I'm reading Code, a book by charles petzold , that many of you have probably heard of. I'm about half way through the chapter about automaters. While i understand most of it , theres a few questions i have that would be best answered if i could somehow wire up a couple things myself or buy some of the chips and stuff and put them together. Or if i could do in it a simulated environment like a comp program or a workbook something like that. Anyone know what i could get? If someone thinks they know alot about this sort of stuff i could ask you a few questions directly but it'd be hard to explain unless you could look at the diagram or already know what's there. Anyway thanks in advance, i hope i made this clear enough.

If you're looking to start using some actual electronics, I suggest you go and buy yourself a starter kit. It has a lot of resistors/capacitors that you can use for testing, and some of them (the slightly more expensive ones) have a piece of test breadboard - I'm not exactly sure what they're called - where you can just fit the components into place to allow you to test a specific circuit you've designed without having to solder in all the pieces. I've got one and they're very useful for desigining circuits and testing different components.

any chips out of the 74xxx TTL series will be helpfull and most of the CMOS 4000 series.

and get yourself a good regulated 5 volt power supply

sounds good but where do i buy all this electrical equipment ? radioshack carries hardly anything now...they have a crappy electrical hobby kit but i don't think it's what you're talking about. what are other stores?

In the UK I use Maplin a lot; you should be able to find some decent electronics shops around, although they're becoming quite rare nowadays.

yeah i advise maplins to, they dont always have the stuff in stock but theyll always order it 4 u

The only qualm I have with them is the fact that they can overcharge you for things, but they're pretty good on components etc.

the YT, ALWAYS gets a discount )

ebay!

naah, they just know my face well as a regular, and I`m a cheeky mofo as well, so I ask... I Get