It IS possible to still build stuff. But it is getting
more difficult and more expensive, especially in the
last year or two, to build truly "vintage era" stuff.
Its not just that the chips are getting harder to
find, but its also that the mechanical supplies - wire
wrap sockets, quality (fiberglass) prototype PCB's,
etc - are getting expensive also. Even Jameco has
very noticeably raised their prices recently. Where I
once could get everything from one or two sources, now
I have to go to 5, and I have to shop very carefully.
There are definitely fewer surplus places than even 2
years ago. One bright spot I found, is unicorn
electronics, which, strangely, I had never dealt with
until last year. They have a lot of stuff, good
prices, and free shipping. One place (I won't mention
the name ) is California is off my list because of
having a lot less in reality than they do in their
catalog - it's so bad I don't know why they bother
printing it.
Radio shack was crap, and has amazingly gotten worse -
no selection, frightening prices, and genuinely bad
quality. The connectors they sell are beyond belief
bad. I have actually seen them fallen apart while
still in the bubble pack. The only things they sell
worth anything IMHO are fairly inexpensive, low
quality perfboards for low-budget projects. They are
to a Jameco or BG what 7-11 is to a Wal-Mart
superstore (sorry, international readers).
I have no idea how young people will ever learn about
electronics in the future. Won't be my problem,
though...
--- Ron Hudson <rhudson_at_cnonline.net> wrote:
> Is it just me or...
>
> I live in Silicon Valley, and the places to get
> component
> type stuff are dwindling. Radio Shack no longer
> carries much
> of the components they used to. I went into Frys for
> a 100K
> pot the other day (for paddles for an apple II (ob
> ot)) and
> there were NO pots... Radio Shack had various values
> but not
> 100 K. A small hole in the wall was the same (Schad
> elec-
> tronics on 1st street)
>
> I wonder if I could still buy everything needed to
> build
> a computer from scratch (no not a PC mobo and that
> stuff
> but an 8 bit cpu, memory, i/o chips...) not that I
> could
> self design or build somthing like that (right now
> anyway)
>
> Are parts getting hard to find, only getem mailorder
> etc??
>
> Opinions Please!
>
> :^)
>
>
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Received on Fri Feb 15 2002 - 12:54:30 GMT