I was just wondering where I could find multiplexers and/or shift registers that would work well with Arduinos. Or will all of them work with Arduinos?
pretty much all of them would work, its more of a question of your application of them
Well I'm just planning ahead. I haven't bought anything yet, I just wanna know what I should get. I just want them so I can have extra inputs/outputs if I happen to need them later.
Well if you don't need yet and you don't know what to buy yet, why worry? You won't know what you need until you need it. In other words, you have two unknowns. Solve one and you'll be in a much better position to decide.
True, true... But I just want to know of places that sell the stuff. I couldn't find any on Sparkfun, and looked on Google with no results either.
I have several 8051's laying around, they're 8-bit multiplexers.
They're usually referred to by number, so you can find heaps in the catalogs of (local) IC farms.
Alright thanks. I'll probably find some laying around somewhere.
where you buy them kinda depends on where you are, assuming your in the states digikey or mouser would be my top 2 picks
True, true... But I just want to know of places that sell the stuff. I couldn't find any on Sparkfun, and looked on Google with no results either.
True, true... But I just want to know of places that sell the stuff. I couldn't find any on Sparkfun, and looked on Google with no results either.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9056
yea at nearly 6 times the price :
but if you want to get that cute little red board in a cute little red box that took 80 engineers to develop then be my guest 
but for 87 cents Ill just get the pdip version at mouser k thx
Haha thanks guys, and FYI, I might actually need the "cute little red board in a cute little red box" because I'm just not that advanced. 
why? its the same part just in a smaller package on a board, your still going to have to learn how to use them no matter which way you go
get a solderless breadboard, you will want one anyway, heck you could probably get both for 5 bucks and the dip package just plugs in along with whatever else you need for whatever project
In my opinion, this is one of those things that does not benefit from a breakout board... in fact, it'll just make it more annoying, since you'll want to hook it up to a solderless breadboard anyways (you don't buy such a breakout to embed in a final application board.. and if that isn't the case, you'll want a solderless breadboard for testing purposes).
DIP packages aren't scary (they even have a mark that says "this way up"), the datasheet of multiplexers is quite clear... so meh.
Everybody to their own. The sparkfun board is small, clean looking, and has the appropriate resistor and capacitor mounted on the board. I've used 4051 dip chips on project boards (never used breadboards in projects) and placed them inconjunction with other components. With the individual chips I always get several when ordering since the price is usually low.
I was thinking more along the lines of the chips you have to solder, but I just realized that it would be easier to use a DIP would be easier to use. Also, there's a huge difference in price, as one of you mentioned. I found an accelerometer on Sparkfun with a breakout board that was $25, then I went on Digi-key and found the exact same chip without a board that was around $5. I'm just afraid of solder :-[
oh soldering is not bad, it just takes a few times of practice and anyone can do it
you can get some old alarm clock or something for a quarter at the thrift store and practice on that, or a fun little kit if you want a blinking snowman or something
something you do have to watch out for is SMD parts, as they are really close together on the pins, which is why breakout boards are good
otherwise be careful with the iron (like un plug it when your done, dont lick the hot end etc) and it quickly becomes like using a pen
Hmm, licking the tip of the iron, that sounds pretty fun. I used to solder a little with my dad but I have a really shaky hand and have been known to solder two contacts together accidentally. I guess getting better at soldering would be a pretty good start if I wanna start working on electronics, now wouldn't it?
Thanks for your help though, I appreciate it. I might actually stick around at this forum.
no problem
also when I first started soldering I had the same issue, if nothing else watching that tip wobble around gets you to focus on it, and in no time it starts smoothing out
plus you learn a lot of little tricks that are kind of hard to teach
And there's always sockets & wirewrappiing, make a mistake, design change, easy to undo & adjust.
Well, I guess some soldering too to hold the sockets in place.
Or here - just wirewrapped to the leads of diodes!
heh yea wirewrap
I borked all the pictures on my webserver, but here is a hackaday link to the first (and last so far) thing I wirewrapped