Touching Transistors

The author, returning to hobby electronics after a long break, describes building a 555-timer LED blinker and a set of simple logic circuits, arguing that working with discrete parts and no code builds a deeper literacy than microcontroller-based projects. Recounting a childhood in small-town India in the 1980s, they say a lack of parts, reference material and knowledgeable mentors ended their first attempt, while a lab course in the US and, more recently, ChatGPT helped them progress. They describe their electronics literacy as moving from roughly the level of their Spanish to that of their Tamil, and they plan to work next on Zener diodes, Darlington pairs and op-amps.