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Comment by qbasic_forever | Hacker News Reader

A lot has changed in the last 5 years or so especially with USB-C tools. Check out the TS-80P soldering iron (https://www.adafruit.com/product/4244) and a USB-C variable power supply (lots of simple DIY designs, https://hackaday.com/2021/07/18/its-super-easy-to-build-your... ). Those plus a USB logic probe or oscilloscope depending on your needs, and a nice USB programmer/debugger like the Black Magic or a clone of it is a pretty nice and compact setup ( assuming you have a laptop too). You can even power most tools from a good USB-C power bank.

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There's also the Pinecil, a pretty reputable TS-100 clone with USB-C and barrel jack, and at an impressively low price.

https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

Tends to be out of stock though - apparently even more so currently with the v2 release.

(oh wow, v2 is rated for 88 W?)

Great news! I have the v1 and it's a really good iron that doesn't look bad at all along my two Wellers. The power and tips thermal mass is more than enough for serious solder joints where some very popular low cost soldering stations, mostly crappy Hakko clones, fail miserably.

My favorite piece of equipment is Bus Pirate device. Has 5V and 3V3; interfaces with UART, SPI, I2C and several sub-standards (MIDI, HD44780 LCDs). Nice textual interface with integrated help. Great community tools like low frequency oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and python library. It's incredible how much they packed into a tiny board.

Bus Pirate and the later Tigard are both excellent, https://embeddedsecurity.io/hacker-tools

Glasgow is delayed until later this year, https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/glasgow

I second these recommendations. The TS-80P has replaced my soldering station, I sold it because I don’t use it anymore.

Thanks for the links! That tiny USB-C power supply is wonderful. I think I'm going to have to build something like this now. Maybe with a case that can be mounted into a portable workstation.

Ricardo - the builder of the linked power supply - also linked this DC6006L [1] by FNIRSI if a non-DIY route is more appealing.

[1]: http://www.fnirsi.cn/productinfo/556155.html

See also the newer DP100 https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=676139724711

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