I am originally a software and automation expert but started to realize how useful it is to dive into electronics and the world of microprocessors like ESP8266.
There is a huge community, great resources and tons of ideas. Right here, you find information and ideas about the parts, components and microprocessors I came across.
Why bother making things when there is Amazon and AliExpress?
Here is why: a good friend needed a device that monitors loud noise, and when the volume is over a threshold, he wanted to cut off electricity and Internet access. This device was supposed to be deployed into his daughters’ room.
You can’t buy these things. But you can make them. And it doesn’t take much, neither money nor time. It does take knowledge, though. And it is rewarding fun each time you understand something new and extend your skill set.
And why does this site exist?
I visited many great resources, watched well-made YouTube videos, and am grateful for the generous sharing of so many people in forums, on youtube, or websites like instructables.
What irritated me was that in the web, the same questions were asked over and over again, and rather than just getting a no nonsense answer, often the key information was burried in a lot of noise.
The one thing that is scarce for most people is quality time: I wished there were more places that provide just the knowledge in a well discoverable way.
While working on my projects and experiments, I decided to take the time and document my findings. The result is this website.
It is a huge work in progress, and aside from electronics I am also working many nights on web design, github actions and image processing, just to mention a few, in my effort to provide you and me with a clean and discoverable information resource.
Components
Whenever I come across a new component like a display, a regulator or whatnot, I am documenting it in the Components section.
It’s a great place to compare components and find out which is best suited for a particular idea.
It’s also helpful to review specs. Vendors like AliExpress often do not provide all the necessary specs, and occasionally the specs they do mention are wrong or apply only in very unrealistic scenarios.
If a component requires software, i.e. to work with a Rotary Encoder or a display, often you’ll also find example code and references to the libraries you need.
Fundamentals
Learning is a great part of any journey into microelectronics as most of us probably are no genuine electrical engineers.
Whenever I hit something fundamentally new, I’ll add it to Fundamentals for easy lookup. For example, Transistors play a fundamental role in almost any circuit. If you can’t remember the difference between P- and N-, or would like to find the best transistor type for a given task, go have a look.
Projects
Projects are what drives me. In my projects, I can combine components to test ideas and invent new gizmos. So in Projects I document my projects in a step-by-step way that anyone can rebuild (and expand and improve) them.
Tools
While working on electronics and on this site, occasionally I come across tasks that are hard to do, and the reason most often is that I am missing the appropriate tools.
Whenever that happens I start to search for new tools, and if I can’t find any, I create my own. In Tools I am show-casing all tools I find helpful. I am also sharing the commands and PowerShell Modules I created to help me produce better results in less time.
Split Personality: Github and The Web
The website done.land is driven by a github repository. You can visit either one of these siblings.
The repository keeps and organizes all content, and also hosts all Comments and Discussions.
The website is automatically generated off of the repository. It provides the final browsing and reading experience.
Benefits and Advantages
You can enjoy both places, each has its own advantages:
- Data Oriented: the repository is data driven, and in the upper part you always see an explorer-like file view. This is especially helpful for articles with extensive attached code examples, but you can also navigate the site by clicking folders. By convention, folder names starting with a capital letter are public content. When a folder name is all lower-case, you can still explore it but most likely its content serves internal purposes and looking inside is as thrilling as unscrewing the cover of your coffee machine (when you really just want a cappucchino).
- Search Oriented: the website is search-oriented: click the search icon in the upper right corner to quickly search for terms or model names. The right sidebar provides easy headline navigation, and the left sidebar lists related topics
Switching Back and Forth
You can easily switch between Github and the Web: at the bottom of each page, you find links respective buttons to switch to the sibling page.
Here is an example: this article explains how to hook up a Rotary Encoder to a microprocessor.
You can start reading the article as a Webpage. Once you are ready to dig deeper and actually use the attached code, i.e. in platformio or the Arduino IDE, simply switch to the Github Repo Version of the same page. One easy way is to use the green button Show on Github that you find at the bottom of any webpage on my site.
Now you see the file explorer in the upper half and can easily navigate the example subfolders.
Feel Free to Contribute, Too!
You are cordially invited to harvest as much information from here as you wish. No need for giving back anything.
Then again, you probably know much more than I do in so many areas. If you have additional information or helpful hints, I’d be thrilled to see you contribute.
Below, you can leave a comment or join discussions.
Submit Your Own Reviews or Articles
You are cordially invited to participate even more (if you like). Each article is publicly attributed to its author next to its title. That’s currently always me.
If you are just as much into electronics like I am and don’t want to organize and run a website just to share and show your findings and ideas, then please do contact me (by clicking the link Contact at the bottom of each page).
I love to review devices, explain technology & concepts in simple terms, show off little projects, etc pp - maybe you do, too.
If ideas resonate, maybe we’ll see awesome articles from you, too, on this site soon.
Bear in mind this is a non-profit site. All I do here is driven solely by fun and passion.
Collaborating on this site is not a job opportunity. It’s a fun opportunity at this point.
Slow Website?
This website is very fast, and pages should appear instantly. If this site is slow for you, then your routing may be messed up, and this issue does not only affect done.land, but potentially a few other websites and downloads as well. Here are simple steps to speed up your Internet experience and fix issues with slow websites and downloads..
Comments
Please do leave comments below. I am using utteran.ce, an open-source and ad-free light-weight commenting system.
Here is how your comments are stored
Whenever you leave a comment, a new github issue is created on your behalf.
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All comments become trackable issues in the Github Issues section, and I (and you) can follow up on them.
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There is no third-party provider, no disrupting ads, and everything remains transparent inside github.
Github Users Yes, Spammers No
To keep spammers out and comments attributable, all you do is log in using your (free) github account and grant utteranc.es the permission to submit issues on your behalf.
If you don’t have a github account yet, go get yourself one - it’s free and simple.
If for any reason you do not feel comfortable with letting the commenting system submit issues for you, then visit Github Issues directly, i.e. by clicking the red button Submit Issue at the bottom of each page, and submit your issue manually. You control everything.
Discussions
For chit-chat and quick questions, feel free to visit and participate in Discussions. They work much like classic forums or bulletin boards. Just keep in mind: your valued input isn’t equally well trackable there.
(content created Mar 15, 2024)