... that is, if you really want to do some electronics development at home, there are a few things you need to do first.

First of all, you need a good, not cheap, full-function digital multimeter capable of displaying both AC and DC voltage in the millivolts to, say, 1 kV, current from 200 uA to 10 Amperes, resistance from 2 ohms to 20 Megohms, and perhaps a few other functions. Get a good one and it will serve you for decades.

Another thing it's nearly impossible to do serious work without is an oscilloscope. Now, some folks will advise you to buy an eval-kit that costs more than that, but, believe me, unless you wish to limit your activities entirely to clumsy firmware generation, you really can't live without a dual channel dual timebase (for delayed sweep) oscilloscope with external and internal triggering and a third external trigger channel. I'd look at the spec's for a TEKTRONIX 465A as a really good example. It has 100 MHz bandwidth, which is really minimal for MCU work, and an excellent triggering circuit superior to any oscilloscope build after that model, even the TEKTRONIX 465B. A fully functional TEKTRONIX 465 has often sold on eBay for $100 or less.

Next, of course, is a good and reliable power supply. You can buy them or, with a little diligent effort and patience, you can build one yourself that's as good as any you can buy for 100x the price. The reason you need this is so you won't have to build a supply for every project you attempt.

Contact me via email for information and instructions on how to get some of this stuff for as little money as possible.

RE




Likewise, you'll need a good power supply so you won't have to build one for each project.