The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home • Hacker News Board

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#51

Post by jdeeny » Tue, May 11, 2010, 6:56 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #33

jws wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've mostly solved the cable problem using monoprice.com. They are about 25% the price of a radioshack or other intown store. So when I place an order I buy 3 of everything I might need and keep them in a box, including a couple really long examples of each cable. It's cheaper for me to keep inventory than to buy local. I use the long ones temporarily if I run out of "right length" and swap when the next order comes…

Upvoted for how relevant this solution is to my own cable needs. I definitely don't miss the cashier trying to convince an electronics entrepreneur with engineering in the blood that 6' $80 HDMI cables have a noticeable quality difference. Still, I haven't found a good source for prototype project boxes in Radio Shack's price range. Can anyone recommend a low-cost rapid-prototyping plastic case manufacturer?

http://www.budind.com/ http://www.boxenclosures.com/ http://www.polycase.com/

Polycase is carried by Allied (www.alliedelec.com) and has some inexpensive, decent quality plastic boxes for around $3-4. I thought of those immediately after reading your post.

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#52

Post by smock » Tue, May 11, 2010, 7:21 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #50

pg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might like http://octopart.com , which searches all those sites.

I will definitely support a YC company and use Octopart next time I need to compare prices, and tell my EE friends about it. However, it seems to lack a few features that I'd need to use it to discover new components (such as the ability to compare ADCs by word size and sample rate or other category-specific attributes), and the TOS prohibition against deep linking seems overly restrictive considering there's an API…

Thanks for the feedback - you're right, the TOS prohibition was overly restrictive, we've removed the deep-linking clause. As far as attribute comparison, we are constantly trying to add more attribute data into our system, but we're still lacking in that department. We do have some data on sample rates for adcs though: http://octopart.com/partbrowser#search/requestData&start...

(this link is to our new partbrowser interface - we've been working on designing a new interface specifically with engineers in mind)

If you have any other suggestions or ideas, definitely let us know.

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#53

Post by sam » Tue, May 11, 2010, 7:34 PM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #49

sachinag wrote: post #25

Really? There isn't a link to http://www.octopart.com here? Goddammit folks! Go find your parts on Octopart and help a YC company out.

Why isn't Digi-Key in the vendor list? That would help. Otherwise, very very nice site. Will use more often!

We'd love to get Digi-Key on the vendor list but they've chosen not to list with us yet. Please let them know you want to see them on Octopart: webmaster -at- digikey.us

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#54

Post by nitrogen » Tue, May 11, 2010, 10:20 PM UTC

smock wrote: post #52

nitrogen wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will definitely support a YC company and use Octopart next time I need to compare prices, and tell my EE friends about it. However, it seems to lack a few features that I'd need to use it to discover new components (such as the ability to compare ADCs by word size and sample rate or other category-specific attributes), and the TOS prohibition against deep linking seems overly restrictive considering there's an API…

Thanks for the feedback - you're right, the TOS prohibition was overly restrictive, we've removed the deep-linking clause. As far as attribute comparison, we are constantly trying to add more attribute data into our system, but we're still lacking in that department. We do have some data on sample rates for adcs though: http://octopart.com/partbrowser#search/requestData&start... (this link is to our new partbrowser i…

I'm impressed by the quick response. I did find the part browser through a link from your blog, but somehow missed the sample rate attribute in the Add Column list (I guess I assumed it would be an Integer attribute). This is some very nice work. I wish you the best of luck and hope to use Octopart in my own quest for entrepreneurial success.

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#55

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 12, 2010, 3:48 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #40

nitrogen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to Digikey, Mouser and Newark similarly have diverse catalogs and allow single-unit orders of most parts. I've never ordered from Newark, but I do order from Digikey and Mouser, depending on who has the best price and availability on whatever it is I'm buying. http://www.mouser.com/ http://www.newark.com/ (and a clickable link for Digi-key: http://www.digikey.com/ )

You might like http://octopart.com , which searches all those sites.

[deleted]

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#56

Post by Gormo » Wed, May 12, 2010, 5:00 AM UTC

When I was in high school in the late '90s, I found an old discarded TRS-80 Model 4 that apparently still worked. I wanted to tinker with it, but it had no hard drive, and I had no software, so I walked into the local Radio Shack store, and asked the manager if they still supported the TRS-80.

The manager special ordered a copy of TRS-DOS on 5.25" floppies from the Tandy warehouse at no charge, gave me a catalog of the software and peripherals still available, and told me to come back whenever I needed support or information about the system.

It's a pity they're no longer like this. They can't really compete against Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, and all of the online consumer electronics stores, and now they no longer really serve the niche that was the basis of their original success. I'll miss Radio Shack.

Re: The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home

#57

Post by ericb » Wed, May 12, 2010, 10:49 AM UTC

chronomex wrote: post #28

ericb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until I went in, I had imagined You-Do-It as like a make-your-own pottery type of place, except with instructors and kits showing you how to make radios and toasters instead of pottery. This idea was very exciting to me...

I am currently employed at a retail startup in Seattle that could be described this way! http://www.metrixcreatespace.com/

Wow, this looks amazing. I wish there was a Boston branch!