Date : Sat, 10 Dec 2005 14:42:26 +0000
From : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: Vanishing electronics suppliers
Thankfully I have a pretty good source of ICs including a lot of the
obsolete or near-obsolete 74LS series which means I can still do the
disc & Econet upgrade kits. As for getting other parts like ribbon cable
and IDC connectors, I would agree that it is getting more difficult.
I have used Maplin & Farnell but you can't always get exactly what you
want.
In the last couple of years I have made enquiries on every IC found in
a standard Atom/BBC B/BBC B+/Master. It's all very well getting the
logic chips but anything else is getting impossible to find. The custom
chips like VIDPROC, SERPROC & Tube ULA were a non-starter from the
beginning but I remember getting a quote for 1770 FDC at £23.50 plus
VAT each and they only had 6...
Best wishes,
Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
To: bbc-micro@...
Sent: 06 Dec 2005 18:06:32 +0000
Subject: [BBC-Micro] Vanishing electronics suppliers
Has anybody else noticed how difficult it is getting to obtain
electronics supplies? I've just been to Bardwell's in Sheffield
for some bits. I bought the last 8m of 34-way ribbon cable, and
they had no 34-way IDC headers. "We're not going to get any more
in" they said. "There's no business in electronics" they said.
I could understand if they were geing undercut by the likes of
Maplin, but Maplin - if they actually stock the parts - are more
expensive.
34-way IDE header at Maplin: `1.92. Last time Bardwell's had them
they were about `1.20.
Maplin don't do PCB-mounted IDC plugs, Molex pins, various
74-series ICs. In fact, most of the bits I need for the IDE
interface.
My only alternative now is online ordering from places like
Farnell, which require a credit card, which I don't have and won't
get.
And I've just used the last of my BBC power plugs. I haven't seen
them for sale anywhere for yonks. On my equipment I have replaced
the power connector with a 9-pin D connector with Torch pinouts,
but I can't supply hardware to other people and specify that they
modify their PSUs before using it.
What on *earth* possessed Acorn to use that connector on the PSU?
--
J.G.Harston - jgh@... - mdfs.net/User/JGH
BBC BASIC for the Sinclair Spectrum - http://mdfs.net/Software/Spectrum