I noticed in pictures some of you guys use these.  I researched what
they are, duh.., and realized it's essential when working with
electronics.  I noticed they are cheap and can get them at RadioShack.
Are there any certain types or models I should check out before buying
one? I noticed the one that I was looking at at Radio Shack, said,
"Ideal for prototyping circuit applications for frequencies of 50MHz or
more." Does this mean I couldn't use it to test my LEDs, and logic
board?


I have never used or knew what a breadboard was until a few days ago!

Meoff

weird, I would literally say that it'd be OK for anything under 50MHz. 
at higher frequencies lengths of traces and signal integrity in a trace 
becomes more important.  that's why they put the frequency note in 
there, yes you can use it to test LEDs and do basic electronics.

those things are a godsend and a pain in the ass from hell.  they're 
GREAT for plopping circuits together, very quick to setup, no soldering, 
easy to tweak, all that.  BUT when a wire breaks off in a connection of 
a connection gets used to much and bends, your circuit won't work and it 
won't be apparent why.  it took me a while to get used to trying other 
holes when part of a circuit didn't work.  that was back in school, I 
don't use those things anymore, I'll grab a piece of breadboard and 
solder a circuit together.

so... mixed feelings, get a nice one, don't get a used one and in time 
always keep it in your head that a connection on the board can be bad 
and your circuit is fine.

I've noticed the cheapo breadboards can sometimes be hard to get the 
wire into the holes.  I'd always used the cheap ones and figured that's 
just how they were, but then when I bought a larger, nicer one - wow 
what a difference.  Wires pop right in.  But if you have one of the 
tough ones a trick is to keep a push-pin handy to ream out the hole a 
little bigger in advance so your wire doesn't bend on you every time you 
try to stick it in.  Another nice thing to pick up at the electronics 
store is a box of pre-cut pre-stripped wires in assorted lengths, and a 
decent automatic wire-stripper (the kind where you put the wire in and 
crank it to automatically strip the wire).  Way better than the standard 
"yank the wire - hope it don't slip" type - saves a lot of time and 
aggravation, especially on real short wires.

Another nice thing to have is a spool of "buss wire", which is solid 
wire with no insulation - great for when you need to make multiple 
connections to the same wire.

Oh and I always use solid-core hookup wire - much easier to work with 
than stranded wire for breadboarding.