Ask HN: What are hardware development learning web tutorials? - yadavrg
======
kesor
YouTube is one of the best places to learn everything you might want to know.
Notable channels about electronics and designing digital hardware are -

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/adafruit](https://www.youtube.com/user/adafruit)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/eevblog](https://www.youtube.com/user/eevblog)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/julius256](https://www.youtube.com/user/julius256)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom](https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil](https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc](https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab](https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab)

\-
[https://www.youtube.com/user/sparkfun](https://www.youtube.com/user/sparkfun)

and many many more ...

~~~
gcb0
almost none of them will teach you anything. EEVblog has some educational
content, and sparkfun covers the very basics. The others are purely
entertainment and trivia for the already initiated. IMO.

~~~
lmilcin
I will disagree.

As a newbie hardware designer I learned a lot going through some of those
resources. Especially repair videos tend to show a lot of tricks I would have
to spend a lifetime to learn by myself. Once you learn the basics (it is easy)
it gets more and more difficult to find really usefull information. Especially
if you are a hobbyist and don't do it as your permanent job where you would
typically have other nad hopefully more experienced engineers at hand.

------
Cyph0n
Hardware development is a vast discipline, so you'll have to be more specific.
Off the top of my head:

* Embedded systems: mainly involves writing software but may require understanding of the hardware architecture; examples include Arduino and MSP430

* PCB design: Eagle and KiCad are good places to start

* Digital logic design: theory of how to optimize gate-level logic and how to design common digital circuitry

* HDL development: using Verilog or VHDL to implement digital designs

* FPGA design and implementation: synthesizing your HDL design to run on an FPGA

* Digital circuit design: transistor-level implementation of digital circuits, mainly used for fine-tuning high speed circuits (e.g., adders, multipliers)

* Analog and mixed-signal circuit design: same as above, but not in the digital domain (i.e., signals are not defined as 0 or 1); mixed-signal focuses on designing converters and interfaces between the analog and digital domains

* RF circuit design: high-frequency circuit design, very high barrier to entry and extremely difficult to learn

~~~
moopling
To add to this: I would start with basic analogue electronics as it forms the
basis of everything else on this list. I found
[https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+6.002.1x_1+2T...](https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+6.002.1x_1+2T2016/course/)
reasonably good for this.

Learning analogue fundamentals, learning to read a datasheet (probably one of
the most important skills for real electronics design!), and C for embedded
systems are probably the real keys here.

~~~
cjsuk
Yes agree - never forget analogue!

------
vaskebjorn
I've been devoting a lot of time to learning hardware lately and the resources
that have worked best for me are:

Make: Electronics [1] This is a very accessible, hands on driven book that
starts from absolute 0 and builds you up step by step. It focuses on very
basic circuits and components (I think only the last experiment involves a
microntroller).

UT Texas Embedded Systems / Input Output (edx) [2] This course I can't speak
highly enough of. I started it on a whim and got totally sucked in. Again,
very hands on (they wrote custom software that tests the physical devices you
build). It's thorough and addicting.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Learning-Through-
Dis...](https://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Learning-Through-
Discovery/dp/1680450263/)

[2][https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UTAustinX+UT.6.10x...](https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UTAustinX+UT.6.10x+1T2017/course/)

------
fest
First, define what do you mean by hardware, because the field is vast.

Electronics design:
[https://contextualelectronics.com/](https://contextualelectronics.com/)

Programming embedded systems:
[http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920017776.do](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920017776.do)

Misc. projects: [https://makezine.com/](https://makezine.com/)

~~~
npgatech
I don't recommend ContextualElectronics.

It is not even good for beginners as so many things he does is completely and
utterly wrong. People who do not have the expertise in their domain should not
be teaching and perpetuating wrong methods and creating a generation of bad
engineers/makers.

If you get a chance, please watch his YT series on KiCAD. Finally, he gets a
PCB made and fumbles his way through.

Teachers are supposed to be domain experts that can lead students in the best-
known-method path. This guy doesn't even come close.

If you want solid tutorials on Embedded Electronics, I recommend Patrick Hood
Daniel's Newbiehack channel.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMMamSVy1Zs&list=PLE72E4CFE7...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMMamSVy1Zs&list=PLE72E4CFE73BD1DE1)

Not only does it skip the Arduino framework, he goes to a great length to
explain fundamentals of embedded electronics. He is a fantastic teacher and
above all, an expert at what he does.

------
dschuler
For general circuit design, I would recommend The Art of Electronics, 3rd Ed.
by Horowitz and Hill. Of course it’s a book and not a web tutorial, but the
content matters more than the format I would think.

~~~
cjsuk
Another vote for this here. The 2015/3rd edition is recommended over older
editions. The previous one was 1989!

~~~
squarefoot
Apparently, some elements present in the 2nd ed. were taken out from the 3rd
edition to be put in a still unreleased "X-Chapters" book. (Source: Win Hill
himself at the diyaudio forums.)

So now there are two fairly expensive books to purchase, that's a bummer. As
of today I'll happily keep my 2nd edition; luckily electronics principles
haven't changed much (at all) since, and new parts data sheets/app notes are
freely available.

~~~
cjsuk
They took out the bad circuits section and that was it really. The 2nd edition
references lots of obsolete logic families and pretty much skips micro
controllers. Worth getting the 3rd edition.

Some of the content is word for word the same as the 1st edition (which I also
have)

------
nickpsecurity
I do look forward to seeing answers that are web tutorials as I'm trying to
start in that area. Most good resources are books or courses, though. I'll
give you a bit of that. For digital, the NAND2Tetris course or book at least
get people hooked on it with some of the basics:

[http://nand2tetris.org/book.php](http://nand2tetris.org/book.php)

For analog electronics and PCB's, the latest list of books I found was this:

[http://www.circuitstoday.com/4-great-books-to-study-basic-
el...](http://www.circuitstoday.com/4-great-books-to-study-basic-electronics)

Malvin's Electronic Principles, which I got for $2 on Amazon, was also much
more readable than Horowitz and Hill. Another thing to know is resources are
usually almost all hands-on or all theory. Gammel's Contextual Electronics
course that bradfa links to below was said to be in the middle somewhere.
Also, if digital, you might want to make a note of "High-Speed, Digital
Design" for later along with some book on verification either formal or
"design-for-testing." Some people also do FPGA cookbooks and such if they're
working with them. For RF, most people have one by ARRL or something whose
name I can't recall. Finally, for electromagnetic compatibility testing, the
great article and conversation linked below has a book in it.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15440411](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15440411)

Hope some of this helps.

------
uniacid
These might be more Pi/Arduino related:

[https://www.hackster.io/](https://www.hackster.io/)

[https://computers.tutsplus.com/categories/electronics](https://computers.tutsplus.com/categories/electronics)

[https://pimylifeup.com/](https://pimylifeup.com/)

------
smilesnd
[https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/](https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/)

Is a great beginners course.

------
talsnet
Hackster.io has over 10,000 published HW projects, DragonInnovation.com has a
great library of “how to” courses, Kickstarter has a new resource called
HardwareStudio
[https://www.kickstarter.com/hardwarestudio](https://www.kickstarter.com/hardwarestudio).
And yes, YouTube for everything else.

------
0xcde4c3db
The design is pretty dated now (though that might be a good thing given recent
trends), but there's a lot of great stuff at [http://www.play-
hookey.com/](http://www.play-hookey.com/)

------
talsnet
One more solid resource is John Teel's website and blog:
[http://predictabledesigns.com/resources/](http://predictabledesigns.com/resources/)

------
kasbah
For electronics check out my list of resources.
[https://github.com/monostable/awesome-
electronics](https://github.com/monostable/awesome-electronics)

------
yadavrg
I want to learn about developing new hardware to automate various manual
tasks. What are the good online tutorials to learn developing professional
hardware to automate task?

~~~
mng2
"Hardware" tends to imply just electronics. It sounds like you want tutorials
in robotics.

------
markshead
For basic electronics, you might check out Understanding Modern Electronics by
The Great Courses. I think they have a free month-long demo to watch their
content online.

------
morpheuskafka
Not a web tutorial, but if you have Arduino experience and want to get a
deeper understanding of embedded systems, _AVR Programming_ by Make Media is
amazing.

------
tzhenghao
In addition to the comments here, Hackaday has a nice hardware community too:

[https://hackaday.com/](https://hackaday.com/)

~~~
gcb0
ignore this url, go to the one that mimics the site at the time it got famous:
[https://hackaday.com/blog/](https://hackaday.com/blog/)

------
bradfa
[https://contextualelectronics.com/](https://contextualelectronics.com/)

~~~
npgatech
I do not recommend this. See my comment above.

------
schappim
The best I have seen are on [https://txplore.com](https://txplore.com)

------
nixpulvis
Sparkfun.com is great.

~~~
amigoingtodie
Adafruit.com also has some good tutorials.

------
agumonkey
falstadt.com

------
tmincey
I’d recommend our blog at Bolt [https://blog.bolt.io](https://blog.bolt.io)
for high-level summaries of hardware product development process, business
best practices, and case studies.

In particular: The Illustrated Guide to Product Development
[https://blog.bolt.io/the-illustrated-guide-to-product-
develo...](https://blog.bolt.io/the-illustrated-guide-to-product-development-
part-1-ideation-ab797df1dac7)

Hardware by the Numbers: [https://blog.bolt.io/hardware-by-the-numbers-
part-1-team-pro...](https://blog.bolt.io/hardware-by-the-numbers-part-1-team-
prototyping-b225a33f55bf)

