Beginners Electronics Learning?

Using Arduino General Electronics
1

Hi guys, im new to the forums and while i've been a Programmer for awhile (Graduated with my B.S. in CS 6 months ago) i've always been super interested in Embedded and Electronics. Arduino seemed like the next obvious step, I think it's TOTALLY awesome.

problem is....my electronics knowledge is literally almost zip, zero, natta. I know some VERY basic stuff.....but other than that I suck at Electronics. So what would be the best learning resource to catch me up to speed?

I also want to understand Microcontrollers along with that, like the actual internals and how they work. I know the Arduino uses an AVR.....but I would like to understand everything thats on the actual board so that it's not so black box when Im connecting up stuff.

I know it's probably a long shot, but is there a book that maybe shows me this? Otherwise i'd assume I would need a Electronics book + a MC book (like an AVR book....any recommendations?)
edit: Also if such a KIT exits with the Arduino + Some electronic stuff that'd be SUPER helpful as well (any recommendations?)

Ideally my first Arduino project is gonna be something with LEDS lol.

2

Start with going through the tutorial site of teh Arduino to see what it can do.
Playground is also a good learning site.

Furthermore I advise reading - Loading... -
ITs freee (they sell starter kits too)

3

There are loads of good books available for electronics. My personal favourite, and one that is regularly reconmended, is "Basic electronics". It does start off basic, but will leave you with a clear concept of electronics as a whole. It covers What is an electron, basic circuits, transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, inductors, analogue circuits, digital circuits, and all in great detail.
I do not know of any Inside AVR books, but I would certainly love to read one! Learning assembly language is pretty close to knowing whats going on, as it is the instructions the AVR carries out. I'm sure you would learn a lot from it.

Onions.

4

Hi,

I predict you'll find the combination of hardware and software 4 times as interesting as programming or hardware alone. That's my opinion after several decades of hardware design and a couple of decades of serious software.

Gawd I hate to hear these old guys brag about the Old Days :stuck_out_tongue:

Electronics:
Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims- the oldie but still goodie to start
MAKE:Electronics A very good place to start. Charles Platt / O'Reilly did a nice job and very visual..
Practical Electronics for Inventors- an approachable but detailed reference for real design solutions
Electronics%20for%20DUMmIES- Any programmer should be able to decode that :slight_smile: actually a good book, partly by Gordon McComb, who's no Dummy.
Eventually, when serious: The Art of Electronics 2nd edition Complete - Horowitz and Hill

Arduino-Specific:
Arduino Cookbook - Mike Margolis does a nice job of showing many real world connections and devices, explains programming along the way.
Practical Arduino Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware - Jon Oxer has done an excellent job of showing real projects in detail.

Robot-oriented:
The Robot Builders Bonanza 2nd edition - Gordon McComb's excellent book

Online Resources:
TE Index for website 100's of circuits. You can learn a lot by reading schematic diagrams like you can learn a lot by reading (well written) code.
Arduino Playground - ManualsAndCurriculum Lots of listed resources. Two of my favorites:

http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/ Terry King's Arduino How-To WIKI -(um, Me) Detailed How-To for connecting many Input and Output devices to Arduino: Starting with Arduino, Arduino Power!: Relays and DC power control, Environmental Sensors, Ultrasonic rangers, Wireless link, and more.

http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/ John Boxall's Tutorials - Regular, supported Arduino tutorial series: From blinking an LED to complex timing, wireless communication including XBee and GSM cellular, GPS and display systems - detailed tutorials with worked examples, sketches, photos and videos.

That oughtta keep you busy :slight_smile:

I'm sure you'll buy some of this great stuff. If you're in a big hurry, email me for my interlibrary loan...

Oh: WIRES. You gotta get used to wires. See this: http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Cables
and if you'd rather plug cables than stick wires into breadboards, at least to start, see: http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/BrickStarterSet

And your biggest resource is the many nice people on these forums...

Regards, Terry King

DISCLAIMER: Mentioned stuff from my own shop...

5

I recently purchased the second edition f Practical Electronics for Inventors and it is a very nice detailed book. Has a 200 page chapter on theory alone then starts off on components, analog circuits , digital circuits. However if you google the Errata for this book there is a 27 page pdf worth of errors in the book of which most are in the theory section. Such as wrong values, formulas, mismatching polarities etc... it kind of made me skip the theory section.. aside from that and if you can just mark off the errors as you read along its a decent book. lol :grin:

another good way to learn is just to treat this forum like a book , read a chapter a day, go to the programming / general electronics section and read peoples problems and how the experienced users help to solve them, i have found solutions to problems i have not encountered but eventually will. Sometimes you will not understand what on earth they are talking about , but then you can google the subject and learn something new. at least thats what i do half the time on this forum .

6

would also recommend The Circuit Designers Companion , this is more about proper designing techniques which is also good to learn early on , you can learn how to make an Arduino clone , what goes connected to what but if your design is poor then your device will suffer . I think i try to learn to much at the same time :confused: wish i had photographic memory.

7

Thanks everyone so much!

8

AND your major resource on how a chip works and all it's info is the Data Sheet.

Problem is a Google Search these days is hijacked by 100 wannbe sellers and it's hard to just see or download the @#$%^&*( datasheet!

Solution is: http://www.datasheets.com/search/index.jsp

This is run by EETIMES magazine and has no baloney.. You do have to register, free, no strings.

Note: When viewing a PDF, hover your cursor over lower right and you will see PDF options including download.

9

There is a book radioshack sells its called Getting Started in electronics its like $20 US its a awesome book teaches the basics and more

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Arduino?:
There is a book radioshack sells its called Getting Started in electronics its like $20 US its a awesome book teaches the basics and more

There are many good Mims books.. that was the first one I recommended.

The Getting Started book, I believe is no longer sold by Radio Shack :frowning:
BUT it's on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316611329&sr=8-1

A lot of his mini-notebooks are good too:

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Awesome, i'll def. take a look at the Data Sheets.
As a Programmer I have sort of an OCD obsession with how everything works low level. So knowing the Assembly at least the fundamentals (like memory/registers/LED and such) is important to me. I found a few good websites (like AVRfreaks) and some tutorials that I think will help with that Part.

Thanks again everyone, I can't wait to get started with this stuff!

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It is possible to see low-level stuff like the actual assembler code created by the C compiler, and maybe the object code, by turning on "Verbose Mode" in the Arduino Environment. So I read, but I haven't done it ...

take a look also at: (long url!)

And Search on 'verbose'..

Another scrounge:
---------------------( COPY )--------------------------

Re: Get Compiler to Output Assembly
Reply #4 - 17.08.2010 at 09:19:04 Press the SHIFT key when Compiling your code. You then will see in the message window where the system hides it. In Windows, its something like:

documents..\user\local settings...\temp\another temp

Also handy for getting the hex files.
-----------------( END COPY )----------------------

13

terryking228:
It is possible to see low-level stuff like the actual assembler code created by the C compiler, and maybe the object code, by turning on "Verbose Mode" in the Arduino Environment. So I read, but I haven't done it ...

take a look also at: (long url!)

Introduction to Embedded Systems: Using ANSI C and the Arduino Development ... - David Russell - Google Books

And Search on 'verbose'..

Another scrounge:
---------------------( COPY )--------------------------

Re: Get Compiler to Output Assembly
Reply #4 - 17.08.2010 at 09:19:04 Press the SHIFT key when Compiling your code. You then will see in the message window where the system hides it. In Windows, its something like:

documents..\user\local settings...\temp\another temp

Also handy for getting the hex files.
-----------------( END COPY )----------------------

Looking at Assembly code will def. be helpful! thanks for the tip.

14

Ideally my first Arduino project is gonna be something with LEDS lol

I got myself a kit http://www.oomlout.co.uk/starter-kit-for-arduino-ardx-p-183.html?zenid=dec3734b926255b3c6730d8c1b5369cc.
I do think these provide added value taking you through staged learning.

Also check out http://fritzing.org/building-circuit/. It gives a professional way for you design your breadboard circuits and can help eliminate simple errors e.g. it shows points at the same potential, highlights unconnected items and you can print the circuit and pin it onto your breadboard for easy assembly. It also produces schematics so you can communicate your design to others.

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The above discussions helped me a lot to learn more about electronics

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Is that Fritzing Program probably the best Demo "Circuit" builder out there? or not so much?

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not at all, there stuff out there that actually lets you "test" connections virtually,and that too has its downfalls , fritzing is just very basic,there is a whole world out there at a price of course.
also depends what you want to use it for, if its simply for you to remember how to wire something up and your not quite the schematic reader then yeah seems pretty useful there.
Eagle : http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
Sprint-Layout - http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/sprint-layout.html (i like this one)
Tiny-cad - diggfreeware.com - diggfreeware Resources and Information.
and many more to choose from

18

terryking228:
The Getting Started book, I believe is no longer sold by Radio Shack :frowning:

Just to update, I recently got started in Arduino and Electronics myself coming from a programming background. That "Getting Started in Electronics" book is pretty much universally recommended on every single search I had done before even finding this thread. I have been making a lot of trips to Radio Shack these past few weeks hoarding every component I can (They are the ONLY store around that still sells this stuff it seems.) and that book is well stocked in every one I've been in. It isn't any more than it is on Amazon, so you can run out and pick it up anytime you want instead of waiting for shipping.

As for how good it is, I'm about 1/3rd through it and it seems to be explaining things very clearly, but lacks examples of why you would use a particular component. It shows you what it does, but doesn't take it to the next step of a real world example in a lot of instances. Also, a lot of the simple math .. they put the equations down, but don't follow through with an example so you can work through it and make sure you actually remember how to add and subtract without a computer.

Just some things I've found, but I do enjoy it. Very easy reading, and I have 2/3rds of the book left and lots of examples to work on, which will hopefully clear up my gripes.

19

That "Getting Started in Electronics" book is pretty much universally recommended on every single search I had done
...
that book is well stocked in every [Radio Shack] I've been in.

Great to hear that! They must have changed their mind/policy since 5 years ago...

Do they have any of the small "Engineer's Notebooks" from Mims, now??

I'll check in Vermont USA over the holidays...

20

terryking228:

That "Getting Started in Electronics" book is pretty much universally recommended on every single search I had done
...
that book is well stocked in every [Radio Shack] I've been in.

Great to hear that! They must have changed their mind/policy since 5 years ago...

Do they have any of the small "Engineer's Notebooks" from Mims, now??

I'll check in Vermont USA over the holidays...

Yep! They had plenty of the first four(Are there more than four?) volumes at the store I was in last night.

Radio Shack online does also show what items are available in your local store(s) as well. Some stores are franchises so they get to decide what they carry, and I've been in a few that are pretty slim on components. The actual stores themselves all seem to carry a nice selection of stuff as well as the books.

Also, FWIW, Radio Shack presented the Maker faire this year in New York. They are really trying to push the electronics hobby crowd.