A hex inverter breakout board?

This is a hex inverter breakout board. It inverts signals, turning 0 or 1 volts on the input to 5 volts on the output, or turning 4 or 5 volts on the input into 0 volts on the output.

But I can get those as DIP...

I have three problems with the DIP versions: First, I always bend the pins. I can't help it, you can see in one of the pictures above how badly I abuse them. Next, it's nice to test with the exact SOIC format chip that I'll later be using on PCBs. Finally, I always have to refer to the data sheet to remember where to put power, and which pins are input and which are output.

And this is better how?

Power and ground are clearly labelled. All six inputs are on one side, and all six outputs are on the other side. It's on a firm PCB with strong headers instead of those DIP pins I always bend.

Never used one before, what can I do with it?

First, check out W2AEW's video tutorial on YouTube. Then...

Breadboards are all about making something new and novel, so use your imagination. But here's three ways I use them:

1) Hardware switch debouncing. So, there's the physics of switches: while it looks binary to our eyes, to a computer processing interrupts at the nanosecond scale pressing a button once might result in multiple quick transitions from high to low. A capacitor is good to smooth the peaks and valleys into a hill, but adding a hex inverter with a Schmitt Trigger lets you create clearly defined square wave transitions between high and low. (Go watch Derek Molloy's youtube video on the topic for more details.)

2) Inverting TTL signals for RS232 outputs. The Max232 series inverts the pulse-per-second signal that passes through it. A hex inverter lets me flip the signal first, so it appears "normal" coming out the serial port.

3) Driving three-lead red-green LEDs from a single input. So you're probably familiar with red/green LEDs. Send a 0 to red and 1 to green. Or turn them both off, or turn them both on and get yellow. Using a hex inverter lets me power either red or green and automatically switch state, the input A is passed to Red, and the inverted output Y is passed to Green. Turn off red, green comes on; turn on red, green turns off.