The world beyond Jameco, Digi-Key and Mouser

[Dave Plumpe]

Yep, Allied's been around for awhile. Their 1953 catalog (no PICs listed in
the index) doesn't mention their history, but the 1961 catalog says "Our
40th Year". Newark (www.newark.com) is another that's been around a loong
time - their 2008 catalog weighs 5 pounds.

I still have a "DigiKey 10% Bonus Credit Refund" slip for $2.78 from back in
1979 when they were just a surplus house.I plan to turn it in just before I
expire.

-Dave

 

[Joerg]

http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/television-rules-america.html

An average of 1,745 hrs in 2003. That's almost 5 hours a day!!!

I watch exactly zero. No TV. None. Not ever.

Same here, except for part of the evening news. Plus right now we are
watching a 6hr+ movie that'll take another 3-4 days to complete

Come winter I'll watch "Once upon a Time in the West" another time.

 

[Joerg]

Joerg wrote:




My impression of the US (almost 20 years ago) was that they had tons more
DIY stores, with much better selection (and nicer staff to boot) than
Germany. I don't know about electronics in particular, back then I needed
some iron hardware and arts & crafts stuff, but to me the US looked like the
hobbyist's paradise.

The electronics stores are mostly gone. Ours here has become a <gasp>
cell phone store. The mech HW stores and big box home improvement stores
are good though, and expanding. The time consuming problem is often too
much selection instead of too little. At least when you are married ;-)

Conrad is OK as some sort of technical supermarket, but their over-the-
counter electronics parts sale is as good as dead, and mail ordering you do
at Reichelt (or even Farnell and RS, who still are cheaper and and faster
than Conrad). Conrad's staff tends to be nice and helpful; I once had to
wait ten amusing minutes during which a salesperson tried to persuade a
customer that the thing he intended to buy wouldn't solve his problem; that
Conrad didn't stock the correct part; he even recommended that the customer
go to store XYZ, but any amount of in-depth technical consulting wouldn't
deter him and he ended up buying the thing. Forgot what it was, some
computer part I think.




My impression is that Europe doesn't have good hobby suppliers, and no
Digikey or Mouser to boot.

Won't Digikey sell to hobbyists? RS and Farnell officially only sell to
businesses, but you can simply place an order, pay your bill, and never get
asked a question.

Oh, they certainly will. But they generally do not run specials on tools
and equipment like the hobby places in Europe do.

 

[Joerg]

Un bel giorno Joerg digitò:




Digikey has subsidiaries in various european countries:

http://dkc1.digikey.com/us/en/mkt/International.html

Of course it isn't the same thing as a "native" european supplier; you
still have to pay the non-EU freight charges, the free toll phone number
still answers in english, and for some reason several US catalog's items
are still missing. But at least the shipping costs are no longer shameful.

That's not really a subsidiary. Folks in Europe tell me that the
handling charges are quite prohibitive for hobbyists.

I used to consider Farnell totally worthless, but lately (since it started
to distribute Newark catalog) it gained several points too.

They have come a long ways. I recently bought a scope there, via Newark.
Transfer and customs processing from EU to the US was $15, shipping was
free

 

[John Larkin]

My impression of the US (almost 20 years ago) was that they had tons more
DIY stores, with much better selection (and nicer staff to boot) than
Germany. I don't know about electronics in particular, back then I needed
some iron hardware and arts & crafts stuff, but to me the US looked like the
hobbyist's paradise.

The US used to have an immense amount of military surplus gear, for
sale very cheap by mail or from local junk stores. Fair Radio Sales,
still in business in Ohio, was one big outlet. They once sold an
under-wing radar pod for $70, and I used to buy cockpit CRT displays
for, as I recall, about $6, a nice cast enclosure with some tubes and
a square-screen 4FP7 inside; I still have one on my bookshelf, and it
glows nicely for a while after I turn out the lights.

There are still a few surplus places in Silicon Valley, although the
price of real estate has killed most of them. They have mostly PC junk
nowadays, but still occasionally have interesting componenys and test
gear. You don't see many kids in these places.

If I were a hobbyist, I'd probably be buying mostly from Digikey and
Mouser these days. The possibilities are astounding.

John

 

[John Larkin]

Same here, except for part of the evening news. Plus right now we are
watching a 6hr+ movie that'll take another 3-4 days to complete

Come winter I'll watch "Once upon a Time in the West" another time.

Ken Burn's documentary on WWII starts on Sunday. I wouldn't miss that,
and I'm going to tape it, too, to join my "Victory At Sea" tapes. His
Civil War thing was magnificent.

There's some good stuff on tv, almost all on PBS: Bertie and Jeeves,
the occasional british mystery, Masterpiece Theater, the occasional
Nova, maybe an hour or so per week on average, which is not enough to
rot your brain.

John

 

[Jim Thompson]

Same here, except for part of the evening news. Plus right now we are
watching a 6hr+ movie that'll take another 3-4 days to complete

Come winter I'll watch "Once upon a Time in the West" another time.

What IS it about that movie that thrills you so?

...Jim Thompson

 

[Joerg]

What IS it about that movie that thrills you so?

The music by Enio Morricone, for one. Then the theme, the actors, and
the great detail in the scenes. Best Western of all times, IMHO. I think
this winter will be viewing #14 or so.

A couple months ago I stood in line at a pharmacy. Cell phones rang here
and there, nobody minded. Then one rang with the intro tunes to this
movie and literally everyone turned around, one guy saying "Wow, cool,
gave me the goose bumps!".

 

[Joe Chisolm]

I got my PICkit 2 from them, actually. Should have gotten it somewhere
else, in retrospect. They insist on FedEx with required signature...
meaning they will only try to deliver it when I'm at work, and when I'm
not there to sign for it, they hold onto it only to fail to deliver the
next day for the same reason. Taking the bus to their hub ate two hours
out of my day that I should have been using to mess with firmware! :-(

So, yeah...not a problem with Microchip but with stupid FedEx. Way to
fail to cater to the customer there, guys...

PSM

Usually you can sign the "we missed you" note and they will go ahead
and deliver. I'm lucky being in a small town, I know the FedEX guy,
and USP and DHL ...

 

[Phil Hobbs]

The US used to have an immense amount of military surplus gear, for
sale very cheap by mail or from local junk stores. Fair Radio Sales,
still in business in Ohio, was one big outlet. They once sold an
under-wing radar pod for $70, and I used to buy cockpit CRT displays
for, as I recall, about $6, a nice cast enclosure with some tubes and
a square-screen 4FP7 inside; I still have one on my bookshelf, and it
glows nicely for a while after I turn out the lights.

There are still a few surplus places in Silicon Valley, although the
price of real estate has killed most of them. They have mostly PC junk
nowadays, but still occasionally have interesting componenys and test
gear. You don't see many kids in these places.

If I were a hobbyist, I'd probably be buying mostly from Digikey and
Mouser these days. The possibilities are astounding.

John

We're actually in the middle of another surplus bonanza: all the
manually-controlled and analogue instruments in the world are being
dumped. You can put together a nice home lab for a song just now.

Cheers.

Phil Hobbs

 

[John Larkin]

What IS it about that movie that thrills you so?

...Jim Thompson

"Outlaw Josey Wales" gets my vote for best Western. After Clint made a
series of movies in which his character became more and more
invincible, literally supernatural and unkillable, he did a flic where
the hero not only picks up a band of women, indians, cows, and dogs,
he gets shot and bleeds a lot, too.

If you're ever in Carmel, go to his bar and burger joint, The Hog's
Breath Inn. Good burgers.


John

 

[John Larkin]

We're actually in the middle of another surplus bonanza: all the
manually-controlled and analogue instruments in the world are being
dumped. You can put together a nice home lab for a song just now.

Cheers.

Phil Hobbs

Yeah, the stuff on ebay is amazing. Actually, I think that ebay killed
a lot of the surplus stores and electronic flea markets. I must have a
dozen 11801's, and 30 or so sampling heads, by now, theoretically
worth half a megabuck or so.

John

 

[Joerg]

Yeah, the stuff on ebay is amazing. Actually, I think that ebay killed
a lot of the surplus stores and electronic flea markets. I must have a
dozen 11801's, and 30 or so sampling heads, by now, theoretically
worth half a megabuck or so.

Do you have some favorite traders on there you trust or do you guys just
go for it?

 

[Peter S. May]

Usually you can sign the "we missed you" note and they will go ahead
and deliver. I'm lucky being in a small town, I know the FedEX guy,
and USP and DHL ...

It's a big "usually". The package I got specifically excluded that
option ("signature required"). I was on the phone for eons and couldn't
get them to budge.

 

[Fred Bartoli]

Le Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:30:42 -0700, John Larkin a écrit:

Yeah, the stuff on ebay is amazing. Actually, I think that ebay killed a
lot of the surplus stores and electronic flea markets. I must have a
dozen 11801's, and 30 or so sampling heads, by now, theoretically worth
half a megabuck or so.

A dozen? When I decide I need a 1180x scope, I'll email you so that we
don't bid against each other

 

[Joerg]

I got my PICkit 2 from them, actually. Should have gotten it somewhere
else, in retrospect. They insist on FedEx with required signature...
meaning they will only try to deliver it when I'm at work, and when I'm
not there to sign for it, they hold onto it only to fail to deliver the
next day for the same reason. Taking the bus to their hub ate two hours
out of my day that I should have been using to mess with firmware! :-(

So, yeah...not a problem with Microchip but with stupid FedEx. Way to
fail to cater to the customer there, guys...

Still better than the UPS guy who dropped off a $1600 DSO at our
doorstep, sans signature. Didn't even ring the bell. If it wasn't for
our dogs I wouldn't have found it until late in the evening.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

Allied is a well-established supplier. What about shipping charges and
minimum order/handling?

I use Allied all the time - both for individual components and for
process-control modules - and they ship fast and reasonably cheap for
stuff in stock. On the web you can quickly tell what's in stock and
what's not. That's a huge improvement over the days when you had to
call the salespeople just to see if something in the catalog was
really in stock.

Don't know about minimum order amounts, I've never made
an order small enough to matter .

I really like page 1703 on their current catalog, not that I've
ordered that kind of stuff from Allied since decades ago, but it's
nice to see it there!

Tim.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

Brings up a question: Is there a large place where hobbyists can buy
tools and all kinds of parts, like what Conrad is for Europe? I get
asked a lot but only know Jameco which doesn't carry that much stuff.
It's strange, Europe has lots of large hobby suppliers but no Digikey or
Mouser. Here in the US it seems the other way around.

Most major metropolitan/industrial areas still have a shop or two that
cater towards electronic repair tradespeople and have a real parts
counter as well as a small showroom filled with tools and test
equipment. The numbers have dwindled over the past twenty years but
they're there.

I don't know if this is what Conrad is in Europe.

Tim.

 

[Jonathan Kirwan]

I use Allied all the time - both for individual components and for
process-control modules - and they ship fast and reasonably cheap for
stuff in stock. On the web you can quickly tell what's in stock and
what's not. That's a huge improvement over the days when you had to
call the salespeople just to see if something in the catalog was
really in stock.

Don't know about minimum order amounts, I've never made
an order small enough to matter .

I really like page 1703 on their current catalog, not that I've
ordered that kind of stuff from Allied since decades ago, but it's
nice to see it there!

Oh, beautiful! I still have a 4CX1000A laying around. Thanks!

Jon

 

[Jonathan Kirwan]

Close -- I was talking about the cheapest (DIP) PIC with a USART
peripheral. I had to go through the cheapest-first list checking
against Microchip's database app to come up with the 16F688...

Yes, the F54 and F57 are pretty much I/O only. And demand something
external for an oscillator. And don't include nanoPower. And no BOR.
And... Well, it is cheap if what you need is bit banging I/O.

Jon