"to invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk", thomas edison. the same goes for being an electronics hobbyist, junk electronics are great part sources, though usually not for resistors and small capacitors, building up a good assortment is best for that. as far as resistor values, 1k-10k for most mostly digital stuff, 1k-100k for most analog stuff, and a few higher and lower. those ranges will cover most of your needs. capacitors, always figure a few K uF, or more properly a few millifarads for power supplies, o.1 uF or 100 nanofarads and .o1 or 10 nanofarads for bypass caps, and possibly 1+uF tantalums for bypass in some analog circuits. assortments are good, buying a few extra of any value you use is a good idea. for resistor values you find yourself using a lot, buying a hundred+ at a time is a good idea. 5% resistors for most analog and digital, 1% for a few analog needs. though mouser electronics just started carrying 0.1% resistors i believe, for when it really matters or you need to match resistors closely. believe me, design a few circuits and you'll get a good idea what values and value ranges you are likely to need/want. building up a good assortment is initially expensive, but it you are playing with electronics or doing serious work you can build up your collection over time. buying pre made assortments from several sources with different contents also isn't a bad idea initially. definitely become familiar with the larger surplus places, many ham radio sites have links to their favorites, that's a good place to start. Jason S wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > To: > Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 3:15 PM > Subject: Re: [OT:] RadioShack Canada S***s > > > Rule 1: Never order less than 200 resistors, or less than 10 more of > > anything that you need. --------- -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads