Gotten a few electronics related gifts over the years, this was the most useful at the time.

Asked for the EEVblog branded BM235, as my current $30 meter decided it didn't want to read resistance anymore and had taken to guessing.

Needed something more accurate anyway, as reverse engineering PCBs with 1% resistors isn't fun when the meter isn't that accurate.

Also shown is the extra multimeter leads I later bought/made for specific uses I had.

My favourite ever electronics related gift I had was a broken down pinball machine called operation thunder!!!

Nothing on it worked, WHATSOEVER, and I got to learn about all sorts as I slowly put it back together again making it all light up, fixing the various solenoids operating ball jumps and flippers as well as the LEds representing each mission AND having fun playing the game.

Slightly sad end though... I could never get the spiny disc straight out of the beginning (which represented a nuclear reactor) to spin up. Tried all sorts, and in the end I fried the main motherboard and it became even more broken... I then couldn't continue work on it but will always look back fondly on this particular gift

It is grateful of Element14 comminity to make opportuinity for us searching valuable Rememberance and Warm Greetings.

• The best Electronics Gift received is Sharp PC-1500 Pocket Computer from my parents.

PC-1500 is remarkable invention by SHARP in 1981. Even mine is still well-functioned, I have sent it for electronic recycle with bunches of similar stuff two years ago.

CPU: LH5801 （Z80 similar 8 bit CPU）

Frequency 1.3MHz

ROM: 3.5k or 8.5k

LCD: 7x156 mono

OS: ROM BASIC

Power: 6V DC

Not photo of the PC-1500 is kept. I search on the web, I have found that there are still fans collecting the PC-1500 and keep the All and more about Sharp PC-1500 and Tandy PC-2  website running for update of information about it.

• For me, the PC-1500 is my first entry level complete Code-Learning Platform for BASIC.

Before PC-1500, IBM PC/XT domainate the realm. Compatible computer with DOS x.0 is still not popular. PC-1500 brings computer, 4-color pin-pen printer, cassetter tape recorder as a whole.  The cost is affordful for more, and still not cheap.

I start learning BASIC language with PC-1500. Like that,

Now PYTHON has replaced the BASIC as entry Language. BASIC is almost disappered from the billboard .  Or, It is still there, Visual.Basic rand 19 in December 2019 on https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ .  But visual Basic is quite different. The norm of coding evovles a lot, but the basic logic is always the same, if-then, for-next , etc..

And the input pace is slow comparing with keyboard, the save-load process with tape recorder is not easy. But PC-1500 is fairly good, I can bring it everywhere with easy.

Of course, not in my pocket, it shall be within one carrying case.

Mobile phone is pocket size and much more powerful, that is why PC-1500 have to return to its destination and save place for my future 5G or 6G phones.

• Will the PC-1500 disppeared for ever. I do not think so. The idea of Making one Complete Computer Platform is always on my wish-list. There is none in the market. So I shall build one.  The Extended Raspberry Pi can be my new Programming Platform.

I have nearly every version of Raspberry Pi since 1A and share serveral with my friend. Sure, Raspberry Pi can be perfert GIFT to every one, whatever for fun or for knowledge mining.

I have received my order of compact DLP Projector,

then the thermal printer-head,

Finally Raspberry Pi with input device, keyboard or some thing else I can envision and build.

The fun shall begin. Let me see if I can put them all into pocket-size.

• There was one embarrassement moment. The PC-1500 is battery powered. And I do not know the battery can be recharged. Really, I do not know. I throw the rechargable battery into recycle bin. It costs a lot to buy new ones 30 years ago.

Note,

From pc-1500.info, here is one duplicate of PC-1500, one eact copy.

The best electronic gift for me was about 35 years ago. I had gotten a pair of commodore 64’s that my mom had gotten at an auction. Only one worked fully, but that didn’t matter.... I used the main system of one, created my own cable and connected the keyboard from the second one to it.... I think I made the ONLY Commodore 64 with an external keyboard.... It made sitting in front of that tv with my 300 baud modem so much more enjoyable since I could kick back in my chair instead of being scrunched up to the table...

such fun memories.....

I'd have to say the best "gift" as in present was a 15 (Could have been 30) in one electronics kit.  Listening to the radio on the little crystal earpiece without a battery, or any of the other projects was awesome.  I'd dream about getting more kits and linking them together, imagining the possibilities.

But looking back before getting the springy board of goodness, the real gifts were things like some old car switches, wire, bulbs, batteries, and broken things for me to pull apart and re-wire.  From that, rather than following instructions I was able to see how things went together an figure out things in my own way.  I can only thank my parents and grandparents for putting up with my mess, or what my mum called, and my Wife now calls "Junk" 

If they hadn't supported my habit of disassembling anything I could get my hands on I imagine things would have turned out quite differently.

Dan.

P.s. I still pull things apart, either for fixing of just to see how it's made.

One year, I must have been 11ish, I had an electronic sound to light kit from Maplin that I had to solder the components onto the pcb, it was so much fun and was completed within the hour on Christmas day   .

My 13th birthday I got my first electronic toolkit and box set of electronic components to make my own pcbs. I still have them!

A few years ago I purchased my Mother the Raspberry Pi 3 for use as a desktop computer. She loves her Raspberry Pi and stills uses it daily. I plan to upgrade her desktop to a Raspberry Pi 4 and repurpose the Pi 3 into an iot project for her home. A Raspberry Pi is the perfect gift for everyone!

The best gift I received is a Apple IIe (not the exact same one in the photo, but it is displaying Lode Runner), it is just a 2nd hand machine, but it is my first computer.  Lode Runner is the very first computer game I played, I remembered I finished all 150 levels in one seating.  The Apple IIe literally changed my life, since then I am totally hooked became a thru and thru computer geek.  It introduced me to the world of computing, BASIC programing and lots of games   Fast forward 30 years, I am now a computer engineer thanks to the gift I received when I was at grade 6.

Best electronics gift I could have been given would be an old Cisco Router and Switch to play with. I was able to learn routing and switching, and paved a path for breezing through school in the IT class, and put me into my ongoing 12 year Network Engineer career working with an ISP and being Support Manager specialising in networking technologies and product development.

And after looking closer at many of these comments I'd like to say kudos to all of the parents and grandparents and others who didn't get too shook when the kids took things apart. You just HAVE TO sometimes when your brain thinks like a geek's does. LOL