Electrical engineering books (Raspberry Pi, Arduino etc etc)

Cromulent

Cromulent

Cromulent

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Does anyone have any recommendations for electrical engineering books for beginners at all? I'd like to get into things like the Raspberry Pi and other small 8 bit and 16 bit computers and put hardware projects together but I'm a bit lost when looking at data sheets and hardware schematics.

Most of my programming work has been on Unix based systems where everything is included in the hardware (normal desktop PCs) with small embedded systems you need to know a hell of a lot more about electronics than I actually do.

So any recommendations would be appreciated :).
 
AHarvey said:
what about the raspi magazine? Sure it's free in pdf form as well. I would imagine everything they cover is for noobs, so lots of explanations.
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I need the technical stuff. I'm really looking for under grad EE level books. I do know the real basics but I need to get up to speed with the maths and stuff which I'm not sure that mag provides.

Do you know what they call electrical engineering in schools these days? I was thinking maybe there was an A-level book or something to start out with. I can't remember ever having the option to study it while I was at school so maybe there isn't anything. Will have to check a well known book seller to see if there is something there.

Thanks for the tip though. I might end up subscribing to the magazine even if it is not what I was really looking for.

Edit: Just looked at the magazine website and looks really simple. I already know how to program in multiple languages so I don't need a programming tutorial and their is basically nothing on maths or reading schematics or data sheets.

Still need to find a decent book I guess. I couldn't find any A-level books on the subject either so it'll have to be under grad stuff.
 
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It was called Tech Studies when I was at school. I didnt get the chance to do it though :(. Partially covered in physics too.
There's a program called yenka (used to be 'Crocodile clips') which is good to play with. It'll help give you a better understanding of what components look like in circuit diagrams as well as what they do within a circuit.

There's also a huge raspberrypi thread on here somewhere which is worth looking through.
 
touch said:
It was called Tech Studies when I was at school. I didnt get the chance to do it though :(. Partially covered in physics too.
There's a program called yenka (used to be 'Crocodile clips') which is good to play with. It'll help give you a better understanding of what components look like in circuit diagrams as well as what they do within a circuit.

There's also a huge raspberrypi thread on here somewhere which is worth looking through.
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Cool. Thanks. I'll check out that program and also try and find that thread to read through.

sigma said:
Electrical = big power stuff. Electronic Engineering is what you're after. Try The Art of Electronics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Electronics
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Ah. Now that is what I am talking about! Reminds me of The Art of Computer Programming by Knuth. Thank you.

Blimey. It isn't cheap.
 
You should look into some beginner electronics books, Make Electronics and Make More Electronics
by Charles Platt are good books.

Before the Art Of Electronics I would read Practical Electronics for Inventors then Learning The Art Of Electronics A Hands On Lab course first.
 
Chaos said:
You should look into some beginner electronics books, Make Electronics and Make More Electronics
by Charles Platt are good books.

Before the Art Of Electronics I would read Practical Electronics for Inventors then Learning The Art Of Electronics A Hands On Lab course first.
Click to expand...

Looks good. I'll start with those thanks :). I'm getting really hyped about this. Up until this point I've only computer science so I don't know much about electronics.

I'll order them tonight so I can get started quickly.
 
Just ordered Make Electronics. Did some research on the book to see what is was like and it sounds perfect. I'll read it first and then I'll probably get the second one then I can move onto the more advanced books.
 
Chaos said:
You might want to check out the recent humble book bundle to, has a few rasp/arduino books -

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/make-arduino-and-raspberry-pi
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That is a highly tempting bundle. Thank you for pointing it out.

I've never bought books off Humble Bundle. Do you just get a link to a PDF or something or do they come in stupid ebook formats like .mobi? If they come in ebook formats and not PDF then I'll pass. I hate ebook readers.
 
Chaos said:
You should look into some beginner electronics books, Make Electronics and Make More Electronics
by Charles Platt are good books.

Before the Art Of Electronics I would read Practical Electronics for Inventors then Learning The Art Of Electronics A Hands On Lab course first.
Click to expand...

I went through the Make Electronics book but it wasn't really what I was looking for. I'll still finish off the experiments but it is the maths that I want to learn and it seems a bit sparse in that book so I went ahead and bough Practical Electronics for Beginners. It looks like it includes a bit more theory which is good and then maybe I can think about The Art of Electronics books.
 
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