Hello everyone, it's time for another wall of text.
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I just wanted to post a couple of resources I found useful as I've started back into electronics. There is a lot that can be found online with google, wikipedia, and on the websites of various companies about the specifics of any given topic, but I found it took some looking to find broad introductory instructional material that doesn't assume a great deal of prior knowledge. This is the sort of stuff that may be of dubious use to the professionals and those well trenched in education, but might be a good fit for someone who's attempting to make the leap from a more plug-and-play hobby level to a deeper understanding of electronics design.
On the topic of prior knowledge, it is very difficult if not impossible to begin in electronics (or programming) without a foundation in math. This has been an obstacle for me personally for most of my life, and has kept me in 'the shallow end of the pool' in regards to my love of science. In my effort to fix my math deficiency I stumbled upon the work of a fellow named Salman Khan. From his website: "The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere." His videos are bite sized chunks of six to ten minutes in length, and his style is easy to follow and relaxed. I find concepts easier to understand if I start first with one of these videos and go on to other sources for more depth. He covers a wide variety of topics aside from math as well. If you need a place to start your study of math,
I strongly recommend starting here. I think the awesomeness of what this man is doing cannot be overstated, and if you should come to agree you may wish to consider donating to his organization.
I'd planned a more exhaustive list, but I came to realize I didn't stray far from these two resources as I was just beginning.
All About Circuits - Online textbook seriesAn absolutely huge, six volume online textbook series. Includes a complimentary video series, worksheets to go with the text, and a large and active forum.
Covers . . pretty much everything. Broad and shallow, a good place to start or refresh.
The main strength of this site is that it is an online textbook. This is an excellent resource for those who learn best by reading. I find it much easier to cross reference a concept in greater depth and return to text without breaking my train of thought as opposed to a lecture video.
Basic Electronics - Dr.Chitralekha MahantaThis is a lecture series of 38 videos at about an hour each dealing with semiconductor electronics.
Covers basic material theory, diodes, BJTs, JFETs, MOSFETs, the basics of Opamps, power applications, and a bit on SCRs.
I discovered this series of lectures with a youtube search and it led me to the
NPTEL channel, and eventually the
NPTEL webpage. This program is funded by the Indian government, and contains a great deal of useful lecture material. The youtube channel can be a bit difficult to navigate, so I recommend going to the website itself to locate and organize a specific lecture series. These lectures are (so far as I've explored) all in english, and although some may have trouble with with the accents of the instructors I haven't had any difficulties myself. I found these lectures more accessible at my level of understanding than others that I have found on youtube, though my search was far from exhaustive. My thanks and respect go out to those in India who make this material available to a bozo like me, and I intend to write them and tell them so.
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Now this isn't to say I've been through all this material, I'm still chugging along myself. With all the good advice on specific topics flying around, I figured I'd throw in what I found in the hopes that it would turn up useful to someone.
If anyone has any other resources that they've found useful, please add on. I tried to stick within the terms broad, instructional, and low prior knowledge, but anything goes.
A thought: should we attempt a 'sticky' post full of collected resources?