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Comment by vortico | Hacker News Reader

All I have is a breadboard, some wire, a variety of passive components and ICs from HK ($20 total for tens of thousands of parts), a USB oscilloscope (eBay $60-$200), and maybe an AVR or STM32 development board. I'm overwhelmed by the number of analog and digital projects I can do, and I've been messing around with my kit for a couple years. I mostly do hobby filter design and audio synthesis.

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Do you have a link to the "passsive components"? What sort of thigns were you able to get in that pack?

I won't link any, but it's probably cheaper to buy variety packs of individual types of components. Search on eBay for "resistor assortment", "transistor assortment", "electrolytic capacitor assortment", "diode assortment", "LED assortment", "ceramic capacitor assortment", etc. Each of these packs of a few thousand mixed components are $0.50 to $4 shipped worldwide from China. Then pick up the most common ICs like the ne555p, lm741, lm393, pc817, etc. The game here is quantity over quality, so you never need a part that you don't have. Once you prototype your idea, then use Mouser to pick out your parts made with better quality control, although they're 10x more expensive. But this isn't a problem, as you should know exactly what you need after a prototype.

This is a great plan. I'm always astounded at the cost of individual components when you are looking for something specific, and the general lack of availability of things at places like Fry's or Radio Shack which were always well stocked with cheap options when I was young.

I'm a EE and I do this. Source variety packs from Mr. One Hung Low on ebay and bob's your uncle.

Example: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/0603-SMD-SMT-Chip-Capacitor-Assor...

I like this :)

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