Date   : Sun, 11 Dec 2005 00:29:39 +0000
From   : jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
Subject: Re: Vanishing electronics suppliers

Ian K <BBCmail@...> wrote:
> > > Has anybody else noticed how difficult it is getting to obtain
> > > electronics supplies?
> 
> > Yes. There's no commercial market for parts any more I suppose because
> > consumers just chuck stuff away and buy a replacement when something
> > breaks rather than getting the old one fixed. That's not going to
> 
> I have found as a Photocopier service engineer repairing rather than
> replacing things is becoming harder to do. Especially with PCBs, in the
 
I'm not talking about repairs, but construction. Hell, *I* don't
repair things. If I can't see a loose wire of an unplugged
component it's a beyond hope.
 
What I'm talking about is being able to throw something together
with a handful of components. I built my MIDI interface in 1988
with bits bought at Barwell's. You can't get proper 5-pin DIN
sockets there any more, let alone 6850 ACIAs.
 
Places like Maplin aren't really electronics (ie, resistors, ICs,
sockets) suppliers any more, they are electronics consumer
equipment (ie, hi-fis, remote controlled model cars, blank CDs)
suppliers.
 
I got my last load of components from Farnell Online with a
collegue at work used their credit card to pay for it.
 
-- 
J.G.Harston - jgh@...                - mdfs.net/User/JGH
Sheffield Boundary Review at http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Politics/ParlReview