When embarking into these kinds of projects, there is of course stuff you need. In this post I will descibe tools that I feel is really neccessary to build stuff without going insane. I will not talk about the chips themselves, but the tools around them that make you being able to build it and troubleshoot it.
Breadboards
Breadboards comes in all kind of shapes and models. Small, large and with various quality. And here I must say that price matter after I started using local noname breadboards and had serious issues over time. I ended up using xxxx after tinkering with some kits from Ben Eater. These boards ar reliable compared to alot of junk i have used before.
Wires
Anything at 24 gauge will do. Ensure that it is 24 gauges though! A tip here is to decide on differentiate what color to use for:
- Data bus – will need lot of wires. Use Dupont flat cables! Saves huge amount of time
- Address bus – will need even more wires. Use Dupont flat cables! Saves huge amount of time
- Clock signal
- Chip select
- Chip enable
- Vcc/Power (should be red)
- Vdd/Ground (should be black)
Keeping color encoding at an standard will save ALOT of time when troubleshooting…… I use yellow for clock, white for chip select for example
Pliers
What you need is something to cut wire, and something to strip wire. This is where cheap outperforms expensive as I see it…
Multimeter
A cheap one will do very well. I use: https://www.biltema.se/en-se/tools/measuring-tools/measuring-instruments/multimeters/digital-multimeter-2000018521. I have however got som pointier measuring cales to get into the holes of an breadboard.
Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope will be necessary, as troubleshooting cuircuits (yes, it never works first time out) is going to be the norm. There are plenty of oscilloscopes out there, and selecting one depends on some factors. The first one is the spped of the oscilloscope. Speed is equal to spenditure if one make an rough statement. There is no need getting an oscilloscope capable of decoding signals in the GHz range if building stuff in the MHz range.
If we look at the basic stuff, there are two options, an USB attached box where you get the output to your computer screen, and the free standing ones with its own display and processor units. I use an free standing digital oscilloscope: Rigol DS1054, an 4 channel (four inputs) and comes at ~4000 SEK or 350 USD. Well worth it.
Logic analyzer
You don’t need it….well that might not be true, but if you are savvy with some C code and operate in the 1 to 4 MHz range. I suggest you start by using an Arduino Mega to read what’s happening on your bus. You won’t get timings etc, but you will get data, for example when interrupts triggers, data bus values etc. It also gives some stuff on the programming side that will be usefull when wrinting firmware etc for your computer. One benefit of going this route, is you can also send data to your project (and even indiviual parts of your design).
Power supply
You will need 3.3/5v stable power for your project. Easy way for 5v power is to use any USB charger, as they supplies 5v. However, I suggest you get an decent power supply that can be adjusted. Get one with a separate on/off button so you can see your voltage setting BEFORE letting it into your circuit.