hey guys i know messing with crystals on a breadboard can be a small hassle. i just realized i never showed anyone how i deal with it and decided to share my tip.. if you can solder then you can do this... below are pictures of a 10mhz and 20mhz crystal and 2 caps tied to 3 pin header. so you can simply plug and play. i have not ran into any issues using this yet so... anyway here are the pictures and feel free to recreate and use these as much as you want:
The middle pin is the ground pin. The outer two pins go to the crystal leads.
Neat idea though. It makes you wonder why crystals don't come with the caps built in. Probably because different applications need different cap values?
im thinking of making pcb modules with right angle pins.... ill talk to a friend and see if he would like to make some PCBs and sell them with pin header only. this way users can install there own caps and crystals to customize the application.
I build processor modules using SOIC's and TQFP chips. For me the best layout is to span the power strip between two breadboards. That gives you about an inch for the board and a full row of exposed BB socket holes on each side.
The modules have an ICSP connector, bypass caps, and an LED to indicate power. I often keep the pinout in the original order execpt for VSS and VDD which I move to end (both rows). The power location allows me to insert LCD and other boards next to the power module without wiring.
For these modules I use chips with internal clocks but one can always use an external. If anyone is interested I can post images when I find my camera
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Unless I have a need for the better accuracy I use 3 pin oscillators with internal caps.