[sdiy] Useful equipment

[Steve Begin]

Sorry, I feel like I'm abusing a good service by coming on to this list and asking all sorts of beginner questions when I have nothing to offer in return, but I am genuinely interested and have yet to find any sort of mentor and I hope you guys understand.  
My question this time is about equipment, for the art of electronics there is a fairly large list of equipment they use in the course.
I'm a visual learner, so it would be nice to be able to try out the things they explain in the book for myself, and I'm willing to invest in equipment but some of it seems like it may be obsolete or better substituted with a newer equivalent, or will only be used once or twice and then I'll never need it again.  At the bottom of this email is most of the list of what they recommend in the book.

I'd really appreciate it if somebody could go over the list and tell me which things I need, which I don't, and which have cheaper or more readily available equivalents that I could substitute.



Scope:
Tektronix 2225 Dual channel, 50 MHz 

Func. Gen.
Krohn-Hite 1400 sine, triangle, square, logic level; sweep; tp 3MHz

DVM
Beckman DM25L 3 1/2 Digit

VOM
Simpson 260-8P multimeter with overload protection (essential!)

Power Supply
B&K Precision 1630 0-30v, 3A linear

Breadboard (Powered)
Global Specialties PB503 3 supplies (+5V, +/-15V), function generator including logic level; debounced switches, 8 LED indicators

Breadboards, not powered
Global PB-105 set of six strips, mounted
Global UBS-100 single strip (beware of cheap imitations.)

Logic Probe
OK PRB50 O,K IndustriesL 50 ns glitch
or HP545A

Resistor Substitution Box RD111 (contact easy) 1ohm to 11Mohm in 1ohm steps; +/- 1%
or ohmite ohm-ranger 3420.

Capacitor Substitution Box
Ohmite 3430A Cap-Ranger
100pF to 11.111 uF in 100pF steps; +/- 2% accuracy.

Resistor Kit
Ohmite CAB-54 "little devil" 1/4 watt carbon composition; 10ohm to 10Mohm

also it says
(your choice)
a frequency counter: occasionally very helpful.


Thanks in advance,
> Steve Begin
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