Track Awesome Electronics Updates Weekly

A curated list of awesome resources for Electronic Engineers and hobbyists

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[ Daily / Weekly / Overview ]

Sep 16 - Sep 22, 2024

Part Search Engines / Altium

• Yoo Need One - SMD Marking Database - Surface Mount Device (SMD) component marking database.

Jun 03 - Jun 09, 2024

Documentation / University Course Archives

• tscircuit - Open source EDA package for schematic and PCB design using React

Apr 01 - Apr 07, 2024

Arabic Section / Help

• Complete EE Course - دورة الالكترونيات العملية

• Complete Digital Electronics Course - دورة الالكترونيات الرقمية

• professional Electronics Design - دورة التصميم الالكتروني المحترف كاملة

• professional PCB Design - دورة تصميم اللوحات المطبوعة (PCB)

Jan 01 - Jan 07, 2024

Simulators / Analog and Mixed Signal Circuit Simulators

• LTspice - The industry standard free SPICE circuit simulator from Linear Technologies. Also see the unofficial LTwiki and Group.

• ngspice - Open source SPICE circuit simulator.

• Circuit JS/Falstad - Free, open source online simulator with electron flow visualization (rewrite of original Java applet by Paul Falstad).

• EveryCircuit - Free to try online, visual, interactive circuit simulator for simpler circuits.

• Qucs - Open source, cross-platform, non-SPICE-based circuit simulator, with with S-parameter and Harmonic Balance capability.

• Qucs-S - Open source fork of Qucs using SPICE for simulation.

• QucsStudio - Free, closed-source, Windows-only fork of Qucs with a similar interface, new engine, and more features.

• Open Circuit Design Software - Open Source, full EDA suite chip design suite, focused on keeping up with commercial tools.

• TINA-TI - Exclusive DesignSoft-TINA build for Texas Instruments, bundled with Texas Instruments Models.

• CppSim - Free, open source circuit simulator that leverages the C++ language to achieve very fast simulation times.

• Scilab with Xcos - Free, open source numerical computing alternative to MATLAB. Xcos provides Electrical System modeling capability similar to Simulink.

• iCircuit - Easy to use electronic circuit simulator, its advanced simulation engine can handle both analog and digital circuits and features realtime always-on analysis.

• Micro-Cap - Professional-grade mixed signal simulator with wide variety of interactive simulation types.

• GeckoCIRCUITS - Open Source Power Electronic Circuit Simulator. GitHub Project (⭐53). Direct download link due to broken website.

Paid EDA Packages / Installable

• Proteus - PCB Design and Circuit Simulator Software.

• Altium - PCB Design Software & Tools.

Simulators / Verilog HDL Simulators

• Verilator - Free, open source Verilog compiler. Test benches are in C++ or SystemC. Very fast, but limted to 2-state, cycle-based simulation, and synthesizeable code only.

• Icarus Verilog - Free, open source verilog interpreter. Test benches are in behavioral verilog. Simulation is 4-state, and event-based.

Free EDA Packages / Installable

• KiCad - Open source EDA package with push and shove router, differential pairs and much more.

• Eagle - One of the most popular EDA packages due to it's (board size restricted) free version.

• DesignSpark PCB - Gratis EDA package without restrictions, sponserd by RS Components.

• Altium CircuitMaker - Free package from the maker of the go to pro software.

• gEDA - Another open source package, good for people that like scripting and makefiles, Linux and BSD only.

• DipTrace - Quality Schematic Capture and PCB Design software with (pin and signal layer restricted) free version.

• LibrePCB - A new, powerful and intuitive EDA tool for everyone, cross-platform and GNU GPLv3.

• Horizon EDA (⭐1.1k) - A free and open source EDA tool with the focus on shortcut operation.

• EasyEDA - Easy to use with both browser based and cross platform app versions. Integrates LCSC and JLCPCB component catalogs with 3D models.

Part Search Engines / Altium

• Octopart - Probably the most well known part search engine.

• Findchips - Part search from Supply Frame.

• Parts.io - Another search engine from Supply Frame geared towards discovering new parts.

• Electronic Component Search Engine - Free access to schematic symbols, PCB footprints and 3D models.

Project Sharing Platforms / Altium

• WikiFactory - A project hosting and collaboration platform for product development. Filter for "electronics" for more electronics related projects.

• Instructables - A social site for sharing projects. Filter for "circuits" for more electronics related projects.

3D Part Models / Help

• GrabCad - Community supported database of 3D models with a large number of electronic component models.

• 3D ContentCentral - Website dedicated to 3D models of parts (requires login).

Dec 25 - Dec 31, 2023

Learning / Courses

• NEETS (Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series) - U.S. Navy Non-Resident Training Course Material.

• NPTEL - Has all free engineering courses including electronics, electrical and communcation engineering.

• Udemy courses related to Electronics - Top paid courses available on Udemy.

• Coursera courses related to Electronics - Includes some free courses that provide e-certificates on completion.

Learning / Theory

• Basic Electronics PPT - Contains conceptual explaination of diode, BJT, J/MOS-FET, LED, 7 seg display, photo-resistor/diode/transistor

• Electronics textbook - Text covers design and function of electronic circuits and components, DC analysis, and AC analysis.

• Student Handbook - Language used in this book easily understandable covers evolution, fundamentals, diode, rectifiers, transistors and its applications, SCR, DIAC and TRIAC.

• Electronics circuits and systems - Quality free e-book covering all topics under circuits and systems, highly recommended for conceptual understanding.

Gerber Viewers / Installable

• ZofZPCB - FREE 3D Gerber Viewer.

CAD Specific / KiCad

• KiBot (⭐552) - Generate the fabrication and documentation files for your KiCad projects easily, repeatable, and most of all, scriptably.

CAD Specific / Altium

• Altium Designer Libraries - .IntLib and .PcbLib of electronic components from different manufacturers.

Miscellaneous Software Projects / Altium

• NinjaCalc - An embedded engineering calculator toolbox for doing calculations in a breeze.

• Saturn PCB Design Toolkit - The Saturn PCB Toolkit is the best freeware resource for PCB related calculations you can find.

Oct 02 - Oct 08, 2023

Gerber Viewers / Installable

• KiCAD Gerbview - The KiCAD gerber viewer.

• GC-Prevue - Commercial with free version. Can handle some gerbers better than Gerbv and KiCAD.

Jul 31 - Aug 06, 2023

Other Lists / Help

• TCAD Central - List of Technology CAD (TCAD) software and resources from the maker of DEVSIM.

Feb 06 - Feb 12, 2023

Documentation / University Course Archives

• Tabula - Extract tabular data from a pdf, very useful for extracting pin tables or part characteristics from datasheets.

• WebPlotDigitizer - Extract data from plots, charts, etc., very useful for getting part performance curves from datasheets.

• WaveDrom - Create waveforms and timing diagrams from a JSON description file.

Jan 16 - Jan 22, 2023

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• PCBWay - Low cost PCB batching service with PCBA, CNC and 3D-Printing services.

Sep 26 - Oct 02, 2022

Other Lists / Help

• upb-lea/awesome-open-source-power-electronics (⭐182) - Open source software list specialized on power electronics.

Jul 04 - Jul 10, 2022

Project Sharing Platforms / Altium

• Eyrie - For viewing Eagle and KiCad designs online.

Miscellaneous Software Projects / Altium

• Language PCB (⭐20) - Syntax highlighting for various PCB formats.

Jun 20 - Jun 26, 2022

Other Lists / Help

• delftopenhardware/awesome-open-hardware (⭐429) - Helpful items for making and learning about open source hardware projects.

Dec 13 - Dec 19, 2021

Documentation / University Course Archives

• Inkscape Electric Symbols (⭐374) - Circuit Drawing Symbols for Inkscape

Jul 12 - Jul 18, 2021

Other Lists / Help

• Awesome Lattice FPGAs (⭐303) - A curated list of awesome open-source FPGA boards.

• TM90/awesome-hwd-tools (⭐65) - A curated list of hardware design tools with a focus on chip design.

Mar 01 - Mar 07, 2021

Subscription Kit Services / Help

• HackerBoxes - A monthly surprise box which includes projects, components, modules and tools.

Feb 22 - Feb 28, 2021

Learning / Technical Tutorials

• How to design a motherboard for your electronics project - Introductory tutorial on Schematic & PCB design

Oct 05 - Oct 11, 2020

Blogs / Altium

• N-O-D-E - Blog about DIY electronics, hardware, and technology.

Jul 06 - Jul 12, 2020

Videos / Help

• BigClive - YouTube channel about teardowns (including dangerous products), circuit reverse-engineering and tutorials.

• Strange Parts - YouTube channel about electronics, manufacturing, making, world travel, living in and making things in China.

May 25 - May 31, 2020

Learning / Courses

• Khan Academy - Electrical Engineering - Non-profit learning platform with a full course on electrical engineering and related topics.

Learning / Theory

• Lessons In Electric Circuits - Free high quality textbooks and worksheets with emphasis on theory, simulation, and the socratic method.

• Ultimate Electronics: Practical Circuit Design and Analysis - Free online book with interactive schematics & simulations by CircuitLab (under development).

CAD Specific / KiCad

• Xesscorp's list of KiCad 3rd party tools (⭐745)

• KiCad.info Forums - User discussion and help forum.

• Footprint Collection (⭐315) - Collection of all the KiCad footprints available online and some scripts to manage them.

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• PCBShopper - Comparison service for quite a lot of different PCB batching and assembly services.

Project Sharing Platforms / Altium

• Kitspace - Project sharing site that helps you buy parts and re-build projects. Open source and developed by yours truly.

• Hackster.io - Another social site for sharing projects. Is well organised by platform, topic and product.

• InventHub - Git-based project hosting and collaboration platform for hardware development.

• CADLAB - Another Git-based project hosting and collaboration platform for hardware development.

Inventory Management and Purchasing / Altium

• PartsBox - Web service to manage your part inventory with a nice user interface and Octopart integration.

• PartKeepr - Open source web service for managing your part inventory with parametric search and automatic datasheet import.

Miscellaneous Software Projects / Altium

• SnapEDA - Parts library with free symbols & footprints. (Compatible with Eagle, KiCad, Altium, OrCad, Allegro, etc.)

Blogs / Altium

• Hackster.io - Another blog covering electronics.

Forums / Help

• /r/askelectronics - Sub-reddit dedicated to help on electronics topics.

• Electronics Stack Exchange - Question and answer site for electronics running on the popular Stack Overflow service.

• EEVBlog beginners forum - Good place for beginner questions, other sub-forums on EEVblog should be suitable for questions on more advanced topics.

Podcasts / Help

• The Amp Hour - Off-the-cuff chat about electronics with Chris Gammel and Dave Jones (EEVBlog), often with guests

• Embedded.fm - Christopher and Elecia White discuss embedded systems development and much more, often with guests.

• The Spark Gap Podcast - Covers a specific EE topic each episode, sometimes with guests.

• MacroFab Engineering Podcast - Weekly podcast where Parker and Stephen from MacroFab discuss EE topics and industry news.

• The Engineering Commons Podcast - Covers general engineering topics from mechanical to electrical.

Other Lists / Help

• PwnKitteh/InsanelyCheapElectronics (⭐348) - A list of cheap electronics from China, that you can use in your projects.

• intajay/open-electronics (⭐533) - Another GitHub list: resources for Electronics Enthusiasts and Hardware Hackers.

• Vitorian/awesome-fpga (⭐319) - Awesome list of FPGA resources.

• cajt/list_of_robot_electronics (⭐322) - A GitHub list of resources, projects and products for robot electronics.

• embedded-boston/awesome-embedded-systems (⭐773) - Awesome list of embedded programming resources.

May 18 - May 24, 2020

Learning / University Course Archives

• Berkeley EECS - Comprehensive EE & CS course website archives.

• Dr. Jacob Baker - Courses and tutorials, professor at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

• Dr. Abraham, Dr. McDermot, and Dr. Valvano - Courses materials, professors at UT Austin

Videos / Help

• Robert Feranec - 100+ Hardware design tips and tricks. Videos about Schematic design and PCB layout.

May 11 - May 17, 2020

Learning / Technical Tutorials

• Uses of Different Soldering Iron Tips - Covers what all those different soldering iron tips are good for.

Gerber Viewers / Online

• Tracespace Viewer - Gerber viewer that lets you inspect the individual layers as well as the board preview.

• Gerblook - Online Gerber viewer powered by Gerbv.

• Stackrate Viewer - Easy to use online gerber viewer with trace hovering and measurement tools.

CAD Specific / KiCad

• Cheatsheet (also in landscape) - Short PDF that goes over the menus and keyboard shortcuts for the most common operations.

CAD Specific / Eagle

• List of ULPs everyone should know

Inventory Management and Purchasing / Altium

• 1-click BOM - Browser extensions that automates purchasing and part searching.

Other Lists / Help

• PCB/EDA software list on the EEVblog forums - A much more comprehensive list of all the software tools available.

Sep 30 - Oct 06, 2019

CAD Specific / KiCad

• InteractiveHtmlBom (⭐3.7k) - A html BOM generation tool for manual pick and place.

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• JLCPCB - Low cost PCB batching service with inhouse low cost SMT service.

Blogs / Altium

• Dangerous Prototypes - Blog about open source hardware projects and interesting app notes.

Aug 13 - Aug 19, 2018

Learning / Technical Tutorials

• "skill" tag on learn.sparkfun.com - A wide variety of technical tutorials on various EE related skills.

• Soldering is Easy - Comic book that goes over the basics of soldering that has been translated into quite a few languages.

Apr 23 - Apr 29, 2018

Gerber Viewers / Online

• CircuitPeople - No frills 2D layer viewer for Gerbers, without the excessive processing.

CAD Specific / KiCad

• Contextual Electronics' Shine on You Crazy KiCad - Beginner video tutorial that gets you to a manufactured board as quickly as possible.

• Contextual Electronics' Getting to Blinky Tutorial - A more comprehensive beginner to intermediate video tutorial.

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• Dirty PCBs - Low cost PCB batching service that prides itself on its "dirty" quality.

Development Board Retailers / Altium

• Sparkfun - Retailer and designer of open source electronics development boards and other equipment and materials with excellent accompanying tutorials.

• Adafruit - Another retailer and designer with excellent selection and tutorials.

Forums / Discussion

• EEVBlog forum - Probably the largest and most active forum to discuss Electronic Engineering topics.

• /r/electronics and /r/ECE are the two most active sub-reddits for EE topics.

Videos / Help

• EEVblog - One of the earliest and most successful YouTube channels where Dave Jones does teardowns, tutorials and more.

Subscription Kit Services / Help

• AdaBox - Curated Adafruit products, unique collectibles, and exclusive discounts. All delivered quarterly.

Feb 05 - Feb 11, 2018

Inventory Management and Purchasing / Altium

• Part-DB (⭐158) - Another open source web service for managing part inventory with a permission system and a good barcode generator.

Nov 13 - Nov 19, 2017

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• Aisler - Affordable quality circuit boards made in and shipped from Europe (Germany).

May 29 - Jun 04, 2017

Blogs / Altium

• Hackaday - Probably the most popular blog covering electronics and hardware hacking with a whole staff of writers.

• Bald Engineer - Project logs, tutorials and articles about electronics and embedded software by James Lewis.

• Rheingold Heavy - More project logs, tutorials and articles about electronics and embedded software, these ones by Dan Hienzsch.

Mar 06 - Mar 12, 2017

Videos / Help

• Ben Eater - Series of videos on building an 8-bit computer on breadboards with excellent explanations of all the sub-circuits.

Feb 06 - Feb 12, 2017

Project Sharing Platforms / Altium

• Hackaday.io - Social site for sharing projects from the popular blog.

Development Board Retailers / Altium

• Tindie - Marketplace for electronics makers to sell low volume batches of their own designs.

Jan 30 - Feb 05, 2017

CAD Specific / Eagle

• Adafruit Eagle Library (⭐1k)

• SparkFun Electronics Eagle Libraries (⭐1.7k)

PCB Batching Services / Altium

• OSH Park - Low cost PCB batching service with high quality boards with a signature purple silkscreen.

Videos / Help

• Mr. Carlson's Lab - Teardowns, repairs and restorations with an emphasis on classic electronics gear.

• GreatScott - Electronics tutorials, projects and how to's.

• Julian Ilett - Buys cheapest electronic modules he can find and tries to do useful things with them.

• MikesElectricStuff - Teardowns, large lighting projects, xrays and more.

Jan 23 - Jan 29, 2017

Videos / Help

• w2aew - Excellent tutorials about basic and complex analog hardware.

Jan 16 - Jan 22, 2017

Gerber Viewers / Online

• Mayhew Labs 3dpcb - 3D Gerber viewer.

Gerber Viewers / Installable

• Gerbv - Excellent Gerber viewer for Linux and BSD.

CAD Specific / KiCad

• Keyboard PCB Guide (⭐4.3k) - Comprehensive written tutorial that takes you through creating a keyboard PCB.

Blogs / Altium

• bunniestudios.com - Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang covers hardware hacking, open hardware, manufacturing and more.

Videos / Help

• ElectroBOOM - YouTube channel that debunks and explains EE topics with a lot of comedy thrown in.

• Micah Scott - Video logs of reverse engineering and re-purposing consumer electronics hardware in creative ways.

• Afrotechmods - Tutorials on electronics projects, often suitable for beginners as well.

• The Signal Path - Very in depth teardowns, repairs and reviews of lab equipment and prototyping products.