Creating electronics

Chit-Chat / Rumor Mill
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Hey,

Circuit boards have always fascinated me. Mainly because I have no clue how they work.

Sure, I can assemble a PC, but that’s really just 3rd party work- plugging that SATA cable into a slot REALLY takes an MIT education!

What I’m trying to get is how a computer, even something as simple as a vex robot, works. I know that capacitors store either a 1 or 0 based on if it contains electricity or not. I don’t get how a GPU interprets those numbers and sends data to a monitor to interpret as light.

So, what I’d like to ask is how certain parts work, how they’re made, and how (if possible) to make them yourself. I know that some of you have made your own bots of of a circuit board and a CPU.

How does a processor work? How do you know how to solder it on a board? What allows it to handle processes? What miniature parts go into it?

How do you array a motherboard? How do you make/get a PCB? How do you know how to align the circuits on the board? Do you need a Mobo printer?

How does a graphic card work? Is it pretty similar to a mini-computer in itself? Is a GPU simply a graphic specific CPU?

How can you possibly make BIOS chips? How do you preload information onto a small chip and know what information you’re putting on it? Does another PC make it? How was the first PC’s made?

How does flash memory/RAM work? Is it again nanoscopic capacitors being charged or uncharged to represent bits?

I know these are pretty intense circuitry questions. My knowledge of circuitry is limited to wiring a bulb into parallel with another, I barely know anything.

I don’t believe the PC builder deserves respect. I believe the person who made the motherboard, who made the graphics card, deserves respect. I believe the person who actually made the GPU or CPU in that mobo/graphics card deserves the UTMOST respect.

Any references, wether in print or on the net, are appreciated. I want to be guided into the direction of circuitry and how it actually works, rather than just using the “3rd party” end of putting a card into a slot. The fact that a PC works is an absolute phenomenon.

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Well… At least you did not ask us to explain How Women Work…

Give us a few days to get the necessary references together…

I have been working with computer for 27 years, and I still don’t know some of the Specifies you asked… :wink:

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I’m pretty sure very few users of this forum know how women work, I’m guessing there’s a higher chance that somebody will at least know how to solder a microprocessor to a circuit board :wink:

I’m just sick of people complimenting me for something that could be done by a mentally ill child with the proper training. Building a PC is simply placing stuff into slots. I don’t like taking credit for something I know that anyone could do. Well, anyone who has the ability to move.

I want to learn the real work behind it, why it works, and how a combination of 400 microscopic pieces of metal with electrical values in them can form a realistic picture representation of an explosion (cough Crysis cough) on my monitor.

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First off “capacitors store either a 1 or 0” is wrong it’s stored in a transistor. Try Goggling “basic electronics”. As for how the parts are made, a lot of them are made by robots!

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On how dynamic memory works you both have it partialy right.
The capacitor stores a charge level which equates to 1 or 0.
The transistor lets us read and set this value.

Checkout this article from “howstuffworks”

bloodsheddragon alot of your questions can be answered by searching the “howstuffworks” and similar websites.

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k, thanks brent.

when I searched for how a motherboard was made, all I got was how they’re assembled, I was more curious how they were designed.

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Wow, howstuffworks is really nice.

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That’s exactly what I wanted to know… And by the way, is the pulse of a PWM cable positive or negative?

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It is both, Part of the signal is high (Positive) and part of the signal is low (Negative).

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Well, another question popped up into my head today after giving my dad a blu-ray player for Father’s Day-

WHY ARE HDMI CABLES SO EXPENSIVE?!?!?

How could the technology in a wire cost so much! Sure, it’s able to send a signal for HD pictures, but it can’t possibly cost that much… or can it?

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Sometimes the connectors are gold plated and the wire is made of high quality materials.

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Wow…

Well, it can send an HD signal and digital sound output at the same time, you have to give it some credit.

I know that real laser pointers have ruby rods and silver lining in them…

Why is silver based solder so cheap then?

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HDMI cables are mostly expensive because the makers can get the money. Over time, prices will fall to levels that would be surprising today. EDITED: I just Googled “6-foot hdmi cable” and found prices from $5 to $60. It can pay to shop around.

Laser pointers use solid-state laser diodes, not flash-pumped ruby lasers.

Silver solder is “cheap” because it is a tin-silver-copper-bismuth alloy, and doesn’t use much silver. If you look closely, silver solder retails for $50-60 a pound or so – not really so cheap (this depends a lot on the particular mix of materials, your mileage may vary). You can buy a pound of lead-tin solder for under $20.

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HDMI cables used to be around $100. Good thing we didn’t have an HDTV then.

I just realized that Comcast gave us our cable box with an HDMI cable for free. I wonder if I could stock up… :stuck_out_tongue:

The ruby laser I was talking about, which I guess isn’t a laser pointer, was around $400. It was an UV laser.

And just curious, when would you need a pound of solder? But your values do help to compare the price of silver vs. lead.

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