Alright, here is the story. I'm going to get myself a avr dragon over winter break. The best part is, I get to start my toolbox of electronic components. And here is where your expertise comes in. What parts would you recommend I have in my toolbox? Much appreciated
if you could name some useful and fun to play with components.
resistor? what values?
capacitor?
bjt
oscillators
reed switches
mosfets?
diodes
relays
accelerometer
logic?
sensors?
opamps
diff amps?
Gwen 
I'd get a kit of different resistor values... many places sell kits of the most common values..and do the same for the capacitors.
I use a lot of 1N4007 and 1N4148 diodes
Get some 7805 regulators.
Some pn2222a transistors...and a few 2907's as well
I use a few 4n32 optocouplers
Lots of LEDs
4,8,10,20 mhz crystals or resonators .. don't forget the small caps that are needed for the crystals
Where are you at?
I am in New Mexico USA and I know most of the best places to buy these parts CHEAP :)
microcarl 
A good assortment of hand tools, I.E.
Small screwdrivers
Needlenose pliers
Wire cutters - several styles
A GOOD meidum power soldering iron - 15 to 25 watts
proto-board
powersupply, preferablely multi-voltage - 5V, 12/15V, 24V. Adjustable would be good
An accurate digital voltmeter, at least 0.1% accuracy
Pick up a good used Oscilloscope on e-bay
A way to generate some sort of digital clock signal
Solderwick
Solder sucker
Tweezers - several with different style points
Dial calipers - Vinear - for measuring component demensions
Some form of CAD package to draw schematics and printed circuit boards. Eagle is good and free
A magnifying glass - the type with the round Flourecent light around it is really good
A place (work bench) that can be left in a stationary, stable configuration for extended periods of time, for me, is essential.
Good room lighting
Parts cabinets to organize the tons of components that you will eventually accquire
While not having all of these things will not prevent you from working effectively, they sure are nice and do make the hobby a lot more enjoyable.
I'm sure I can conjour up much more that will diminish your budget but, I wouldn't want to discourage you. Just be advised, this hobby can and probably will get expensive - just ask my wife...
Hehe, I think somewhere between the clock generator, the DMM, the power supply and the oscilloscope, you've probably diminished a good chunk of his budget already =)
Dump the 7805's for some better LDO regulators like an LM2940. While you're getting some crystals, get some UART friendly ones like 3.6468, 11.0592, 14.7456, etc. Some LCD displays are always nice for projects, you can surplus ones real cheap.
Gwen, my location is Ithaca/NYC, NY.
Great list, this should be a good start.
Carl you are absolutely correct about the spending. I am headed toward EE and it is going to be unavoidable. Perfect if you could shed some light on more items.
LCD- always wanted one of those, especially in negative mode.
Any more must get items you guys constantly use or cannot do without?
microcarl LCD- always wanted one of those, especially in negative mode.
PM me and I can help you with the small contribution of a 4x20 text based LCD display or two. Consider it a small token from Santa...
Did you say that you were in NY, USA?
Ha! Carl, that would be awesome. I am definitely getting a AVR dragon. Sending you a PM..
theusch 
By the way, Engineer, your locomotive is backwards making your username look like 3ngineer.
Keep an eye on eBay for someone selling their complete workbench setup. You are likely to find PS + 'scope + tools + components for less than the cost of one of the major pieces.
Lee
Gwen Mostly this guy sells PIC chips but he also stocks about everything you need to go in an AVR project..really great prices on stuff like transistors, max232, caps,crystals,resonators..etc he ships whatever you buy for 1.95
http://www.glitchbuster.com/
This supplier has resistors for less than a penny, LEDs for 1.5 cents each..etc. and each month with a 50$ order you can get one of these fine multimeters for free! I will soon have a collection of the things :)
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/
There is so much great stuff at www.ere.co.th that I can't list it all :)
I will think of more suppliers and post them too.
Please ask before you place an order with one of these guys and we can check over your list to make sure you did not leave out some small item... it's awful when your box comes in and you discover you should have added something to the order.
I had been following the STK500 for a while, but couldn't convince myself to buy it. However, at $49 USD, self-powered, with usb-interface, and smaller in size, the AVR dragon is very appealing.
Besides the switches, leds, and serial interface, what exactly is the difference between the two? Isn't the Dragon better in terms of features, than the STK500? From what I understand, the STK500 just programs the micro. Or is there more?
Tony
Gwen, thats extremely helpful. Looks like a ton of stuff at good prices. I'll have to pour through these sites, after I'm done studying for finals.
What do you guys think about inductors? They seem arcane and rarely used.
Keep an eye on eBay for someone selling their complete workbench setup.
Are you selling something anytime soon? :lol:
-Tony
bobgardner The stk500 is 3 gizmos in one... a development board (lots of sockets for different flavors of avr), an In System Programmer for an avr on the stk500, and for external boards with an ISP connector, and it is a parallel programmer for those rare occasions when you mess up and turn off the ISP fuse by accident or studpidity and cant program the chip. Parallel erase resets all the fuses to factory default. The dragon does all these things for many new avr species and also has the debugwire debug feature (I think). I'd keep the stk500 on the list, but put it at lo priority compared to other durable goods test equipment like scope, meter, power supply.
madcitysw Get you a bunch of the 30cm LC cables from http://www.ere.co.th/default.aspx?RedirectPage=Products&RedirectPage1=ProductsDetail&ProductID=46
They are very cheap and useful.
Jimmy I would consider buying one of those new relatively cheap PC-scopes/logic analyzers. They are not as good as the real thing but the prices span from $100 - $2k and you get a tool that can help you alot. If you buy a used scope on eBay make sure it is a digital one... For nostalgic reasons I like my old analogue scope but the tool you need is a digital scope, the more memory it has the better it is...
farang 
And you might want to pick up some 2N7000 mosfets.
If you want to drive the 2N2222'a through a resistor, try 10k.
In general, or microcotroller interface, try the following value resistors:
2.2k
4.7k
10k
20k
47k
You will need some capacitors for those crystals (4 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz and 20 MHz). The values of the capacitors can range from 12 pf to 36 pf.
thanks, farang. What other resistor and capacitor values are useful? How about choice of microcontroller, any personal favorites? So far I have the mega32 on my list, just because i'll be using that in a class next semester.
nickelflipper Have an extra dragon that can make you a deal on. Will throw in a grab bag of extra resistors, transistors, & misc. I.C.'s.
pm me on the dragon.
Second the thought on a breadboard and a kit of hookup wires.
AA and 9v Ni-MH battery(s), charger, and holders.
Regards,
Kent
Get a dragon using the webinar code to get a free stk500 from digikey, thats pretty much the ultimate dev kit for only $49!!!
Get some tiny's too that are useful for little projects
Some ATTiny25/45/85 (same features but with different code space..
also some ATTiny26's would be handy
If your buying lots of components and things, also AVR's, check out Futurlec, they have great prices on stuff and you can get "packs" of say 100 transistors of different types for about $6 and packs of IC's such as 7805 regulators and 40xx CMOS IC's, well worth the money,
check out this page:
http://www.futurlec.com/ValuePac...
those prices are seriously good
also checkout the topic in the trading forum "lots of cheap..." something like that, theres a guy selling a crapload of cool AVR related gear, i bought something off him already ;)
stu_san 
What do you guys think about inductors? They seem arcane and rarely used.
For the most part, and for most starting digital projects, you can probably pick up inductors onesy-twosy from your local electronics supply store (if you have one). You are right that a collection of inductors is probably not really necessary. I would probably have a few 1uH, 47uH, 330uH and 680uH kicking around. Anything bigger will fall into the power-supply isolation category and can be picked up when you get/build the power supply.
You are at the point when the road is broad, bright, and straight. Enjoy yourself, and best of luck!
Stu
redpony you maight need some capacitor :
104
10u
220u
stu_san, good insight. Will pick up those values.
Get you a bunch of the 30cm LC cables
I like Carl's list, but if your going into EE in a college check out the labs. They most likely have signal gens, regulated power supplies, work benches, scopes, etc. These labs do close, but the security police are typically cool with true geeks being in there. The security staff knew my name and how most of my projects worked, so staying late wasn't too big of a deal. Just know that it's your @$$ if something goes bad, so don't let your buddies in to play games on the over head projector after you've earned the good graces; work only. One time a guy didn't go home for three days, he just slept on the shelf under one of the benches in the back. For the times when you do have to go home/dorm, get a good tackle box with many many compartments in drawers and a big compartment under the lid or something for assembled projects. One thing I saw that worked great was a baseball card album for resistors and caps. Then you have a spot for every value, and can fit 20 or so of each no problem. Save the ~2 cu.in. tackle box dividers for bigger things like AVRs, sockets, solder, transistors, big caps, etc.
If you think you want to set up your workspace in your dorm good luck, you'r much better off in the lab with your peers for Q&A. If you can live at home or in a house with your own room, then that might be different. I was married, so next to 0 school work was gonna get done at home!
S-Sohn 
AVRs
For small applications: AVRs in 8 pin DIP package like
ATtiny13 or ATtiny25
For learning AVR:
ATTiny2313 and/or ATmega88
If you need many pins (40 pin DIP package):
ATmega8515 or ATmega8535
For study projects you usually won't need bigger chips.
Crystals
32768Hz watch crystal
4MHz, 8MHz, 16MHz (for standard applications)
3.6864MHz, 7.3728MHz, 14.7456MHz (For RS232 applications)
Capacitors
Ceramic: 15pF, 10nF, 100nF
Elko's: 1µF, 10µF, 100µF, 220µF (35V)
Resistors
10 Ohm, 220 Ohm, 1 kOhm, 10 kOhm, 47 kOhm, 100 kOhm
Potis
100 Ohm, 1 kOhm, 10 kOhm, 50 kOhm, 100 kOhm
LED's
Red, Green, Yellow (Standard)
Some ultra bright LEDs (for fun)
IC's
MAX232 (RS232 Level Shifter)
74HC595 (Shift Register)
CA3140 (OpAmp - Replacement for LM741)
ULN2803 (Driver For High Loads Like Relais coils etc.)
7805 (5V Voltage Regulator)
LM317 (Adjustable voltage Regulator)
LM2936-5.0 (5V low drop voltage regulator for battery applications)
TL431 (Adjustable reference voltage)
Diodes
1N4148
1N4001
BAT41
1N5819
Transistors
BC327
BC337
Others
Some IC sockets
Some connectors
Swiches / push buttons
Text LCD display
LDR's
NTC resistors
PTC resistors
Regards
Sebastian
Nuno www.futurlec.com sells packs of resistors, caps, transistors, leds, linear ICs (regulators, ampops, ...) and diodes. You don't, however, know what values come in, it's assorted. But I can tell you that the packs don't have 100nF ceramic caps, and you'll need lots of them because they are used *a lot* for decoupling. The resistors are more or less well distributed.
I've been building some basic boards based on Tiny26 for my "experiences" and they look like this:
krobertson Does the brand/quality of resistors/capacitors really matter, or are they all, for the most part, the same, so long as they're new and not out of a cereal box?
Some of those places Gwen posted have some pretty nice prices on caps and resistors, so was thinking about stocking up some.
farang If you are not working with high precision analog circuits, or ultra high frequencies (UHF), you don't need to pay much attention to the specs for the components.
Take into consideration that some of the components sold by gray market outlets (those that are not factory authorized outlets like Futurlec) may have some corrosion or oxidation on the leads, may have been already cut and crimped, or may be very old stock. For hobbyists, those minor problems are an acceptable tradeoff for the lower price.
I compiled this preliminary list so far. What do you think?
From futurlec
RES12WPACK 1/2W Resistor Value Pack
CERPACK Ceramic Capacitor Pack
ELEPACK Electrolytic Capacitor Value Pack
DIOPACK Diode Value Pack
74HC595 74HC595 - 8-bit Ser-to-Par Sh. Register
CA3140E CA3140E - Bi-CMOS Operational Amplifier
LM2904N LM2904N - Low Power Dual Operational Amplifier
LM317T LM317T - 1.5A Adj. Positive Regulator
ATTINY2313-20PI ATTiny2313 20-Pin 20MHz 2kb 8-bit
ATTINY13V-10PU ATTiny13V 8-Pin 10MHz 1Kb 8-bit
ATMEGA32-16PC ATMega32 40-Pin 16MHz 32kb 8-bit
CRY4.0 4.000MHz Crystal
CRY8.000 8.000MHz Crystal
CRY10.000 10.000MHz Crystal
CRY20.000 20.000MHz Crystal
CRY3.6864 3.6864MHz Crystal
CRY11.0592 11.0592MHz Crystal
CRY14.7456 14.7456MHz Crystal
CRY7.3728 7.3728MHz Crystal
2N2907 2N2907 Transistor
BC327 BC327 PNP General Purpose Transistor
BC337 BC337 NPN General Purpose Transistor
1N4148 1N4148 General Purpose Diode
1N4007 1N4007 General Purpose Diode
1N4001 1N4001 General Purpose Diode
1N5819 1N5819 Shottky Barrier Diode
IND0010 1.0uH Inductor
IND047 47uH Inductor
IND330 330uH Inductor
IND680 680uH Inductor
2N7000 2N7000 NPN General Purpose Transistor
2N2222 2N2222 Transistor
ULN2803A ULN2803A -Hi-Volt Hi-Current Darl. Array
4N32 4N32 6 Pin Transistor OptoIsolator
LM7805 7805 - 5V 1A Positive Regulator
LM2936Z-5 LM2936Z-5 - Ultra-Low Qu Current 5V Reg.
TL431CLP TL431CLP - Program Precision Reference
C015PC 15pF 50V Ceramic Capacitors
C010UC 0.01uF 50V Ceramic Capacitors
C100UC 0.1uF 50V Ceramic Capacitors
Subtotal: $ 51.19
Total price: $ 51.19
I'll have to work on this some more. Plus pick up the dragons and free stk500(if possible)
Futurlec have some cool stuff in the boards section, i just did an order with them for ~$100, it included one of thair 3.3v regulator boards, which is going to be very handy for 3.3V breadboarding...
Check out their "Mini Board" section.
S-Sohn You'll need the MAX232 for RS232 Communication.
RS232 Communication is always very helpfull for debugging.
if (YouWantToSolderSomething == TRUE)
{
BuySomeSolderEquipement();
TestDemoVersionOf_LochMaster_30();
}
else
{
BuyABreadboard();
}
Regards
Sebastian
Futurled has a RS232 "Mini Board" which would come in handy *ALOT*
I'll have to work on this some more. Plus pick up the dragons and free stk500(if possible)
I just checked and they have no AVR Dragons in stock, but the website says the delivery date is past due. So maybe not a real choice if you want to get going during the holidays.
Another item for your shopping list:
V2Xe from PNI (http://www.pnicorp.com/), a 2-axis magnetic sensor/compass module with SPI. I´ve been using it in a project lately. It´s got a few quirks, but drop me a mail and I can send you my notes on this (or simply wait until I´ve compiled them and put them up in the AVR Tutorials section.)
Ingo.
Nuno I think you should buy the 1/4W resistor pack. 1/2W resistors are very rarelly used (I think I've never needed to use one!) and are bigger than 1/4W. I guess that if you need 1/2W resistor it means that you are dissipating an "unusual" amount of energy, and that doesn't usually cope with power saving circuits ;).
I opened today my resistor pack and it has at least 10 units of 1, 10, 12, 15, 22, 47, 100 (x20), 120, 220, 270, 390, 470, 1K (x20), 1.1K, 1.2K, 2.2K, 2.7K, 3.3K, 3.9K, 4.7K, 10K, 22K, 33K, 39K, 47K, 100K (x20), 470K, 1M. So at least the resistor seem to be well chosen!
I already have a couple of rs232 level converters from maxim and two breadboards from ebay, so I'm good to go.
ikletti, thanks for the ref. num for the free stk500. I checked last night and realized the zero stock of dragons as well. Perhaps I will change my order and let them ship the stk500, then the dragon later.
Nuno, 1/4 watt, sounds reasonable to me.
arlynwhitchurch 
Gussy,
Can you explain what you mean by:
Get a dragon using the webinar code to get a free stk500 from digikey, thats pretty much the ultimate dev kit for only $49!!!
to second your recommendation on Futurlec. I have been eyeing a JTAG interface and their mega128 board. My thought on developement is use a chip with HUGE program space and lots of IO, then size it down to reality later.
Gussy,
Can you explain what you mean by:
Quote:
Get a dragon using the webinar code to get a free stk500 from digikey, thats pretty much the ultimate dev kit for only $49!!!
See this thread. The slides for the presentation contain a debit code for orders on Digikey.
Ingo.
