Free Electrical Components/Microprocessors/DSP's/MCU's

As I've been trying to get into the hardware side of programming lately, I've been looking for parts and junk that I might use. I found an easy way to get components for free! A lot of manufacturers and companies that sell these parts have samples available for some products and it's fairly easy to get them. Some require university or corporate emails to register an account with them, but the best one that I've found does not.

Texas Instruments: I've always seen that on calculators in school, never really giving a shit what it means, but at their website it's simple to sign up and order their free samples. You can only order 5 things in a single order, but I just placed my third order about 20 minutes ago. I ordered several microcontrollers; Of course they're just the chips, no programming hardware comes with it, but based on the chip you order, I'm sure you can look up how to make a simple programming cable.

Just thought I'd share this with you guys because it's certainly tickled me pink today.
There are other companies that give out free samples, just google for them, but Texas Instruments was the easiest/best I've found. I mean, free shipping and everything? Damn.

Edit: Just ordered 5 more microcontrollers that come with LCD screens. @_@

make sure u dont get surface mount ones lol. if you do get a surface mount one all i can say is good luck!

if you get them you would need a development kit, last time i checked development kits aren't that cheap.

If you want to learn MCU just buy the cheap MSP430 launchpad from TI, it's cheap it's slow as fuck, but it does the job for learning purposes.

I Do not recommand Arduino since it's more for hobbyist (bit hypocrite here, since we used gayduino for my last year engineering project cuz it saves time when you have 2 1/2 month to put out an industry standard product that will benefit society in someway. You would want to cut as much corner as possible) but if you have the time, avoid arduino it will make ur life easier in the long run.

Other companies that gave out free samples: freescale, microchip , renessa, even intel (couple from top of my head), but the bottom line is this, these companies are not retarded. You get free sample X, that would require Y to work. For example, this conference i went to, microship was giving out $200 development kits, but it requires you to purchase their software licenses. I think y'all know how that turned out. Unless your a big company, i don't think you would shell out couple of grand for software. For Ti they offer a free version of their CCS, but of course it lacks features that you would need for bigger projects.

Question, when you say it comes with LCD Screens, are you sure it's not LCD drivers? BTW you can order once per year from TI. I usually save up til i need some junk for my projects.