Digital electronic design resources?

[Jay Vaughan]

> This may be a bit of a long shot, but I was wondering if there's
> something that teaches you how to design simple boards like the  
> Arduino,
> without having to do a course.
>

Look for the book "Electronic Circuits for Evil Geniuses" .. and the  
rest of the series.  Awesome stuff, and I learn a lot every time I  
read a few pages (in the loo) ..

Of course, you would also learn a lot just by *getting* an Arduino, a  
breadboard, and some bits and bots, and assembling the devices  
yourself ..

> I understand digital signals (it's the only course at university  
> where I
> actually had a decent mark), but what I don't understand is why there
> should be a resistor here or a capacitor there.
>

All good electronics kits explain to you why you need such things as a  
tie-down capacitor and whatnot .. but the absolute best way to grok  
this is to do it yourself, and read along as you do so ..


> So... how difficult is it to learn such a thing?


Learning isn't the hard part.  Doing it is.

;
--
Jay Vaughan