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Hobby
Hobbies are activities pursued in spare time. A hobby is taken up out of interest and enjoyment rather than for monetary compensation. While pursuing a hobby, people acquire skill, knowledge and experience, though personal fulfillment is the ultimate aim. Activities that are hobbies for some are professions for others. The distinction between a hobby and profession is that hobbyists work for fun, while professionals for remuneration. Some things may strike people as trivial or boring, but hobbyists find something interesting and compelling in them. Pursuing a hobby also has therapeutic effects.
Electronic Hobby
For those just starting out electronic hobby, the first thing to do is to build of kit of essential tools. Purchase simple electronic hobby kit for starters, and choose a project that will work on its own without needing to be connected to another piece of equipment. Work with a mains powered project only when you have more experience. Some electronic hobby kits are based on microcontrollers. To understand how an electronic circuit works, avoid microcontrollers. Real circuitry is easier to understand than the black box controlled by programming functioning of which may not be fully explained in the kit. Choose a good quality kit from a reputable source and collect some basic tools like:
- Soldering iron and solder
- Wire cutters
- Wire strippers
- Pair of small pliers – long nose pliers
Optional tools include:
- Screwdrivers – small straight type and medium cross point type
- Soldering iron stand
- Desoldering tool
- Wooden board
- Test equipment - multimeter
Good color vision is necessary for electronics since electronic components and wires are color-coded. The ability to work with small hand tools is also necessary. Good reading skills are important to read and understand technical manuals. Self-discipline to learn on your own and manage time is also important.
Amateur radio is a popular hobby enjoyed by people around the world. It is commonly called ‘ham radio’. Those who own an Amateur Radio license have studied and passed required tests in their country and are issued a call sign by their government. This call sign is unique to that person and is often a source of pride. The call sign is used to legally identify all voice and data communications. Licensed amateur radio operators enjoy personal two-way communication and also support the community with emergency and disaster communications. CB (Citizen’s Band) radio is limited to voice operation, allowed lower power limits, fewer frequency allocations, and is unlicensed in most countries. To kindle the interest of students in electronics, many schools have adopted introductory robotics in their curriculum.
Internet Hobby
Playing games on the Internet is the most popular Internet hobby. Internet games use the technology of the Internet to facilitate game play. There are many types of Internet games – games played by e-mail, games that can be played directly in the browser at a website, text based games played using IRC, Telnet, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) client, a web-based forum, etc, graphical video games that need software packages and permit users to play with or against each other over the Internet. An Internet connection, hardware to play games partly depend on the games you want to play, software for the games, or an account with game providers for online-only games. Most Internet games are based on client-side technologies using plug-ins or Javascript. There are also games implemented using server-side technologies, as it is easier to implement multi-player capabilities. There are also hybrids of server and client-side games.
Card games, pool, arcade games and gambling games are most popular Internet games. The Internet was used to play email games and MUDs even in its infancy. In 1973, Will Crowther created a game called Adventure on a DEC PDP-10 computer. This became the first widely used computer adventure game. In 1978, Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle developed the first MUD at Essex University. Email games are turn-based strategy, war or role-playing games.
Posting in blogs, newsgroups and editing wikis, Google whacking, currency bill tracking, geocaching are other Internet-based hobbies.
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