Get yer shit here!!!

Hello all,
I am sorry to have kept you all waiting for the past couple of couple of weeks but i have literally been in two places at once and haven't had a lot of time to get things together. I have attempted to compile a list of resources for all of you out there. Originally I was going to try to make a single list for everyone that had everything you would need and was under 100 dollars. I soon realized that was not realistic. If you are serious about getting into this stuff you are going to want the following tools at a minimum and in total they will set you back between $100 to $200:

Wire strippers and/or cutters - automatic wire strippers are better
Needlenose pliers
A decent breadboard for prototyping stuff
An adjustable power supply - Preferably one with split supplies
A multimeter of some sort
A soldering iron or soldering station if you are planning to build stuff permanently
Hook up wire
Components

Now, i got most of my tools from when i was in school, and they were all purchased here:

http://www.elenco.com -click on electronics division

The site has a lot of stuff which is not the creme de la creme but it will get you up and running. If you buy nothing else here consider one of their breadboards, such as model #9440. I have used mine for probably five years and it still works great. I have also seen these sold elsewhere with power supplies built in although i don't know whether this ends up being more convenient or more of a nuisance....Similar boards are available through other sites as well, so if you find a better price elsewhere i am not gonna stop you.

I buy my protoboards and lots of other odds and ends here:

http://www.futurlec.com

The down side is that their stuff ships from thailand, so sometimes things can take a while, but the prices are hard to beat, for example this $15 dollar multimeter that measures capacitance too. (http://www.futurlec.com/Multimeters.shtml -$14.90 third from bottom) I would buy this even if it didn't work for that price. Most other 1/2 way decent meters cost in the $50 to $200 range. If you want the same one i have it is the elenco M-1700 and it is $59.95. Still not a bad price for all it does.

If you want to move past breadboarding stuff and actually soldering up some circuits you will need a soldering iron. These can be got for as cheap as 10 dollars, although as time goes on you may long for a soldering station, which really can make life much easier when you are working on more advanced projects. A decent iron is a worthwhile investment for this stuff. Elenco offers a soldering station (the one i had in school is the SL-5-40) for pretty cheap, about 35 bucks. Now if you have money to burn and want the Cadillac of soldering stations consider a hako or a nice weller soldering station with a grounded tip for esd protection and temperature regulation (expect to pay over 100) BTW: higher wattage means you can solder bigger parts and wires more quickly and easily.

Now as far as an adjustable power supply goes..... I built my own because i didn't really need a super high current bench supply, and there are lots of kits on the web that can be bought to make these too. This could potentially be a future project for everybody in the workshop who is interested. You can also look at what elenco, and other suppliers have, or look for a used one on ebay. The bottom line is you want a split supply (gives both positive and negative supply voltages) because it saves you a lot of work from having to bias all your stuff for a single supply.

Finally here is a list of some other places where you can look for the things i have mentioned above as well as other components and electronics junk:

Digikey -From soup to nuts
Mouser -From nuts to soup
Newark electronics -All but the kitchen sink
Future Electronics -Etc.
Allied Electronics -Etc.
Arrow Electronics -Etc.
Farnell -Etc.
Sparkfun -Micro and DIY focused projects
BG Micro -All manner of stuff including surplus
Parts Express -They have a nice soldering station on sale for $12!!!!
Apex Jr -For amps, speakers and audio stuff
Ebay -Good deals for the savvy bidder