HP Journal and alike

[vk6zgo]

If you can ever get your hands on some, the old Australian telecom journal is interesting reading.
I also really like the old General Radio books.

[cdev]

The NASA Technical Reports Server is a searchable archive of research done at NASA (and its predecessor NACA) that contains science of all kinds, including lots of stuff on all aspects of electronics. There really is a wealth of high quality knowledge there.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/

[RoGeorge]

The Bell System Technical Journal
https://worldradiohistory.com/Bell_System_Technical_Journal.htm

[RoGeorge]

From another topic, links to Application Notes and Datasheets from the former National Semiconductor (bought and assimilated by Texas Instruments somewhere around 2011):

As we all know, National Semiconductor had been assimilated ten years ago and the Borg soon adopted a policy of pretending that their archenemy had never even existed in the first place. National's website went down, and with it a wealth of documentation.

Some of those documents have been assimilated and continue to be available, but in addition to defacing them with their logo, Borg Corporation also removed many part numbers and package options which they have discontinued over the course of the decade (a common nuisance that applies to Borg's own products too). Even application notes haven't been spared: they edited them to make it look like all of National's inventions were their own, which is not only historically inaccurate but also sloppily executed and leads to absurd statements like "OP07 has been discontinued by Borg Co", which of course isn't true at all.
 

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of anyone having preserved the full library of National's documentation as it stood in 2011, but there are sources that come close.

1. The Internet Archive.
These guys scrap and archive lots of random websites, and they appear to have copies of most files from national.com. Probably the most convenient way of downloading documentation is going to http://web.archive.org and requesting the desired PDF file directly. The URL formats used by National are shown below, where XX is the first two letters of the part number, YYYYY is the full part number, and NNN is the application note or linear brief number.

Code: [Select]

http://national.com/ds/XX/YYYYY.pdf
http://national.com/an/AN/AN-NNN.pdf
http://national.com/an/LB/LB-NNN.pdf
Examples:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://national.com/ds/LM/LMC660.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://national.com/an/AN/AN-A.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://national.com/an/LB/LB-17.pdf

Many files are archived in several versions. Pick whichever you like most, but don't bother with anything dated 2012 or later - these are redirects to borg.com, 404 errors or other garbage.

2. Datasheet archive websites
They are usable and there is many of them. Worth trying, but sometimes you will find "assimilated" versions, very old versions, low quality scans of databooks, PDFs with advertisements of part distributors, maybe even malware and viruses

3. The Bitsavers archive (old databooks)
http://bitsavers.org/components/national/_dataBooks/
This site is a huge archive of documentation related to electronics and early computers. They have scans of complete databooks from National and many other manufacturers. These are monsters with hundreds of pages and tens of megabytes, but sometimes the only source available when it comes to very old parts, discontinued long before National had a website and PDF datasheets.

[ali_asadzadeh]

Not an archive it's a blog, But a gold mine evolving around FPGA and Verilog.

www.zipcpu.com

[PartialDischarge]

Interesting book on power electronics and related:

https://ia800602.us.archive.org/29/items/bitsavers_sgsdataBoouidetoPowerProductsApplicationManual2Ed_71700791/1992_SGS_Designers_Guide_to_Power_Products_Application_Manual_2_Ed.pdf

[RoGeorge]

Many user and service manuals, application notes and other docs:
https://xdevs.com/doc/

Another archive (can be mirrored locally using rsync):
http://www.bitsavers.org/

[RoGeorge]

Circuit Designs Special Editions (Collected Circards), vol 1, 2 and 3 from worldradiohisory:

https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/Wireless-World-Publications/Circard-Collection-1975.pdf
https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/Wireless-World-Publications/Circard-Collection-1976.pdf
https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/Wireless-World-Publications/Circard-Collection-1978.pdf

[vk6zgo]

The General Radio Corp. Experimenters have a wealth of info on fundamentals and instrument concepts.
https://www.ietlabs.com/genrad/experimenters

I had a type 726-A VTVM, as described in this edition

https://it.ietlabs.com/pdf/GR_Experimenters/1937/GenRad_Experimenter_May_1937.pdf

In a weak moment, I donated it to a Radio Museum which was crammed with artifacts from the early days of Radio & Electronics.
Sadly, a management decision by the local City Council has moved all that stuff away to some indeterminate "other storage"---I suspect, Landfill!

[RoGeorge]

Also from bitsavers, the "blue book" Linear Applications Handbook and many others from National Semiconductor
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_nationaldaLinearApplicationsHandbook_106847051
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_national

[PartialDischarge]

Also from bitsavers, the "blue book" Linear Applications Handbook and many others from National Semiconductor
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_nationaldaLinearApplicationsHandbook_106847051
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_national

That one is a classic with some very interesting concepts

[richnormand]

This one from National (circa 1973) predates the "Blue book"  by quite a few years.
Many of the content is included in the "Blue book" also.
Still use it too.

[RoGeorge]

Application Notes from APEX:
https://www.apexanalog.com/support/app_note_library.html

Apex Operational Amplifiers
Document
AN01 General Operating Considerations
AN02 Optoelectronic Position Control
AN03 Bridge Circuit Drives
AN05 Precision Magnetic Deflection
AN06 Applying the Super Power PA03
AN07 Programmable Power Supplies
AN08 Optimizing Output Power
AN09 Current Limiting
AN10 Op Amp Output Impedance
AN11 Thermal Techniques
AN13 Voltage to Current Conversion
AN14 Power Booster Applications
AN16 SOA Advantages of MOSFETS
AN17 Wideband Low Distortion Techniques
AN19 Stability for Power Amplifiers
AN20 Bridge Mode Operation of Power Amplifiers
AN21 Single Supply Operation of Power Amplifiers
AN22 SOA and Load Lines
AN23 Heat Sinking Options and Techniques for Thermally Enhanced SMT Packages
AN24 Brush Type DC Motor Drive
AN25 Driving Capacitive Loads
AN26 Parallel Connection
AN28 Proper Analog Wiring of Power Amplifiers
AN31 Basic Op Amp Theory and Practice
AN43 Accessories Information
AN44 Driving Piezoelectric Actuators
AN47 Techniques for Stabilizing Power Operational Amplifiers
AN48 Increasing Output Swing in Power Operational Amplifiers
AN52 High Voltage Current Buffer
AN53 External Current Limit for Apex Power Op Amps
AN54 Printed Circuit Board Layout for Linear Switching Amplifiers
AN55 Power Supply Bypassing for High-Voltage Operational Amplifiers
AN56 Ultra High Voltage Unity Gain Buffer
AN57 Apex Inkjet Printhead Driver Power Dissipation
AN59 Measurement of Thermal Resistance of Power MOSFETs in Open Frame Amplifiers
AN61 Bandwidth for Power Amplifiers Crash Course
AN65 Amplifier Gain Error and Loop Gain Example

 
Apex Reference Products
Document
AN04 Precision DC References and System Accuracy
AN12 SWR200 Sine Wave Reference Ideas

 
Apex PWM Amplifiers
Document
AN01 General Operating Considerations
AN11 Thermal Techniques
AN16 SOA Advantages of MOSFETS
AN30 PWM Basics
AN33 Spice Model and PWM Amplifier Applications
AN43 Accessories Information
AN45 Driving 3-Phase Brushless Motors
AN46 3-Phase Switching Amplifier – SA306-IHZ
AN49 Jumper Configurable 400 Watt+ DC-to-DC Converter Fulfills Buck-Boost and Motor Drive Roles
AN50 Optimizing Power Delivery in PWM Motor Driver ICs
AN51 Thermal Modeling of Power Devices in a Surface Mount Configuration
AN58 Parallel PWM Amplifiers
AN63 Methods of Commutating 3-Phase Motor Drivers
AN64 Power-Thermal Modeling of 3-phase Switching Amplifiers

[RoGeorge]

The MIT Rad Lab Series
Brief story:  https://hackaday.com/2022/02/07/remembering-the-mit-radiation-laboratory/

    Volume 1 - Radar System Engineering; Louis Ridenour; 1947
    Volume 2 - Radar Aids to Navigation; John Hall; 1947
    Volume 3 - Radar Beacons; Arthur Roberts; 1947
    Volume 4 - LORAN, Long Range Navigation; J.A. Pierce, A.A. McKenzie, R.H. Woodward; 1948
    Volume 5 - Pulse Generators; G.N. Glasoe, J.V. Lebacqz; 1948
    Volume 6 - Microwave Magnetrons; George Collins; 1948
    Volume 7 - Klystrons and Microwave Triode; Donald Hamilton, Julian Knipp, J.B. Horner Kuper; 1948
    Volume 8 - Principles of Microwave Circuits; C.G. Montgomery, R.H. Dicke, E.M. Purcell; 1948
    Volume 9 - Microwave Transmission Circuits; George Ragan; 1948
    Volume 10 - Waveguide Handbook; N. Marcuvitz; 1951
    Volume 11 - Technique of Microwave Measurements; Carol Montgomery; 1947
    Volume 12 - Microwave Antenna Theory and Design; Samuel Silver; 1949
    Volume 13 - Propagation of Short Radio Waves; Donald Kerr; 1951
    Volume 14 - Microwave Duplexers; Louis Smullin, Carol Montgomery; 1948
    Volume 15 - Crystal Rectifiers; Henry Torrey, Charles Whitmer; 1948
    Volume 16 - Microwave Mixers; Robert Pound; 1948
    Volume 17 - Components Handbook; John Blackburn; 1949
    Volume 18 - Vacuum Tube Amplifiers; George Valley Jr, Henry Wallman; 1948
    Volume 19 - Waveforms; Britton Chance, Vernon Hughes, Edward MacNichol Jr, David Sayre, Frederic Williams; 1949
    Volume 20 - Electronic Time Measurements; Britton Chance, Robert Hulsizer, Edward MacNichol Jr, Frederic Williams; 1949
    Volume 21 - Electronic Instruments; Ivan Greenwood Jr, J. Vance Holdam Jr, Duncan MacRae Jr; 1948
    Volume 22 - Cathode Ray Tube Displays; Theodore Soller, Merle Star, George Valley Jr; 1948
    Volume 23 - Microwave Receivers; S.N. Van Voorhis; 1948
    Volume 24 - Threshold Signals; James Lawson, George Uhlenbeck; 1950
    Volume 25 - Theory of Servomechanisms; Hubert James, Nathaniel Nichols, Ralph Phillips; 1947
    Volume 26 - Radar Scanners and Radomes; W.M. Cady, M.B. Karelitz, Louis Turner; 1948
    Volume 27 - Computing Mechanisms and Linkages; Antonin Svoboda; 1948
    Volume 28 - Index; Keith Henney; 1953

http://web.mit.edu/klund/www/books/radlab.html

Download:  https://www.febo.com/pages/docs/RadLab/
To grab all:  wget --recursive --level=1 --no-parent -R "index.html*" -e robots=off https://www.febo.com/pages/docs/RadLab/
(~800MB.  The directory 'orig' is not downloaded intentionally, because it has the same pdf books, just that they are with the original short file names: 'VOL_n.pdf', without each book title)

[RoGeorge]

Mentioned by David Hess in another EEVblog topic:
PMI Linear and Conversion Applications Handbook

[RoGeorge]

temperance posted in another thread the following link to a collection of pdfs with the EDN Design Ideas 2001-2009:

https://www.edn.com/design-ideas-pdf-collections-2001-2009/

There are also the collections for year 1999 and 2000 on the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/edn-design-ideas-2008/EDN_Design_Ideas_1999/
and 1998
https://archive.org/details/EDNDesignIdeas1998

[xvr]

Why this thread still not pinned to top of EEVblog board???