Great walk down memory lane -- thanks Dave! I was an IT guy working in the San Diego factory where these handsets were built: 1999-2001 is about right. We built the Globalstar base stations as well.
5:58 Your little diatribe on the proprietary connector cracked me up. You're such a passionate bloke. Keep up the great vids, this layman has learned loads from your teardowns =)
You can thank Mr. Stephen B Tidwell, of Carlsbad, California for the erectile antenna. Filed in May of 1996, and assigned to Qualcomm, US patent 5,781,867 disappointingly makes no mention of any morphological transform of the word "erect". Thank you Mr. Tidwell!
That 386 was a bit of a surprise :) The old times when a desktop CPU had no need for huge active heatsink. That was how they doubled the performance each 18 months.
386 EX isn't just a microprocessor like a 80386 SX or DX desktop chip. It has onboard power+clock management, serial, DMA, DRAM refresh, etc. It's practically a system-on-chip. It came out in 1994, giving Intel plenty of time to make it super cool and super low power.
The use case for satellite comms these days is mostly around shipping and other similar travel that goes beyond cell or other terrestrial radio contact. You'll find a lot of these sorts of transceivers on cargo ships and long distance airliners. Not to mention the niche of adventurers you mention.
I have to admit, I was skeptical at first seeing your vids found some boring found some very very useful, all in all, and I totally envy the electronics you get your hands on! it's fun to see what you'll do next
Triffic teardown. I think it's amazing that they can do those dual-sided boards with all the 'cans' on both sides, and little islands of circuitry, and it all -works-, which is phenomenal, so many bits that -can- go wrong.
Gotta love these old school phones! Makes me remember my first phone I got back in 2001. No games, no texting, nothing like that. Just made calls and that was it.
That third connector for the antenna may actually be for GPS. I've engineered a few cellular devices at work and sometimes the third coax is used for GPS, depending on the model of radio card. Oh and we used to use A LOT of 386DX for our embedded modules, it wasn't until about 4 years ago we went ARM.
Its CDMA not GSM thats why it has an ESN number, the SIM is for phone number storage only. I have one, still use it when in the badlands. $50 a month for 80 minutes. GSM has a 35km hard distance limit, its usuless for any kind of range
I noticed the ESN right away, too. CDMA has fairly primitive security. The key values would be stored in NV memory on the phone. Wikipedia says Globalstar is basically a long-distance pipe for CDMA or GSM signaling, depending on the type of phone. I'm surprised that technique would work with all the extra latency. This would also not be the best phone to use if you're concerned about the NSA listening in on your calls. 😉
I'm glad that one went to good use. For a moment, I was thinking of sending it to the recycle bin, but Dave is so cool! He really was able to turn it into an educational (And entertaining) video! I still might have one more (with some damage - still works, though) left too... Anyone in Arizona?
uriituw Yep, that was shocking to me. A Intel CPU in a Qualcomm based satellite phone? So unusual. Now Qualcomm makes ARM processors in addition to other things.
Α real PC inside a phone. That phone has so many electronic parts. It was built at the peak of mobile revolution. Unfortunately it failed commercially and doesn't support global coverage for sailors. During 2000 the mobile coverage was problematic even inside cities. Today even in poorest countries the coverage of mobile phones is cheaper than laying telephones wires.
22:26 Q55001 - Found a similar Q5500 by Qualcomm and it is "IF reciever AGC amplifier". 9927 is production date code for 27th week of 1999 and ZA may mean "South Africa".
You're right that the custom main connector on the GSP-1600 is in fact quite evil. It is also very fragile; both the male and female sides of the retaining clips have a tendency to get mangled and once that happens, there is little that can be done but to replace the charger or send the phone in for service. That said, in addition to power and serial data, that connector also includes separate TX and RX paths for the satellite RF signal, as well as a full-duplex cellular RF path for use in car/boat/etc kits and the like. (Hence the three coaxial-looking connectors it contains.)
Those were very nice at the time. You could have your GlobarStar telephone number and also have a CDMA telephone number loaded in the phone. Their bread and butter service was standby contracts, you would pay a specific amount per month to have the ability to make calls or more to pre-pay for minutes. The bottom connector is a multi-function connector to allow for voice and data connection to a PC for text and data. You could also plug them into a case that allowed for external CDMA and sat antenna. The Sat antennas are Circular Polarized, and that is the reason for the spiral on the antenna.
As for cell coverage, I live in a small town in NY state. There are 5 dead zones within 20 miles of me. Carrier doesn't matter, there are just no towers anywhere near these locations. They may only be a few miles squared but they still exist.
That 3rd RF connector looks a lot like an RF test connector possibly used during antenna matching. I've been working with the SIM900 recently and the design docs suggest a similar connector in a similar, inline config.
Regarding the intermittent signal around 4m38s: Globalstar handsets that do not have active service subscriptions always find and lose signal (when outdoors with the antenna rotated) over and over. I imagine that the base station is sending an attachment rejection message which causes the phone to abandon its link and start searching for a new signal.
Maybe the Antenna is an "active antenna" - i.e. has an LNA/filter built into it. Maybe the power supply for this comes from the DC bias inductor you found. Similar to how satellite TV systems work - they even have a block downconverter built into the antenna. Satellite signals are so weak - it's like trying to pick up someone lighting a candle at night on a hillside 5 miles ways.
That is how most of them are anyway. Globalstar has two freq bands so the antenna could be dual band in that respect. The GPS can still be pulled through the closest antenna freq.
I remember these things. Business I used to be in had these. The one I had was a bit newer with a removable satellite antenna. Could take that "erectile antenna" off and put a remote one on it for signal in say a vehicle through a roof mounted antenna. Sadly the model I had didn't have any GSM band radio. It was satellite only. Still looked almost exactly like this thing minus the GSM antenna. Good hardware for being so dated. IT was around 2007- 2008 when I had one of these.
As I remember ( Maybe I am wrong ) 80386 EX Series has no co-processor in them so they have to use some sort of DSP in them, Once I own one of these 80386 and I have to compute some complicated math algorithm and my program failed to compile !! In that era in my country ( around 90s ) internet was a luxury thing that you can find only in universities and there was no article/book/reference to search regarding this issue in books ! but some genius told me that you have to add co-processor expansion to your mainboard to do complicated math algorithm :) and this was my story with 80386
+Jamie Stubbe Yup! The company I work for use them still as well, when necessary, when our other communication systems are not yet set up at our mobile locations.
Hmmm, I would've guessed some Z80-based cpu. EEVblog Hey Dave, do you do any RF work? More to the point do you do any work with SDR? It would be interesting to see what handshaking it would try to do with the satellites.
the third one might have been put there with the intent to later integrate the use of an external antenna that would have had a bit more gain(or for those McGuyver type survivors that happen to come across a pack of gum whose wrappers could be used to make a makeshift satellite dish and a few scraps of wire to link it to the connector lol). if you ever find some old nokia's there's a small rubber plug on the back near the top by the antenna and if you pop it out you'll find a similar connector for an external antenna.
That unused RF connecter looks speciously like the rf connector on the back of old Nokia phones for use in car caddies. Its position though on that board in that phone means it could not possibly be used for that.
I have a few more cool things that I've been holding on it. I might take another suck and send a few devices that came out ofer the past 20 years so you can track the changes. Could be fun.
The funny thing is that intel is trying to sell x86 phones right now! 386.. brings me back to our first computer... I barely remember when it came in (I was about 4) but I remember the thing itself perfectly since we had it for years.
could someone please explain to me why rockwell, a company that makes heavy duty truck axles and other parts, is making silicon chips? the logo is even the same...
Very cool video Dave, thank you once again. Did they uses multi-layer board construction for the RF section? I didn't catch any layer markings in the video.
Any plans to tear down the poor old SM bill validator that's visible behind Dave's head between 4:08 and 4:27? We can send you our brand new backload, the GX. Would CPI survive humiliation by EEVblog?
Dave- 2484-2499mhz? are you sure? that means 802.11 will kill it? Earth to space on L-band (1.4-1.6ghz) is preferred due it being close to the resonate frequency of hydrogen
TheRealMrPooPyNuTz Yeah, I mean seriously what were they thinking? Even if they didn't want to use micro/mini-USB, what's wrong with a good old barrel connector? At least that would let you jerry-rig something up out in the middle of nowhere.
I have a iridium go wifi hotspot. Very pricey data. I don't complain about lte data charges. The speeds vary from 2-20kbps. Yes Kbps. Charged $1.58 usd per minute for web or voice.
I live in iowa. I travel to mines all over the world working on the equipment. In the USA I use Verizon lte were I can and wild blue sat Internet. But when I go out of country I have few choices for Internet in the field. Worst thing about Iridum go is it can only connect to android or iOS. No laptops.
+brian hilligoss Holy shit And I thought terrestrial wireless internet was expensive Imagine trying to watch RUclips on that lol It's like really expensive 2G internet In fact I think 2G might actually be slightly faster
+brian hilligoss I have in my fleets about 120 Iridium connected vehicles, the problem is packet wrapping and all the complex ways you can use the satellites, you can easily get a cheap rs232 modems, but you need to do your own packet unwrapping and management then... you can of course plug in a laptop, but you need a router/piece of hardware, that speaks Iridium in between. Iridiums data connection is not really TCP/IP, you can get IP tunnel directly, but those will cost you your second leg.
Okay, totally wasn't expecting a 386 for the CPU. Something from Motorola or something ARM-based made by Qualcomm, was my guess. I always knew mobile processors lagged desktop ones significantly. Still wasn't expecting a 14 year old CPU in it (386 came out in 1985, I think).
Icaro Vasconcelos I started with Make: Electronics and the 2 kits that go with it; then the 500 in 1 Maxitronics kit - when I got to the 3rd book on MC's, the programs didn't work and I had to write my own, that did work. Then I started buying books on computers and device repair which is my main interest. Now, I can fix nearly anything that can be fixed, and have fixed everything from wall warts to laptops. I bought an Arduino a few months ago and played with it a little bit. It's fun, but I have to admit that I prefer analog circuits. It just seems to me that analog circuits are warmer and more fluid. The Arduino "Night Rider" just doesn't even compare to the analog with the 4017, 555, 10 diodes, POT, etc.
Great walk down memory lane -- thanks Dave! I was an IT guy working in the San Diego factory where these handsets were built: 1999-2001 is about right. We built the Globalstar base stations as well.
5:58 Your little diatribe on the proprietary connector cracked me up. You're such a passionate bloke. Keep up the great vids, this layman has learned loads from your teardowns =)
You can thank Mr. Stephen B Tidwell, of Carlsbad, California for the erectile antenna. Filed in May of 1996, and assigned to Qualcomm, US patent 5,781,867 disappointingly makes no mention of any morphological transform of the word "erect".
Thank you Mr. Tidwell!
That 386 was a bit of a surprise :) The old times when a desktop CPU had no need for huge active heatsink. That was how they doubled the performance each 18 months.
386 EX isn't just a microprocessor like a 80386 SX or DX desktop chip. It has onboard power+clock management, serial, DMA, DRAM refresh, etc. It's practically a system-on-chip. It came out in 1994, giving Intel plenty of time to make it super cool and super low power.
The use case for satellite comms these days is mostly around shipping and other similar travel that goes beyond cell or other terrestrial radio contact. You'll find a lot of these sorts of transceivers on cargo ships and long distance airliners. Not to mention the niche of adventurers you mention.
I have to admit, I was skeptical at first seeing your vids found some boring found some very very useful, all in all, and I totally envy the electronics you get your hands on! it's fun to see what you'll do next
Triffic teardown. I think it's amazing that they can do those dual-sided boards with all the 'cans' on both sides, and little islands of circuitry, and it all -works-, which is phenomenal, so many bits that -can- go wrong.
I still carry the same phone everyday. Battery is dead but built my own. Used it many times and still love it.
As a 3 year degree student in Electronics Engineering Technology - Telecommunications, this video touches on almost every subject I've learned.
Gotta love these old school phones! Makes me remember my first phone I got back in 2001. No games, no texting, nothing like that. Just made calls and that was it.
That third connector for the antenna may actually be for GPS.
I've engineered a few cellular devices at work and sometimes the third coax is used for GPS, depending on the model of radio card.
Oh and we used to use A LOT of 386DX for our embedded modules, it wasn't until about 4 years ago we went ARM.
Thanks Dave. My exclamation key is dead, really. Best channel around.
Its CDMA not GSM thats why it has an ESN number, the SIM is for phone number storage only. I have one, still use it when in the badlands. $50 a month for 80 minutes. GSM has a 35km hard distance limit, its usuless for any kind of range
I noticed the ESN right away, too. CDMA has fairly primitive security. The key values would be stored in NV memory on the phone.
Wikipedia says Globalstar is basically a long-distance pipe for CDMA or GSM signaling, depending on the type of phone. I'm surprised that technique would work with all the extra latency. This would also not be the best phone to use if you're concerned about the NSA listening in on your calls. 😉
Wow, Was not expecting an i386 EX in it.
Great stuff Dave, the antenna wrapping is a flexible - double sided - PCB! :-)
Your obituary joke kept me laughing for the good portion of the night.
I'm glad that one went to good use. For a moment, I was thinking of sending it to the recycle bin, but Dave is so cool! He really was able to turn it into an educational (And entertaining) video! I still might have one more (with some damage - still works, though) left too... Anyone in Arizona?
Awesome teardown so far!
Ray's a good bloke, gave decades of service for minimal amps
Does have a standard 90s brick phone layout.
Wonder why it needs a full PC chip set.
I understand much better from watching your videos in English than listening to my french teachers. Thanks a lot Dave.
I would never have guessed the 80386.
uriituw Yep, that was shocking to me. A Intel CPU in a Qualcomm based satellite phone? So unusual. Now Qualcomm makes ARM processors in addition to other things.
Α real PC inside a phone. That phone has so many electronic parts. It was built at the peak of mobile revolution. Unfortunately it failed commercially and doesn't support global coverage for sailors. During 2000 the mobile coverage was problematic even inside cities. Today even in poorest countries the coverage of mobile phones is cheaper than laying telephones wires.
The i386SX does not have a FPU so probably the DSP is fashioned into what is equivalent of a FPU here.
Bloody hell Dave that antenna is not the only thing that erects when you fold it out :-)
22:26 Q55001 - Found a similar Q5500 by Qualcomm and it is "IF reciever AGC amplifier". 9927 is production date code for 27th week of 1999 and ZA may mean "South Africa".
You're right that the custom main connector on the GSP-1600 is in fact quite evil. It is also very fragile; both the male and female sides of the retaining clips have a tendency to get mangled and once that happens, there is little that can be done but to replace the charger or send the phone in for service.
That said, in addition to power and serial data, that connector also includes separate TX and RX paths for the satellite RF signal, as well as a full-duplex cellular RF path for use in car/boat/etc kits and the like. (Hence the three coaxial-looking connectors it contains.)
Those were very nice at the time. You could have your GlobarStar telephone number and also have a CDMA telephone number loaded in the phone. Their bread and butter service was standby contracts, you would pay a specific amount per month to have the ability to make calls or more to pre-pay for minutes.
The bottom connector is a multi-function connector to allow for voice and data connection to a PC for text and data. You could also plug them into a case that allowed for external CDMA and sat antenna.
The Sat antennas are Circular Polarized, and that is the reason for the spiral on the antenna.
Dave, you didn't show us the "erection" mechanism for the antenna.
I'm realy supriced about the 80386 cpu... now i'm kinda curius on what's on that flash :P
As for cell coverage, I live in a small town in NY state. There are 5 dead zones within 20 miles of me. Carrier doesn't matter, there are just no towers anywhere near these locations. They may only be a few miles squared but they still exist.
That 3rd RF connector looks a lot like an RF test connector possibly used during antenna matching. I've been working with the SIM900 recently and the design docs suggest a similar connector in a similar, inline config.
The J2 connection at about 17:05 could be for a car kit, as was common for the day.
I must be getting old, never thought I would ever look at SMD satty phones thinking about how old fashioned they were.
10 years. wow.. We've come a long way.
LOL you said guess the processor and i jokingly said "Its an intel!" And you take the can off and i was right!
Yeah, I was expecting some kind of ARM cpu, definitely not a 386.
Regarding the intermittent signal around 4m38s: Globalstar handsets that do not have active service subscriptions always find and lose signal (when outdoors with the antenna rotated) over and over. I imagine that the base station is sending an attachment rejection message which causes the phone to abandon its link and start searching for a new signal.
Maybe the Antenna is an "active antenna" - i.e. has an LNA/filter built into it. Maybe the power supply for this comes from the DC bias inductor you found. Similar to how satellite TV systems work - they even have a block downconverter built into the antenna. Satellite signals are so weak - it's like trying to pick up someone lighting a candle at night on a hillside 5 miles ways.
I didn't know about the satellite phone sleeves for modern smart phones, pretty cool.
+SoCalFreelance They are expensive and they break easily
It's better to get a dedicated sat phone for durability and reliability reasons
Nice one Dave!
That is how most of them are anyway. Globalstar has two freq bands so the antenna could be dual band in that respect. The GPS can still be pulled through the closest antenna freq.
I remember these things. Business I used to be in had these. The one I had was a bit newer with a removable satellite antenna. Could take that "erectile antenna" off and put a remote one on it for signal in say a vehicle through a roof mounted antenna. Sadly the model I had didn't have any GSM band radio. It was satellite only. Still looked almost exactly like this thing minus the GSM antenna. Good hardware for being so dated. IT was around 2007- 2008 when I had one of these.
As I remember ( Maybe I am wrong ) 80386 EX Series has no co-processor in them so they have to use some sort of DSP in them, Once I own one of these 80386 and I have to compute some complicated math algorithm and my program failed to compile !! In that era in my country ( around 90s ) internet was a luxury thing that you can find only in universities and there was no article/book/reference to search regarding this issue in books ! but some genius told me that you have to add co-processor expansion to your mainboard to do complicated math algorithm :) and this was my story with 80386
These are still sold for $250-$300 to this day and are still current and supported from Globalstar
The "L003" chip is apparently a SAW filter - "CDMA IF SAW FILTER 85.38 MHZ SMD"
The helix antenna is dual freq device, GPS and satcomm.
I work for a company that still deploys a ton of these for our Oilfield lease sites, where the is no Cell service. These are stil relevant
+Jamie Stubbe
Yup! The company I work for use them still as well, when necessary, when our other communication systems are not yet set up at our mobile locations.
+Igor K I can possibly get you a defunct device. all the ones that are working are still in use. DM me.
When I think of satellite phones.. I always think about the one inside the Spinosaurus on Jurassic Park 3
Wonder if it has that ringtone?
+Ross C
It would be cool if they had that ringtone as an option lol
Hmmm, I would've guessed some Z80-based cpu.
EEVblog Hey Dave, do you do any RF work? More to the point do you do any work with SDR? It would be interesting to see what handshaking it would try to do with the satellites.
Is not, that extra connector, the antenna extender slot? I remeber a lot of old edge phone got it hidden under a little rubber cap.
the third one might have been put there with the intent to later integrate the use of an external antenna that would have had a bit more gain(or for those McGuyver type survivors that happen to come across a pack of gum whose wrappers could be used to make a makeshift satellite dish and a few scraps of wire to link it to the connector lol). if you ever find some old nokia's there's a small rubber plug on the back near the top by the antenna and if you pop it out you'll find a similar connector for an external antenna.
Yay, your phone can run DOS. ;)
I guessed an 8086, not a 386!
That unused RF connecter looks speciously like the rf connector on the back of old Nokia phones for use in car caddies. Its position though on that board in that phone means it could not possibly be used for that.
Are there meant to be annotations at the end linking to those other videos? They're not working for me..
Gadget Addict Oops, yeah, will fix that!
Ugh, annotations.
I have a few more cool things that I've been holding on it. I might take another suck and send a few devices that came out ofer the past 20 years so you can track the changes. Could be fun.
The funny thing is that intel is trying to sell x86 phones right now!
386.. brings me back to our first computer... I barely remember when it came in (I was about 4) but I remember the thing itself perfectly since we had it for years.
22:43 At the bottom of the little rectangle you could see what very much looks like burn marks. Laser trimming stuff would be my guess.
weird, i woud have never expected an i386 in that,
could someone please explain to me why rockwell, a company that makes heavy duty truck axles and other parts, is making silicon chips? the logo is even the same...
I pulled up on my cellphone a satelite finder app and there still is atleast 1 up there.
i was surprised how it has a 386 in it, you can maby hack it and put dos on it LMFAO!!
Very cool video Dave, thank you once again.
Did they uses multi-layer board construction for the RF section? I didn't catch any layer markings in the video.
My guess is the third antenna connection is for an external antenna (maybe automotive) ?
Also used on The Blacklist :)
didn't this predate the standardisation to micro USB? so all phones of that era had bespoke data/power connectors?
An ethyl is a type of chemical structure (ex., found in ethanol, a.k.a. ethyl alcohol). The name would be Ethel.
That 386 threw me! I guessed some relative of the 68K family.
The antenna resemble very much like some helicoil design with high gain, pretty much what you expect to be able to contact a satellite way up.
J2 is a connector for an external antenna!
That cover as soon as i said the sticker you nob you found it LOLL!!
Any plans to tear down the poor old SM bill validator that's visible behind Dave's head between 4:08 and 4:27? We can send you our brand new backload, the GX. Would CPI survive humiliation by EEVblog?
A google search for "erectile antenna" does bring up some interesting finds like "Antenna erectile dysfunction" and a patent..
Dave- 2484-2499mhz? are you sure? that means 802.11 will kill it? Earth to space on L-band (1.4-1.6ghz) is preferred due it being close to the resonate frequency of hydrogen
What kind of filter was that that orange rectangle.
0:55 This is no antenna. This is an antenna!
Time to bust out the Dremel, Dave.
I was thinking the same. Dave should do a Mike Harrison and dremel the top of that can!
Yes we were all thinking the same thing. A careful application of a Dremel would have been ideal.
HAE, WELCUM 2 TEARDOWN TUESDEY
That good sir appears to be Rx spatial diversity antenna!
RF wizardry, fascinating!
that thing got more processor power than my first computer! :D
Is that the one osama used¿ Also wonder if some kinda hi freq radio receiver could be made from it¿
"We're about to lift the skirt" lmao these sayings 11:20
Intel 386EX?
Holy crap, that's way overpowered for this purpose!
AIO inc. can it run quake?
Hey can you point me to you distributed elements filter video?... Very intrigued...
I died in the middle of bloody no-where because of a stupid 3 prong connector.
TheRealMrPooPyNuTz
Not me - I made sure it was charged before I left, and made sure I had enough battery left in case of an emergency.
TheRealMrPooPyNuTz Yeah, I mean seriously what were they thinking? Even if they didn't want to use micro/mini-USB, what's wrong with a good old barrel connector? At least that would let you jerry-rig something up out in the middle of nowhere.
Because this thing runs at voltages above that of USB, and they wanted to integrate the power and the serial link port?
There was an old lady named Ethel
who drank from a bottle of methyl.
Her gastro-intestines
are not for the best, since
it's not palatable like ethyl.
All of this and more is on one chip now with an external power management chip.
Do you put this stuff together after Teardown, or just throw it away?
gamerpaddy I reckon he salvages parts out of it for use in his own projects.
You have a nice voice
Why is there a 386 in it, come on, there were other chips available in the 90s better suited for the job.
I have a iridium go wifi hotspot. Very pricey data. I don't complain about lte data charges. The speeds vary from 2-20kbps. Yes Kbps. Charged $1.58 usd per minute for web or voice.
Where do you live?
I live in iowa. I travel to mines all over the world working on the equipment. In the USA I use Verizon lte were I can and wild blue sat Internet. But when I go out of country I have few choices for Internet in the field. Worst thing about Iridum go is it can only connect to android or iOS. No laptops.
brian hilligoss Why would they design it like that? Why would the design of the hotspot prevent you from using it with a notebook computer?
+brian hilligoss Holy shit
And I thought terrestrial wireless internet was expensive
Imagine trying to watch RUclips on that lol
It's like really expensive 2G internet
In fact I think 2G might actually be slightly faster
+brian hilligoss I have in my fleets about 120 Iridium connected vehicles, the problem is packet wrapping and all the complex ways you can use the satellites, you can easily get a cheap rs232 modems, but you need to do your own packet unwrapping and management then... you can of course plug in a laptop, but you need a router/piece of hardware, that speaks Iridium in between. Iridiums data connection is not really TCP/IP, you can get IP tunnel directly, but those will cost you your second leg.
Okay, totally wasn't expecting a 386 for the CPU. Something from Motorola or something ARM-based made by Qualcomm, was my guess.
I always knew mobile processors lagged desktop ones significantly. Still wasn't expecting a 14 year old CPU in it (386 came out in 1985, I think).
What do you recommend to start in the world of electronics? Arduino? Raspberry pi?
Icaro Vasconcelos A breadboard and some parts.
bread boards. learn the basics.
EEVblog Totally agree, tbh any microcontroller stuff should be tackled once you understand how general electronics works.
Icaro Vasconcelos An Arduino or Rasp Pi will teach you lots about embedded software, but very little about hardware.
Icaro Vasconcelos
I started with Make: Electronics and the 2 kits that go with it; then the 500 in 1 Maxitronics kit - when I got to the 3rd book on MC's, the programs didn't work and I had to write my own, that did work. Then I started buying books on computers and device repair which is my main interest. Now, I can fix nearly anything that can be fixed, and have fixed everything from wall warts to laptops.
I bought an Arduino a few months ago and played with it a little bit. It's fun, but I have to admit that I prefer analog circuits. It just seems to me that analog circuits are warmer and more fluid. The Arduino "Night Rider" just doesn't even compare to the analog with the 4017, 555, 10 diodes, POT, etc.
Dave, practice your left and rights before filming (4:20)
Left hand is watch hand
Please Dave! Take apart a iRobot Roomba robot vacuumcleaner :D :D :D
that old girl is CDMA triband... lol the ESN gives it away any sim phone that uses the GSM standard would have an IMEI not an ESN
the new satellite phones may be smaller cheaper and more efficient in many ways but the satellite system remains the same.
make a teardown of the iridium 9575 extreme ptt you will catch directly 1 million views
Dave, can you switch back to 60 fps? It was way better.