
Concise electronics for geeks (2010) - luu
http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/
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wumbernang
Not a bad text. Didn't find anything obviously wrong in a quick scan.

Two comments:

1\. As usual, and as per all electronics resources, its pretty much devoid of
the practicalities of BJT/FET amps. Sort of, here are some facts, now go away.
How do I go about designing a non-inverting amp with a small signal gain of
6dB? How do I calculate the input and output impedance to determine stage
loading? Not even TAOE (2nd ed) nails that down well. This is really really
important if you want to do anything analogue. 2\. Tails off towards the end.

I spent a number of years in a past life doing EE and I've found only
disappointment in books. All the useful knowledge I had was from sitting down
with guys who are older than transistors and like their Teks with vacuum tubes
in them. Frustrating because they're a dying breed of engineer.

Edit: if you want a really decent book on electronics but don't want to pay
for TAOE, the "ARRL handbook" which is a yearly publication is a good bet.
Anything from about 1995 onwards has a number of decent electronics chapters
in it covering basics, linear, digital, transmission lines etc right up to RF
plus all the maths you need. Turns up for not much money on Amazon, ebay etc.
About 20% of the book is self-love about amateur radio so just ignore those
bits. Also, maths are a bit wonky as they are practically inclined and mostly
using ratios in imperial units but you can substitute SI units in and out fine
if you look at the equation definitions rather than their application. Earlier
ones have decent self-build projects for power supplies, test equipment and
the like. I built an AF oscillator and various crystal-based RF oscillators
and filters literally directly from the book.

~~~
aswanson
Indeed. Learning from one of the oldheads is the only way to become competent.
Schooling from professors on that stuff is useless. Engineering is _doing_ ,
not test taking.

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quantumet
For those looking for a less-concise, but more comprehensive reference, The
Art of Electronics was just released in its 3rd edition!

[http://artofelectronics.net/](http://artofelectronics.net/)

With a lot of relevant new content (references to Arduinos, etc), which is
great since the last edition was from 1989.

And while the basics of transistors, etc, haven't changed since then, it's
arguable that the kinds of circuits that are of most relevance may have
changed. (A/D conversion, general interfacing with digital logic, things that
didn't have simple IC solutions in 89, etc).

~~~
yan
Speaking of, after getting the third edition, I have the second version
sitting unused. If anyone wants it for the cost of shipping, let me know.

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badsock
I highly recommend someone take this generous offer. The book is very dense,
but only because it is so beautifully concise. And you'll go quite far into
the 2nd ed. before running into any anachronisms.

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johnchristopher
God, I hate the hydraulic analogy. It almost made me flunk a 101 electronics
class because I couldn't connect the dots between the analogy and the physics
of what's actually going on. Plus the fact that our teacher was hell bent on
explaining and modeling circuits almost exclusively with equations from the
start of the first course.

~~~
david-given
Which particular part of the hydraulic analogy didn't work for you? I've
always found it really helpful.

~~~
cbd1984
The part where it explains inductance!

/s

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Animats
That is excellent, especially the first parts on how conduction and
semiconduction work. I've never seen an electronics text explain that so well.

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mrfusion
I think I ask this every time the topic comes up but I'm on a quest to answer
my electronics questions without learning maxwells equations!

What happens when you pull the plates of a charged capacitor apart? Does it
gain energy or lose energy, how much?

Why isn't a van degraff generator violating conservation of energy? It seems
like it adds charge linearly until the breakdown voltage?

~~~
tim333
>pull the plates of a charged capacitor apart? Does it gain energy or lose
energy, how much?

It gains energy equal to the work required to separate the plates assuming one
plate has a +ve charge and one -ve. If they've both got the same charge then
it loses energy.

>Why isn't a van degraff generator violating conservation of energy? It seems
like it adds charge linearly until the breakdown voltage?

The charge gets there but a motor pushing it there on a belt. So energy from
the motor increases the static energy of the sparky bit.

~~~
mrfusion
See that's the problem, I don't even have enough knowledge to explain my
questions properly :-(

I guess what is the formula for pulling the plates apart? Does it depend on
voltage? And at some point say they're miles away wouldn't you be losing
energy by moving them further apart?

(I Don't even know where to start clarifying the van degraff question)

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phkahler
It seems strange to reject deep dives into mathematics, but then start by
talking about nuclei and valence electrons. I personally like the hydraulic
analogy, but only for one paragraph to explain the corresponding concepts of
voltage, current, and resistance.

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vvanders
Fantastic, very much reminds me of the style in The Art of Electronics(another
great reference).

