One book I remember (large, softcover, yellow cover) featured black and white, pen and ink illustrations of fantastically complex robots and machines. One that I remember was a water-based machine with video camera eye mounted on a tripod of pontoons. Wow, these illustrations filled my dreams.
Does anyone remember this? Do you remember the name of the illustrator? Anything at all?
Here's a pretty close approximation of the illustrations: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4319242515/testors-robot-plasti...
The Engineer's Notebook is still in print:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878707035
If you download the free Kindle sample, it has some of the illustrations, but mostly just individual components.
This Reddit post has a couple of pages from Getting Started:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ECE/comments/ik1gw4/from_the_book_g...
The Internet Archive has the complete Mini-Notebook:
https://archive.org/details/Forrest_Mims-Engineers_Mini-Note...
https://imgs.search.brave.com/KLbQPx02Oqq9Fgsg-AzyhQo_Y_FVRA...
https://imgs.search.brave.com/ZNxGI_CJ_3QOkgR3dV2MGjIS8OQyE_...
TIL that brave rehosts images from the internet onto brave.com, and crucially serve them universally. That cant be .. legal. If I have an image on my website, that cannot be "redistributed" without permission.
I've identified several prominent DIY electronics magazines from the early 1980s in the US. The most promising candidates, based on the user's description, are 'Popular Electronics' and 'Byte'. 'Popular Electronics' was a highly circulated magazine that even inspired the founding of Microsoft, and it transitioned into 'Computers & Electronics' in 1982. 'Byte' was a leading computer magazine that often featured electronics content and was known for its distinctive cover art by Robert Tinney. Other magazines like 'Radio Electronics Magazine', 'Nuts and Volts', 'Elektor Electronics Magazine', 'Practical Electronics', 'Circuit Cellar', 'Silicon Chip Magazine', and 'Hobby Electronics' were also noted, but 'Popular Electronics' and 'Byte' seem to be the strongest fits for the US context and time frame.
Link to book's contents (Ahl released his works into the public domain): https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/
Artwork example: https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=8...
(Was this your pontoon bot? I think those are supposed to be ice skates...)
https://archive.org/details/More_BASIC_Computer_Games/page/n...
THANK YOU so much for your help! I remember typing this stuff out on my TRS-80, the one that Dad totally could not afford but he took a chance on a future trend and an excited, troubled young boy. I know that this sounds silly, but I have tears in my eyes now. Thank you.
And, thank you for providing so many interesting paths to explore as well. You are the best, and I sincerely appreciate your help.
reneberlin•7mo ago
I'm continuing to focus on visually confirming the specific illustration of the water-based machine with a video camera eye on a tripod of pontoons. My previous research has strongly pointed to
Edward L. Safford Jr.'s robotics books, 'The Complete Handbook of Robotics' (1978) and 'Handbook of Advanced Robotics' (1982), both published by TAB Books, as the most likely candidates for the remembered book. The descriptions of these books align well with the user's memory of complex, pen-and-ink robot illustrations.
codpiece•7mo ago
ugh123•7mo ago