Cheap 5v power supply for breadboard

Some guy in my digital circuits lab said there's something called a voltage actuator that you can buy at Radio Shack, which will take a 9v battery and give you 5v power for a breadboard. The guy at Radio Shack didn't know what I was talking about. Does anyone know what I'm looking for?

5 seconds of Googling resulted in the answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7805

That doesn't look like anything you can hook a battery up to.

>>3
yes it is, dumbass

>>3
You'll need make your own connections.

There are a number of DC-DC voltage regulators out there that will do the trick, but the main thing you'll want to check once you've got the right voltages is that the regulator meets your current requirements. I'd guess you're not looking at anything huge running off a breadboard, so a small regulator with no extra heatsink should be fine.
I recently needed a regulator for a +5 and +12V line from a +20V AC-DC converter, so I used two LM317Ts and a handful of other parts. You probably don't need an adjustable reg like the 317, since +5V preset regulators are about the easiest to find.

http://www.candleautomation.com/hardware/voltageregulator/beginningprototyping/printable.html

Is the capacitor really necessary? I didn't get any in my lab kit... well I guess another trip to RS won't kill me.

A capacitor on the input side of the reg generally won't be necessary, but I'd recommend one across the output.

>>8
Urrr?  A voltage regulator produces fairly clean DC output, right?  Are you trying to clean up more ripple?

>>9
Regs SHOULD produce a clean output, but if the manufacturer recommends an output stabilising capacitor I'm no going to disagree. I'd imagine it's predominantly to assist the regulation feedback during a sudden change in loading.

>>10
Oh.  OK, thanks.