Join the
Electronics On-Line Study Group
This is the place to join a discussion forum dedicated to electronics and related fields.  It is an email forum for students at the Austin Community College Electronics Department to ask questions of each other and to help each other out and it is open to the discussion of any topic relevant to learning about electronics.
 
Contents
What will be discussed there?
What is an email "List"?
How to Participate.
How to Subscribe.
Sending Mail to the List.
Subject Prefixes
Typical discussion topics:
  • questions about homework or labs
  • suggestions about where to find equipment, software or parts -- or
  • suggestions about where to find answers to questions
  • networking
  • instrumentation
  • robotics
  • medical / biomedical electronics
  • automotive engine control
  • CAD/CAM
  • discussions about computer hardware
  • computer software
  • networking hardware and software -- including Windows, Netware and Unix
  • wireless networking
  • wireless instrumentation and control
  • cellular phone technology
  • manufacturing and instrumentation software
  • where to find jobs
 
The List will also include:
  • Departmental announcements, including:
    • availability of classes
    • special training sessions
  • Student activities, including:
    • study groups
    • social get-togethers (parties)
    • employment listings
    • job fairs
radial02_red.gif What is a "Listserv"?
  • It is a way to automate communicating with many people via email.
  • You send an email "to the list" and it is broadcast to everyone who is a member of that list (also called a forum).
  • "The List" is actually a computer with a program (software) running on it that manages the list.
  • When you join the list, you send the software a request to be added to the subscriber list.
  • When you send an email to the list (so that it will be distributed to all the members of the list), the list software receives your email and then re-sends it to all the list members.
radial02_red.gif Procedures for using the list:  (list protocol)
  1. Join or "subscribe to" the list.
  2. Participate in the list by contributing to it.  Send an email on some associated topic and see if there is anyone who can join in a dialog on that topic.  (Don't just be a "lurker" -- someone who just "listens" by reading the email.  That's not "bad" but the list can't be effective if no one initiates or participates in a dialog on some topic.)
  3. If someone posts a question -- and you can be of help -- don't ignore it.  Write a brief reply.
  4. Observe simple, common sense network etiquette (called "netiquette"):
    1. Be Courteous.  (Written communications are often stilted and some people aren't careful to read their email before they send it -- so sometimes you will receive email that seems insulting or even meaningless.  It probably wasn't meant that way.  Be patient.  One day someone will misunderstand something you write too.)
    2. Remember that whatever you write is "forever".  It will likely be stored in someone's "IN" box and inappropriate or poorly thought out communications can come back to haunt you later.
    3. Respect the purpose of the list / forum -- only contribute materiel that is related to the purpose of the list.
    4. Put meaningful subject titles on your posts so that you and others can find them later.  (Discussions on a particular topic are called "threads" and people can read all the email in a particular thread by sorting their email on the subject field.)
    5. Take off-topic discussions off-list.  If your discussion drifts away from material that is germane to the list purpose, then take it "off-list".  That means that you should write the person you're corresponding with directly and not by sending email to the list.
    6. Be very careful when writing a confidential note to someone you've been corresponding with on the list. Double-check to be sure you've changed the "To" field from the list address (electronics-L@austincc.edu) and have replaced it with the address of the person you want to write.  If you accidentally send a private correspondence to the entire list, it can be very embarrassing.
radial02_red.gif Subscribing to the List:
To subscribe to the listserve you send an email message to the software that manages the ELECTRONICS-L listserve.  That software resides on the ACC servers and has the address listserv@austincc.edu.
  1. Send an email to listserv@austincc.edu;
  2. with the following in the body of the message:  "subscribe electronics-L  firstname  lastname"
The server will take your email address from the "From" field, so only do this using the email address you want subscribed to the list.
You will get a message asking you to confirm that you want to be included in the email forum.  This is done to protect you from having someone pull a prank and subscribe you to lists you don't want to be on.
Below is an example of an email from a fictitious person named "Dill Pickle" with the email address "dp@cuke.com".
 
To: listserv@austincc.edu
From: Dill Pickle <dp@cuke.com>
Date: ....
Subject: Subscribe to Electronics-L email forum
 
subscribe electronics-L  Dill Pickle
The items in bold are what you enter to subscribe -- the address and the body text with the subscribe message.  The listserv manager ignores your subject line, so put something there to help you remember the purpose of this email.
(Case is not important.  The "L" in electronics-L is capitalized so that you won't make a mistake and type the numeral one (1) instead.)
radial02_red.gif Sending Mail to the Electronics-L Forum:
After you have received confirmation of your subscription to the list, you can send messages to its members.
To do this, send an email to electronics-L@austincc.edu.
Be sure to make your subject field meaningful. If you receive an email you want to reply to, just click the "Reply" button on your mail program.
The "To" field and the "Subject" field should be automatically filled in.  Just type your message and hit "Send".
An example email to the Electronics-L list is below.  It is from the fictitious wife of the fictitious Dill Pickle above:
To: Electronics-L@austincc.edu
From: In A. Pickle <in.a_pickle@cuke.com>
Date: ....
Subject: Wireless -- site survey data reduction
I'm confused about how to fill in the spreadsheet for the site survey in our wireless networking class.  Any help would be appreciated. thanks,
In A. Pickle
The items in bold are what you would type in.  It is a good idea to preface your subject with something to indicate what area it is related to.
Notice the prefix of "Wireless" in the subject line to indicate the general area of the topic of interest (see suggested subject prefixes below).
(Case is not important.  The "L" in electronics-L is capitalized so that you won't make a mistake and type the numeral one (1) instead.)
 
 
radial02_red.gif Suggested Subject Prefixes (to indicate the interest area):

Analog

(Linear)

Audio

    

Automotive

    
DC/AC

(beginning courses)

Digital

    

HMI

  

(human-machine interface software)
  Instrumentation    
Linear    

Microprocessor

    

MSDNAA

  

(Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance)
  Networking    

Power

  

(Power service, conditioning, phase control, etc.)

Robotics

    

Server

  

(2K, 2003, advanced, datacenter, etc.)

Unix

  

 
 

Windows

  

(98, 2K, XP, server, etc.)

 

 Wireless

 

 
     
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