m not very old (at least I don’t consider myself to be), but thanks for making me feel even older now! ☺ And how about the nifty LED displays that showed at what speed the CPU was operating, along with the “Turbo” button? I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I realized it was just a bunch of jumpers that I could program myself… Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE Technology Coordinator Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA jra...@eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::mailto:%20jra...@eaglemds.com> www.eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::http://www.eaglemds.com/> ________________________________ From: Maglinger, Paul [mailto:pmaglin...@scvl.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 2:09 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Yep! And how to install EISA cards using bear skins and stone knives. From: Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 12:38 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Seriously?!? Wasn’t like that when I took it either back in ‘99. Sheesh. Of course back then they also covered 8 bit vs 16 bit ISA, IRQ, and DMA… Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE Technology Coordinator Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA jra...@eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::mailto:%20jra...@eaglemds.com> www.eaglemds.com<BLOCKED::http://www.eaglemds.com/> ________________________________ From: Maglinger, Paul [mailto:pmaglin...@scvl.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 10:37 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs I just spoke with someone who recently got the A+. He was very disappointed in the test. It seems that it deals more now with IT professionalism than technical expertise. An example question he gave me was, “ You are working in a company’s Payroll department and notice some confidential papers on the desk. What do you do?” It wasn’t like that when I took it. From: John Hornbuckle [mailto:john.hornbuc...@taylor.k12.fl.us] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 9:24 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs You’ve gotta start somewhere, though. I started with A+, Network+, and I-Net+ just to get some (relatively) easy letters after my name. That was a few years ago, and hopefully the A+ exam in particular has changed. I had been building and repairing computers for years when I took it, but still had to study a fair amount because I found that the exam wasn’t quite aligned with the real world. Which I guess can be said of most exams. John From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com] Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 10:08 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs IMHO these are very baseline certs. With 15+ years, you should be looking at more advanced certification. Cheers Ken From: paul d [mailto:pdw1...@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, 1 March 2010 10:06 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CompTIA certs Thanks, guys. I do have 15+ years. Just looking into maybe getting a few. There's a "whiff" of outsourcing in the air. And, at my age, getting another IT job won't be easy. > From: jra...@eaglemds.com<mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com> > To: > ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysad...@lyris.sunbelt- > software.com> > Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:50:16 -0500 > Subject: RE: CompTIA certs > > +1 They are (and should be) easy compared to a Cisco or M$ cert; as Erik > stated, they are good for a baseline. Also, keep in mind that since CompTIA > is vendor-neutral, they can't go to the granularity that a vendor specific > exam tends to cover. > NOTICE: Florida has a broad public records law. Most written communications to or from this entity are public records that will be disclosed to the public and the media upon request. E-mail communications may be subject to public disclosure. ________________________________ Any medical information contained in this electronic message is CONFIDENTIAL and privileged. It is unlawful for unauthorized persons to view, copy, disclose, or disseminate CONFIDENTIAL information. This electronic message may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. It is intended only for the use of the individual(s) and/or entity named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender immediately and delete this material from your computer. Do not deliver, distribute or copy this message, and do not disclose its contents or take any action in reliance on the information that it contains. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~