Where to find Books and Learning Resources

[LariSan 81]

So, the past year and a half I've been really focusing on getting more learning materials out for people to learn microcontrollers. We have an entire page of textbooks : http://ti.com/textbooks 

and of course the free Teaching ROM's and our CNX.org channels and well as more coming down the pipeline. 

 

e.g. Dan Harres from BitStream Technology made this MSP430 Robots book (came out end of March). 

 

Issue is that I'm not sure where/how to publicize the information-- and I'm not sure it's getting out. 

Also, I really want to collect reviews on the material so we can improve the next editions-- or just hear what people thought about the book or exercises. 

 

I loved Matt (@CashDollar on Twitter)'s post on reviewing both the Davies Book and the Barrett and Pack Book. http://www.43oh.com/2012/08/book-review-microcontroller-programming-and-interfacing-texas-instruments-msp430-cashdollar-automation/

 

but outside of a few posts here and there in the General and Off Topic Forums -- I haven't found a place where people could post material and others could comment on it. 

 

 

So my question:

Where would you generally go to find new information to learn something?

Do you guys know of anything that maybe I should take a look at/ places I should go to?

 

 

 

[spirilis 1,265]

Just a couple thoughts off the top of my head-

 

Common parts I may google to find the datasheet or I may use Mouser.com's search engine--they're a valuable resource!

 

I went through a lot of confusion getting started with the MSP430 in part b/c I was doing it on an odd platform--MacOS X--but eventually found a blog with enough information to get me started (http://osx-launchpad.blogspot.com/)  Still, a good compilation of tips & tricks would be nice, although this site alone has a wealth of info via its search feature.

 

It took me a little while until I realized the MSP430 x2xx Family User's Guide was the main "bible" for learning the chip's rusty innards.  In addition the product page for each chip is a good resource for taking a quick look at all documents available--including the ERRATA sheet which can be very important!  I think it's a good idea to make that link very visible and well known to beginners (e.g. ti.com/product/msp430g2553 )

[Rickta59 589]

irc

[yyrkoon 250]

LariSan,

 

You've done some youtube videos right ? You could make a short video of the book titles, and provide a link to the list on youtube, TI or you, and/or both Could have a blog page that is regularly updated. Point both links to one another to get more traffic, and makes posts via facebook, twitter, etc. Just like standard SEO stuff, but perhaps with no intention of generating ad income ? Could even do some ad generation maybe, but I think to TI this small amount would be trivial.

 

Is this what you're asking ?

 

EDIT:

 

Also for what it is worth, you could do an additional post on the TI wiki, but from personal experiences, I've found the wiki to be lacking in that there is so much information there, it can be very hard to find what you need/want, even if you know what you're looking for, and that it exists. This for me also applies to TI's product pages. So much information, that generally things are hard to find.

 

Truthfully, I think TI could use a dedicated web admin that knows how to organize information very well . . . Sorry if that is hurting anyone's feelings, but there is no way a customer should have to wade through more than 1-2 pages to find what they need. As it stands, sometimes you have to click through 5+ pages to find exactly what you're after. That is unacceptable.

[LariSan 81]

@@Rickta59 do you mean freenodeirc?

Not sure if I've used that, but I'll look at it!

 

 

@yykroon

>Is this what you're asking ?

No, not really, I'd actually prefer to be able to link to those particular YouTube channels, not so much start an independent location. The thing I'm looking for is more of a consolidation. Almost like a "pinterest" for teaching material if it's a book, blog, YouTube Channel, DataSheet etc. 

 

I'm thinking maybe to use the University site Teaching Material more/better. Issue is that we don't do textbooks yet or people's blogs,  but maybe it's time to start. That way when someone finds material, they can just start a new thread.  And to have a sticky post at the top of the forum as a consolidation edit. 

 

I love the internet, but there is so many places to post information, which makes it hard to keep track of what's out there and what's missing. 

 

@Spirillis I love that blog link, thank you for sharing that! I really wish that I could find a better way to collect all of these amazing blogs, especially that they are so helpful. 

 

Thanks for the inputs. I'm going to sit around and think a little more about how to save information. 

[Rickta59 589]

http://webchat.freenode.net/ .. #43oh channel or irc://irc.freenode.net

[yyrkoon 250]

Oh, well in that case, I plan on doing my own blog, and have a few videos of my own up in my own youtube channel. I plan on doing a whole series, on basic msp430 launchpad programming using GCC based toolchain tools.

 

The 8 or so I have up right now are about how to setup code::blocks with the energia tool chain.  I am not happy with all of them, but they're done and up there . . .

[LariSan 81]

I'd like to see your blog when you get it up and hopefully we have a good place to post it when you do. 

 

I subscribed to your YouTube channel and plan on watching your videos!

[yyrkoon 250]

I'd like to see your blog when you get it up and hopefully we have a good place to post it when you do. 

 

I subscribed to your YouTube channel and plan on watching your videos!

Cool, feel free to criticize my videos where appropriate. As I said, I am not happy with all of them, and have been thinking on how I can improve on them. Such is life when It comes to creativity eh ?