DanielJan 9
~n
This is the biblically accurate way I learned how transistors work - copy taken from the original scripture.
Jan 8 at 9:54pmWeb
Show threadJim SpathJan 8
@nblr I'd like to see the M.C. Escher version...
Show threadFellJan 8
@nblr Me too, actually! I think we had the same Kosmos set.
Show threadGina HäußgeJan 9
@fell @nblr Make that three of us, I immediately recognised this one too and this is still how I think of transistors to this day 😅
Show threadTobiasJan 8
@nblr Same.
Show threadMichaelJan 8
@krono @nblr thought we're using this one now? (via https://lcamtuf.substack.com/p/against-the-hydraulic-analogy)
Show threadDoppelmembran-WürgenippelJan 8

@__michaelg @krono @nblr

This is the thyristor one.

You pull the gate, current flows without pulling further, until the current got close to zero and the thyristor is closed again.

But nice idea, i liked the noises of the water rushing down the downpipe on this old style toilets. There was lots of them in eastern germany until...1995.

Show threadTobiasJan 9
@gafu @__michaelg @nblr I once broke one of these. around 1988
Show threadAlexJan 9
@krono @nblr same here
Show threadAaron Sawdey, Ph.D.Jan 8
@nblr Definitely this one for me ...
Show threadaburka 🫣Jan 8
@acsawdey @nblr what I'm getting from this is... Transistor man is a switch
Show threadgiombaJan 9
@acsawdey @nblr I have "combinatorial network man", so I think that we believe in a slightly different religion.
Show threadAaron Sawdey, Ph.D.Jan 9
@giomba @nblr That’s excellent! The truth is, that’s actually my religion too as I’ve never been great at analog and have spent my career working on processors .. which are an exercise in how many legions of combinatorial network men you can squeeze into a chip.
Show threadKhleedrilJan 9
@acsawdey @nblr 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' written by Horowitz and Hill!
Show threadAaronJan 9
@acsawdey I have unironically called this book "The Bible" on many occasions.

@nblr
Show threadAaron Sawdey, Ph.D.Jan 10

@aaron @nblr This is The Way.

It’s such good reference. I had a 2-semester “electronics for physicists” sequence that used it as a textbook and it really filled in gaps in my knowledge.

Show thread23n27Jan 8
@nblr Viscerally remember this
Show threadNfoonfJan 8
@nblr oh wow have not seen it in 40 years but instantly remembered.
Show threadAndreas, DJ3EI, he/himJan 9

I've seen it about (slightly more than) fifty years ago, in a German experiment set "Radiomann" for kids.

@Nfoonf @nblr

Show threadSadMonkJan 8
@nblr Ahhh was it from some cosmos electronics kit? Accompanied by some space station lore comic?
Show threadDavidJan 9
@SadMonk Exactly! The funny professor and his robot friend who needed fixing every now and then ;)
Show threadSadMonkJan 9
@dreua I read that booklet over and over again. Simply because spaaaaace! XD
Show threadthicc shadyJan 8
@nblr still waiting for someone to build a full computer like that
Show threadthe Hearth Jan 9
@DrLuke @nblr you're in luck, someone already has--quite a long time ago too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Machine
-F
Phillips Machine - Wikipedia

Show threadStinkstiefelJan 8
@nblr
Explained by Heidi Kabel.
Show threadjesterchen42Jan 9

@OverBoing @nblr Wait, what? Bei mir war das Daniel Düsentrieb. Hattest Du zufällig die neuere X-Serie? Dann hätten die damals ja tatsächlich such schon aktiv versucht, Mädchen für Technik zu begeistern...

Und das wirft gerade für mich ein ganz anderes Licht auf das X! 😳

Show threadDirk WillrodtJan 9
@OverBoing @nblr op platt?
Show threadStinkstiefelJan 8
@nblr
https://archive.org/details/kosmos-electronix-x-1000-x-2000/page/10/mode/1up
Kosmos Electronic X1000-X2000 : Kosmos : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Experimentieranleitung Kosmos Electronic X1000-X2000

Internet Archive
Show threadGina HäußgeJan 9
@OverBoing @nblr Jaaaaaaa, genau! 🥰
Show threadMia? (Still a working Title)Jan 8
@nblr Von einem dieser Cosmos Lernsets... so zufällig?
Show threadbeka valentineJan 9
@nblr BJTs only tho
Show threadmark zeroJan 9
@nblr I genuinely have no idea what that's from. I grew up with the gospel of Forrest M. Mims III:
https://ia801009.us.archive.org/26/items/ittatp/Transistors.pdf
Show threadencephalophoneJan 9
@markzero @nblr I grew up with a different Forrest M. Mims III book where electrons were depicted as having either happy faces on them when moving or with little sleepy faces when at rest. The whole thing was made to look like a hand-written notebook.
Show threadmark zeroJan 9

@encephalophone @nblr yeah! That's actually his more common style, afaik. Much more approachable. Sorry, I was on mobile when I searched.

Treasure your copy if you still have it.

Show threadrobrykJan 9
@nblr Sadly the opportunity to show that C and E are kinda the same but not exactly wasn't taken. (In reality they differ mostly in size, and that or some other unknown to me difference makes amplification when you connect the transistor backwards much lower via a mechanism I don't understand.) I would try to draw a pair of channels with small flaps s.t. any of them raises the large one.

I would also quibble whether the large flap is correct (because we don't adjust resistance but limit the maximum current at first approximation), but I have no clue how to represent that better.
Show threadFace ThumbJan 9
@nblr "The modern smartphone is a series of pipes..."
Show threadjkdelauneyJan 9
@nblr I remember that book. Even better than I remember the learning kit it came with.
Show threadAlex🇺🇦Jan 9
@nblr True for BJT type. It is wrong for MOSFET transistors, though.
Show threadRufioJan 9
@alex @nblr
I agreee, this is very good analogy but it is only valid for bipolar transistors.
Show threadembixJan 9
@rufio @alex @nblr npn-type in particular, iirc
Show threadacffh morstJan 9
@alex @nblr
Very true
this is how junction transistors behave but it’s not how field effect transistors behave
Show threadCoated Ambassadors Everywhere!Jan 9
@nblr Saw it several decades ago, similar picture in a Kosmos electronics learner‘s kit for children. You could expand the kit with more components and build complex circuits like FM radios and basic computing circuits. And you knew your components.
It is a pity that there is nothing comparable for today’s children.
Show threadDavidJan 9

@dermb @nblr
Same here, instantly recognized the transistor picture.

But I never got the Radio working, did it work for any if you?
I think that was the Kosmos XN3000 and an AM Radio 🤔

Yes, working Radio 🎉
50%
No, just static :blobfoxsad:
50%
Never built it.
0%
Poll ended at .
Show thread~nJan 9
@dreua @dermb XN2000 with AM radio, always wanted the XN3000(?) with the much cooler FM radio. Based on that trauma I made it my physics project at school, for graduation, to build an FM transmitter. -> 14 points 
Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDJan 10

@nblr @dreua @dermb My father built a radio that actually worked (well, he got some professional help) based on radio tubes. That was in the 1950s. This manual/textbook

https://veron.nl/nieuws/zoo-werkt-de-radio/

Zoo.... werkt de Radio! - Uit juni 1939 maar nog steeds zeer lezenswaardig

Juni 1939 kwam de eerste uitgave van "Zoo.... werkt de Radio!" op de Nederlandse markt. Toen een zeer goed boek en nu nog steeds zeer lezenswaardig.

VERON
Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDJan 10

@nblr @dreua @dermb Here is the actual text. Firefox reports an expired certificate, but it works. BTW the scanning person added manual annotations/corrections!

https://waij.com/oldbooks/radio_bestanden/Zoo_werkt_de_radio.pdf

Show threadstarblueJan 9
@dreua @dermb @nblr Barely working IIRC, one very faint station, with the AM radio in Radio + Elektronik 1
Show threadstarblueJan 9
@dreua https://www.welt-der-alten-radios.de/geschichte-radiomd5-109.html
Geschichte - .. radiomd5 | Wumpus Welt der Radios

Show threadCoated Ambassadors Everywhere!Jan 10
@dreua @nblr I remember connecting some old speaker cable to the circuit to improvise a longer antenna
Show threadAlexander KnochelJan 9
@nblr haha me too
Show threadjesterchen42Jan 9

@nblr Erklärt von Daniel D. 😍

Ich hatte dann irgendwann die ganze Serie, 1000-4000, HighTech und Radio.

Und hatte die Kellertreppe mittels Laserschranke abgesichert, damit ich Spiele, die ich nicht spielen sollte, schnell genug beendet kriege, falls jemand runterkommt. 😁

Show threadDavidJan 9

@nblr Here us the Dutch version of the XN300 testament ;)

Is it legal to scan and upload these yet? I might know someone who might scan the German versions in case someone is interested...

https://archive.org/details/kosmos-xn-3000-experimenteerhandboek/mode/2up?q=Radio

Kosmos Xn 3000 Experimenteerhandboek : Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

kosmos xn3000 experimenteerhandboek

Internet Archive
Show threadacffh morstJan 9
@nblr this is how I understand junction transistors to work as well. Water and electricity make great metaphors for teaching about one to someone who understands the other
Electric current is explained as number of charges passing a given point over time, voltage is analogous to the height of the watertower, etc.
Show threadmazzooJan 9
@nblr lel, even without the original I had a family member draw the same exact scheme two days ago. for upcoming soldering workshops.
Show threadTeflonTrout  he/himJan 9

@nblr

So...are transistors just basically tiny relays? BC that's how those work too

Show thread~nJan 9
@TeflonTrout To some extent and in some usage scenarios. They tend to be less “binary” though and that’s where the analogy slightly breaks. There usually is a proportional increase of current which makes them very useful for amplifying signals for example.
Show threadTeflonTrout  he/himJan 9
@nblr baller, thank you for taking the time!
Show threadScale TheoryJan 9

@nblr @TeflonTrout

So the outflow should have more water -amplified- than input.

Show threadTeflonTrout  he/himJan 9

@SCALETHEORY @nblr

Edit: Am very sleepy. Forgot to mention that the first way I took your meaning, I considered the big source the primary focus and that made me think the graphic was wrong. But again, I never told you that in the first place!

k, then the graphic is still correct. The large trough would be the external power source that the transistor is metering. The LEFT current is the primary circuit... This would be easier if I knew electrical jargon.