Every artisan has their tools. As an embedded systems engineer and hobby robotics enthusiast I have picked up a few things over the years. This page tracks my currently used tools (and some favorites relegated to the past).
Computers
I spend way too much time with computers for my projects. Here are the systems I stand behind.
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet
My new travel / business laptop. It has decent CPU and RAM specs but a lackluster GPU config. I wouldn’t use it for CAD or heavy gaming but it works well for VSCode and document management.
I also tend to use it as a frontend for my Analog Discovery oscilloscope (see my notes in the test and measurement section).
System Config
- CPU : Intel Core i7 (12th Gen) 1250U
- RAM : 16 GB
- GPU : Onboard Intel Iris Xe
- Storage : 512 GB
- OS : Windows 11
HP ZBook Laptop (from undergrad)
During freshman undergrad at MSOE, each engineering student was issued a laptop. Junior year we were offered a new refreshed system, which we could keep upon graduation. I proceeded to use this same laptop throughout grad school as my day-to-day machine.
This laptop served me well (with the stuck keys, slow operation, and failing RAM to prove it). It now serves as the frontend for my Analog Discovery at my electronics workbench. These days it runs Kubuntu and actively hosts my trading bot pipeline (blog posts TBD).
System Config
- CPU : Intel Core i7 (6th Gen) 6820HQ
- RAM : 16 GB
- GPU : NVidia Quadro M2000M
- Storage : 240 GB SSD
- OS : Kubuntu
Desktop (Custom Build)
After grad school, moving to California, and starting my full-time career I finally had the discretionary income to spend on a gaming machine (even though I use it more as a workstation than video games).
System Config
- Motherboard : MSI MPG B550
- CPU : AMD Ryzen 5 5600X w/ provided air cooler
- RAM : 32 GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL (2×16)
- GPU : NVidia GeForce RTX 3070
- Storage : Western Digital 1TB NVMe
- PSU : Corsair RM850x (850W)
- Case : Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower
- OS : Windows 11 + WSL Ubuntu
Eventually I would like to upgrade but not until a use case prompts it.
Peripherals
And the accessories hanging off of those computers.
Logitech MX Master Mouse
I have both the two and three variants of this mouse. Love them both, it’s like a little spaceship for the hand.
Logitech MX Master Keyboard
Probably the best keyboard I have purchased. The keys aren’t too clicky (I hate long travel / loud mechanical keys) but also not too squishy for membrane keys.
Any work-from-home or office setup needs this keyboard.
Blue Snowball iCE Microphone
Purchased this during COVID-19 in grad school for presentations and virtual conferences. It has pretty good audio capture.
Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920
Mid-range webcam for video calls. No complaints.
SONY WH-1000XM5 Headphones
I got these noise cancelling headphones as a gift. They work pretty well but sometimes disconnect from the bluetooth card in my PC. I am fairly certain the problem is on the PC side however.
Monitors
I have several cheap monitors that I have collected over the years. I am not too partial to any of them. When one dies I tend to scrounge up, borrow, or purchase another cheap one.
Current Config,
- ASUS VG289 as primary monitor
- ASUS VG245 as secondary monitor (portrait orientation)
- 2x DELL S2419NX as secondary monitors (landscape, vertically stacked)
Funny enough during COVID-19 there was a time where I was using two old 19″ LCD TVs from approx. 2008 as additional monitors. I don’t have any standards here.
Plugable Docking Station
I keep a Plugable dock on the desk for my work laptops and my personal 2-in-1. One cable and whichever laptop is on duty gets the monitors and peripherals.
8BitDo Wireless Controller w/ Charging Dock
I love this thing, probably more than the wireless Xbox One controller it replaced. It is buttery smooth.
CyberPower UPS Battery
Recent addition to my desk setup. The place I rent at currently has some voltage fluctuations on the AC line and given the risk of rolling blackouts it seemed prudent to install a UPS.
Model Number : CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
Software
Below are some software systems I have found particularly useful.
Affinity Suite (Designer, Publisher, Photo)
I am not a graphic artist by any means but sometimes I need to touch up a photo or whip up an illustration for an article. In the past I used to use Adobe’s products but the subscription model does not make sense for someone who only used Illustrator once every two months. I found Affinity Suite to be a great alternative at an even better value with its one-time purchase.
Visual Studio Code
I almost exclusively use VSCode for software development at this point. If I need to use a vendor specific tool like Xilinx Vitis it’s only for the tooling but I still tend to have Code open on the side.
Soldering Station
Every electronics shop needs the basics. Here is what I am using.
Weller Soldering Iron
When I first got real adult money I had to spend it on a nice soldering iron. Bought the Weller WE10101 soldering iron plus a set of solder tips, brass brush, helping hand, etc. If there is ever a place to splurge in DIY electronics it’s on a good soldering iron.
Sparkfun 303D SMD Rework Station (Heatgun)
I love this little reflow heatgun, perhaps because I became proficient with it at work.
Air Filter
An off-brand air filter from Amazon but it, along with a window cracked open, does the job.
Test and Measurement
Every hardware project has a bring-up phase fraught with bugs. These are the tools I have ready during such sessions.
Analog Discovery (Legacy) w/ BNC Adapter Board
The Analog Discovery has been the workhorse oscilloscope in my shop since undergrad (circa 2015). Digilent also provides an adapter PCB breaking out scope and wave-gen pins onto BNCs. This is rather useful for interfacing with standard test and measurement tools.
I bought a few cheap scope probes that are good enough for the kinds of work I do.
- Keysight N2142A 10:1 Passive Probe ~ These are reliable for nearly everything I do.
- A generic 100x High Voltage Probe off of AliExpress ~ Don’t really trust it but it hasn’t failed or damaged the Analog Discovery yet.
Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter
The first (and so far only) multimeter I ever purchased. It does the job. My one gripe is some of the modes are weirdly in the alternate set instead of primary functions.
KiPRiM DC310S Power Supply
Acquired this supply as a gift but have yet to use it. It is earmarked for a robot arm project I am slowly working on.
Prusa Mini 3D Printer
This is a pretty handy little printer. I tend to only use it for small enclosures or jigs. Attempting to print a small robot arm on it, but it has been a slow project.
The main problem is the printer seems to corrupt the print file on USB resulting in erratic print behavior as invalid g-code streams to the device.
Bambu Lab P1S Combo
A new addition to the shop. The print quality is amazing and the multi-filament mux is a game changer. Reprinting the robot arm parts was faster and cleaner along with less head plunging into the print failures.
Microcontrollers, FPGAs, and other dev boards
I keep the following microcontrollers and FPGAs on the shelf in case I need to prove out a design in hardware.
ESP8266
My go-to WiFi microcontroller. I tend to use these for developing my various home automation projects.
I have also dabbled with the ESP32, but honestly most of my stuff fits just fine in the lower cost ESP8266 boards. I tend to buy knock offs from Amazon.
Arduino Uno
I tend to keep various Arduino Uno clones around for small microcontroller projects or for some random one-off thing like jogging output lines for power sequence testing.
Mojo V3 (Spartan 6 FPGA)
I received this FPGA board as a gift. Learned Xilinx’s ecosystem on this device. I might try to bring it back up one day to run a custom soft-core processor or something.
Raspberry Pi Pico
Another gift, used one to control some RGB LEDS. It’s a pretty good replacement for Arduino or ESP8266 (if Pico W).
Raspberry Pi 3B+
Decent little SBC that I have used for robot projects in the past. It used to be the WiFi bridge for my Prusa; now it is the VLM CRO subsystem for my BEADZ project. Runs Raspbian Lite, command line only, headless (I SSH in). It lives next to a cardboard box with a jar filled with beads.