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can someone please guide the correct path to learn board designing for computers. being specific i am just keen to design a SBC(single board computer) just for hobby purposes my current knowledge is that i am in 2nd year pursuing computer science learning computer organisation and programming stuff. i just want any guide or tutorials that can help me to learn analog part of the circuits like those pull up resistances used those filter coils,how many such things are there? where are they used ? when are they used ? means i want to learn just analog part of design not the digital one (that i can manage to learn on my own as it requires less effort) ..please guide me the fastest and shortest path to learn so that i can design my own sbc asap :( i don't want to learn whole analog domain ..only that much which is going to be used in board design ,embedded system design only that much..thanks for reading my question :)

and one more thing are these simulation softwares like pspice,eagle reliable for designing circuits,and if a particular design is working on these will it work in real also without any flaw ? if yes which one is best suited for designing a board for ARM processor

Dapu
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  • Take a look at this question for books to dig into. – Kortuk Apr 14 '13 at 14:21
  • In case you wonder why your question gets down-voted: Your are asking far too many questions at once. You can spent 5 years getting all that right. You should start on a much smaller scale. Also, your grammar and formatting is horrible. – Rev Apr 14 '13 at 16:43
  • @Rev1.0 I'll surely keep that in mind next time before posting a question.Regarding grammar mistakes,still finding them o.O – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 17:03
  • I realize how stupid I was as a kid back in my school days, and was clueless what exactly Stackoverflow is for. – Dapu May 15 '20 at 22:17

2 Answers2

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First of all, simulation software and PCB design software are two different matters. Things like PSPICE are circuit simulators and they might be more or less reliable - for simple uses they should be, though I've been subject to some weird bugs in it more than once.

Second thing are the PCB designing tools. Best way would be to watch video tutorials, I'm sure you can find some without any trouble. They are reliable, as long as you design it properly - that's you who is in charge of making sure of it. All the software can offer is checking your schematics for some design rules or electrical errors, and that's about it.

And last thing, but the most important: if you need to learn electronics, software won't help you in that. It might calculate some basic things, desing you a LC filter, but it's always you who's responsible to make it work.

TNW
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  • can you please guide me the topics in electronics that i should read ?? – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 10:29
  • and what exactly are PCB designing tools am sorry but i have no idea about that i thought them as to be same as circuit simulators – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 10:32
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    They are purely to make a project - like drawing - of your schematic and board, adding just a little of semantics (those lines are wires, and so on). Eagle is a tool that does that. It won't help you calculate anything, won't think for you. All it can do is to serve as a drawing tool with a base of components.

    About reading things, I've wrote some guidelines basing on my experience - once I'll find it and share it, I'll post it here.

    If you know nothing about electronics whatsoever, I'd recommend reading "All New Electronics - Self Teaching Guide". Great book with exercises and examples.

     – TNW Apr 14 '13 at 10:45
  • @Dapu: http://pastebin.com/XqqWVUMz That's the text I talked about. It doesn't cover a great range of things, but might help. I'm almost completely self-taught in electronics field, also pursuing computer science degree. I'd say it takes a year or two to get a basic grip of things, so prepare and don't let yourself give up. Yes, it was hard. Good luck! – TNW Apr 14 '13 at 11:45
  • is there any word better than thanx ..?? cause i am very very very very thankful to you i don'y know how to express but thanks a lot for you help.. i got exactly what i was looking for instead of rting down like others u opted to help me and this really was what i wanted..me too learning on my own as here in my grad school faculty is not so good ...just copy the text in the books to your head and write answers :( – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 16:34
  • also as u mentioned in first part is that much enough to move onto digital part you mentioned in the end..i was wondering what is circuit theory and other courses in Electronics are they necessary if so what else shall i read to be well equipped to proceed ? as the guidelines u mentioned i learned more than half already – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 16:43
  • @Dapu Knowing how to make a single board computer yourself and understand and make a good layout is a very advanced project in EE. – Kortuk Apr 14 '13 at 16:44
  • @Kortuk you are right but i just wanted to know the correct way i should have followed or courses i should google for in order to achieve what i am trying to reach for – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 17:00
  • @Dapu Talk with experienced people if you can, best in person. While you can't, ##electronics channel on irc.freenode.net might help. For particular questions ask here. When none is applicable, read books and articles. Books are good for theory, articles and webpages learn you particular designs. You may want to look at edaboard.com for some ideas or help, too. Best thing is to set a simple goal, think about it, achieve it and understand. As in everything. – TNW Apr 14 '13 at 17:03
  • @TNW Right now you seem to be experienced one to me if you don't mind can you please guide me,as so many questions are still popping out one after the other in my head – Dapu Apr 14 '13 at 17:08
  • @Dapu Right now I'm available as isnakli on irc.freenode.net - let's take the talk there if you want to ask, cause this doesn't belong here. – TNW Apr 14 '13 at 17:11
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Going straight to an SBC for learning PCB design is quite a big jump. There are many issues to be aware of, especially once the clock speeds start getting into the multiple tens of MHz. This is not trivial stuff that one (typically) can learn in a short amount of time.

I would suggest starting to design a board for a basic microcontroller (AVR, PIC, MSP430), and for that and any future designs you will have to start reading the respective datasheets and application notes for your chosen chip(s) very very carefully. They often include example circuits (or sections thereof) that will guide you regarding component value choice, placement etc. In parallel you could study some of the simple development boards out there (e.g. Arduino) to see how these boards have been designed in practice. You will also see the difference between the schematic layout (the more functional description of the circuit), and the actual board layout (i.e. its physical implementation).

fm_andreas
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