JimJam I know this is going to sound incredibly rude and even overtly presumptuous but I believe you have a Test Equipment/specification obsession.
Haha, no worries, that's probably true! Well right now I am _still_ waiting for the 555 and a few other ICs to arrive from ebay. I ordered them on May 30th and they still haven't arrived. So what do I do? Read books, think about stuff, playing with kicad/eagle/schematic capture software, blow up a few ICs, ask questions and be inquisitive about things that I don't already know about
It may appear that I have gear obsession and I probably do! I love good quality gear, but I'm trying to be sensible (which is relative) at the same time. I am happy with a $5 cutters for example, but I also love my JBC soldering station which to some might not be sensible to get, but to me it's absolutely great. It was one of the easiest decisions in gear selection for me. I have been soldering stuff since I was 12 years old (and now I'm just old) and using the JBC is an absolute pleasure. We only live once!
I did need all these other tools that I've been slowly gathering, and while doing so, why not get something I'll be happy with. Once I'm over this stage, I guess I'll move on to asking noob questions about other things
I only have a few major things still to get: power supply (so far I'm making do with a wall wart adapter, which works fine for my current needs), scope, and more components. All the rest are simply curiosity because when someone mentioned something I am not familiar with, my natural response is to read all about it and ask questions.
For example, a signal gen - I won't get it of course, since I haven't even got a clue what to do with it. My current needs don't require one, but it is good to know about it and I appreciate those who have kindly explained them to me. Another thing I won't be getting: isolation transformer, because right now I really don't need it, but again it's good to know about them.
So far my other posts have been asking about oscilloscopes, a second meter, and power supplies, and where to buy components from, which are things I'd still like to get. I don't go around asking questions about how to use a 555 IC, because I' already somewhat familiar with it and can figure it out myself... well for now anyway