7 Mar
2007
7 Mar
'07
3:55 p.m.
Out of interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for getting hold of
tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in town here, which
as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely anything :(
7 Mar
7 Mar
4:20 p.m.
Out of interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for getting hold of
tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in town here, which
as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely anything :(
I've only had cause to order from them once, but was quite happy with
Digikey. As the quality of local stores seem to be going down, I'll likely
end up ordering from them again.
The one downside is the Phonebook sized catalogues they've started sending
me on apparently a quarterly basis. I solved the problem quite quickly by
simply sticking them in the Classic Computing section of the Historical
Library. :^)
Zane
4:10 p.m.
I've only had cause to order from them once, but was quite happy with
Digikey. As the quality of local stores seem to be going down, I'll
likely
end up ordering from them again.
The one downside is the Phonebook sized catalogues they've started sending
me on apparently a quarterly basis. I solved the problem quite quickly by
simply sticking them in the Classic Computing section of the Historical
Library. :^)
I work in a small industrial electronics repair shop where we spend around
$1000 a month on electronic parts and components. We order primarily from
DigiKey and Mouser and are very happy with both of them. Prices may vary
between suppliers so, check their prices before ordering.
Note: The catalogs are great asset. It's kinda like browsing the toy section
of the Sears Roebuck catalog as a kid 8^)
I also buy quite a few bulk components (transistors, caps, etc...) off Ebay.
Never had a bad experience with any of the vendors.
See ya, SteveRob
5:24 p.m.
On Mar 7, 2007, at 7:20 PM, Zane H. Healy wrote:
Oddly enough, the confirmation email for my most recent DigiKey
order came two messages after this one in my mail spool. :) I order
Out of
interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for
getting hold of
tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in town
here, which
as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely anything :(
I've only had cause to order from them once, but was quite happy with
Digikey. As the quality of local stores seem to be going down,
I'll likely
end up ordering from them again. from them and from Mouser Electronics with some
frequency. They are
both top-notch.
The one downside is the Phonebook sized catalogues
they've started
sending
me on apparently a quarterly basis. I solved the problem quite
quickly by
simply sticking them in the Classic Computing section of the
Historical
Library. :^)
Both DigiKey's and Mouser's catalogs are available for download as
PDF files, by the way.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
5:36 p.m.
On Wed, 7 Mar 2007, Dave McGuire wrote:
Oddly enough, the confirmation email for my most
recent DigiKey order came
two messages after this one in my mail spool. :) I order from them and from
Mouser Electronics with some frequency. They are both top-notch.
Along with Mouser and Digikey, I also occasionally order from Allied
Electronics:
http://www.alliedelec.com/
They don't have a minimum order amount, and their prices are usually
somewhere between Digikey and Jameco.
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://ripsaw.cac.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/
5:49 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Loewen" <mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 8:36 PM
Subject: Re: tools / test gear / components in the US?
Along with Mouser and Digikey, I also occasionally order from Allied
Electronics:
http://www.alliedelec.com/
They don't have a minimum order amount, and their prices are usually
somewhere between Digikey and Jameco.
I use Allied also because of the no minimum order, needed some funky fuse
that I blew on an old SCSI card and they had it cheap. Ebay is also decent
for parts if you can find them listed.
5:51 p.m.
The one
downside is the Phonebook sized catalogues they've started
sending me on apparently a quarterly basis. I solved the problem quite
quickly by simply sticking them in the Classic Computing section of the
Historical Library. :^)
Both DigiKey's and Mouser's catalogs are available for download as
PDF files, by the way. 
8 Mar
8 Mar
3:13 p.m.
In spite of my "complaint" about getting the
catalogs, I'd much rather thumb
through the paper copy. I just don't have a use at the moment for the pair
So would I. Unfortunately the big componnet suppliers in the UK (RS
Components and Farnell) will not supply their catalogues to hobbyists at
any price (they will take orders placed on their web site).
I find these web sites very annoying to use. An example : I need a plug
and socket pair, and this particular connecotr comes as plug and socket
shells, backshells (hood) and crimp pins, all as sepaate parts. I manage
to find one part, say the plug shell, on the website. There's no obvious
way to find all the related parts (heck, in some cases crimp pins and
solder pins for the same sereis of conenctors are in wildly different
parts of the site). Or I find one value of reisstor that I need, there's
no obvious way to find other valuse in the same series. And so on.
-tony
5:30 p.m.
On 8 Mar 2007 at 23:13, Tony Duell wrote:
When I'm coding I'll take paper any day. Even multiple displays on
the same computer isn't nearly as convenient. I can sit with a
listing and get out my no. 2 pencil and scribble. I can easily lay
two listings side-by-side to get a good idea of differences between
two versions and draw boxes, notes and arrows.
When I play around with a bit of unfamiliar code or set of waveforms
or a circuit design, I'll keep track of what I'm doing with paper and
pencil.
A listing on 14" tractor-feed paper beats the heck out of just about
any IDE as far as I'm concerned.
I'm probably just showing my age.
Cheers,
Chuck
In spite of my
"complaint" about getting the catalogs, I'd much rather thumb
through the paper copy. I just don't have a use at the moment for the pair
So would I. Unfortunately the big componnet suppliers in the UK (RS
Components and Farnell) will not supply their catalogues to hobbyists at
any price (they will take orders placed on their web site).
11:40 p.m.
On Mar 8, 2007, at 8:30 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
A listing on 14" tractor-feed paper beats the
heck out of just about
any IDE as far as I'm concerned.
I'm probably just showing my age.
No, you're showing your competence. "These kids today" (cough,
wheeze) with their IDEs throw together bloated messes and call it
"programming". I'm willing to bet that you write tight, fast code.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
9 Mar
9 Mar
3:30 p.m.
When I'm coding I'll take paper any day. Even
multiple displays on
the same computer isn't nearly as convenient. I can sit with a
listing and get out my no. 2 pencil and scribble. I can easily lay
two listings side-by-side to get a good idea of differences between
two versions and draw boxes, notes and arrows.
When I play around with a bit of unfamiliar code or set of waveforms
or a circuit design, I'll keep track of what I'm doing with paper and
pencil.
A listing on 14" tractor-feed paper beats the heck out of just about
any IDE as far as I'm concerned.
I'm probably just showing my age.
I'm old-fashioned too. I do my hardware design and fault-finding with a
pen and paper (and maybe a calculaotr). I draw my RE'd diagrams by hand
(I'll use CAD system when I find one that actually _aids_ me). I debug
what little code I write working on a printed listing and making notes.
And so on.
I rarely carry a pocket computer with me, but I am almost never without a
notebook (the paper kind) and pen.
I also find it much easier to flip through a paper catalogue or databook
and see what's available than to do the same thing on-line. I really
don't know how peop[le find what chips are avaialbe, and what their
features are with on-line datasheets.
-tony
7 Mar
7 Mar
5:02 p.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Out of interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for getting
hold of tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in
town here, which as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely
anything :(
There are Fry's Electronics in various areas of the country. I can only
vouch for SF Bay area stores and they seem to have a fair-decent
selection of stuff. And they restock within 12 months now. Trying their
website is discouraging.
Techni-tool (https://webvia.techni-tool.com/VIA/index.jsp) and contact
east/jensen tools, which was eaten up by Stanley,
(http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/) are good places to order tools
and test equipment. They both have lots of cool toys--i mean tools.
--
jd
Paranoids are people, too; they have their own problems. It's easy to
criticize, but if everybody hated you, you'd be paranoid too.
-- D. J. Hicks
8 Mar
8 Mar
6:38 a.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Out of interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for getting
hold of tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in
town here, which as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely
anything :(
Thanks for all the replies everyone - certainly given me a few useful places
to look at anyway.
Like Zane, I prefer to have real paper catalogues rather than some electronic
version anyway, which is making Digikey sound good...
cheers
Jules
10 a.m.
On Mar 8, 2007, at 9:38 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
Mouser also sends out gigantic paper catalogs.. (lest you think
the decision is that easy!)
Realistically speaking, you'll need to deal with several
distributors. Even carrying different parts numbered in the hundreds
of thousands, no distributor can (practically) carry them all. When
purchasing components for a project, I almost always place orders
with both DigiKey and Mouser, and sometimes one or two other vendors
as well (usually direct from the manufacturer...Analog Devices,
Linear Technology, etc).
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
Out of
interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for
getting hold of tools / test gear and components? There's only a
Rat Shack in town here, which as everyone knows is utterly useless
for absolutely anything :(
Thanks for all the replies everyone - certainly given me a few
useful places to look at anyway.
Like Zane, I prefer to have real paper catalogues rather than some
electronic version anyway, which is making Digikey sound good... 
12:27 p.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Out of interest, whereabout in the US is good (mail order) for getting
hold of tools / test gear and components? There's only a Rat Shack in
town here, which as everyone knows is utterly useless for absolutely
anything :(
They're *not* cheap, but every time I've needed something quick, I've
used Time Motion Tools.
For something I don't need that quickly, I go through the usual
electronics suppliers, e.g. Mouser Digi-Key, etc.
Peace... Sridhar
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