<I also do a considerable amount of electronic design, so have a lot of <the common stuff (TTL, signal transistors, op-amps, passives, etc) for that I'm an engineer and do a lot of selfbuilt as well and the only way is to have what I call the bottomless junkbox. I mean I have about 10+ xerox paper boxes (holds 10 reams of A4 paper) full of old boards and loose parts. and another 10-20 divided covered trays of parts many new (in 1979!) though old as when I bought I'd get 10 as they were cheap even if I only needed one. Even expensive chips I'd get two to have a spare. I'm not fussy about replacing a 1977 datecode with 1990 as repairs are simply that. Keep in mind function is my goal. Allison