Sample labs
In this section, we will be looking at different states of a home laboratory (from beginner to pro) that you could take inspiration from. When a piece of equipment is not described at a given level, it means that the piece is kept from the level before. Some pieces of equipment are not necessary before a given level of maturity (for example, the pro level doesn't have a new hot air station because it is kept from the amateur level).
Beginner
At this stage, the goal is to kickstart the activity as cheaply as possible, acquire knowledge, and check that you like it without burning too much money. Have a look at the following table:
Price: <500€.
Amateur
At this point, you like the activity but you are starting to be limited by your equipment. You have circumvented some limitation by doing hacks, you have rolled out your own code to drive peripherals for common protocols on your current MCU and bit-banged some, but your platform is starting to become slow, your scope is not fast enough or lacking digital trigger, and more. Here are some pieces of equipment you can buy to solve these problems:
Price: <2,000€
Pro
At this point you are doing it regularly, so you will pretty much know what you will need. Have a look at the following table:
Price: ~8,000€
