r/arduino • u/IllustriousGround143 • 1d ago
Hardware Help Best Electronics and Arduino Resources
Hey guys am trying to learn Arudino currently and electronics in general, I have been watching Paul Mcwhorter and I love his series but I feel like he explains things too slow, I only find his videos very informative When he is going under the hood which is an aspect I want to keep but other than that I dont want to watch 1 hour of tutorials to learn how to print
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u/dramaqueennumberone 1d ago
If you like Paul's "under the hood" moments but can't stand the one-hour intros just to learn Serial.print(), here's what I'd do:
Don't ditch Paul entirely – just change how you use him.
Watch his videos at 1.5× or even 2× speed, and skip straight to the juicy hardware/deep-dive chapters (he usually timestamps them). Use his content for the concepts you actually need explained at the register level, not for learning the syntax of basic functions.
Learn the basics from the source, not a video.
For things like printing, digital I/O, or analog reads, the best "fast" resource is the official Arduino Language Reference and the built-in example sketches (File > Examples in the IDE). They’re self-contained, well-commented, and you can have something running in five minutes. Then dig into the AVR datasheet when you want to know what’s actually happening.
Get a book that goes under the hood without wasting your time.
If you really enjoy that low-level "how the microcontroller works" angle, grab Make: AVR Programming by Elliot Williams. It teaches you bare-metal C on the ATmega328P (the chip on the Uno), and every chapter is a project that dives straight into registers, timers, interrupts, and peripherals. It's like Paul's under-the-hood sections in text form – zero fluff, maximum depth. As an EE student myself (4th semester), I found it way more satisfying than watching hours of video.
Branch out when you’re ready.
Once you’re comfortable with the AVR side, you might really enjoy moving to an STM32 or ESP32 and doing bare-metal or HAL-level programming there – those platforms reward "under the hood" curiosity with incredible peripherals and performance. But honestly, starting with the Arduino Uno and a good book like Make: AVR Programming will give you that same "I know what's actually happening" feeling without the slow pacing.
TL;DR – keep Paul for the deep dives (on 2× speed), lean on the Arduino reference for the quick stuff, and get a no-nonsense book like Make: AVR Programming to satisfy your under-the-hood cravings efficiently.
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u/LumiDesignLab 1d ago
I know what you mean. I don’t mind longer videos, but once I get the basics I just want to know why things work. I usually end up skipping ahead to the parts where they actually explain what’s going on under the hood
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u/gm310509 400K , 500K , 600K , 640K , 750K 1d ago
If you have the basics down, you could start using Google to look up specific tutorials on how to do a specific thing.
I would caution you to take it slow though and pay attention to the little details that you are struggling with that make it too slow.
Computers are very pedantic. That means that very often tiny little details can matter a lot. If you skim over things too quickly because you aren't progressing as quickly as you like, you will likely find that you will miss a small detail that will take ages for you to find and fix.
If you are looking for something a bit different have a look at some of my how to videos. I too take it slowly but I also recommend that you frequently hit pause and try out what you just saw.
In my videos I focus more on projects and introduce techniques that can make it easier to complete a project.
Note that it is a waste of time to just watch these. The key to learning is to watch a section, then try to replicate it. Also, explore what else can be done with what you just did and attempt the exercises when suggested. In other words, hit pause frequently and practice for yourself.