[HN Gopher] Ask HN: eBay alternatives for computers, embedded co...
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       Ask HN: eBay alternatives for computers, embedded components, and
       tools
        
       Amazon, NewEgg, Best Buy and Microcenter offer many options for PC-
       building components. But what stores currently provide FPGAs and
       soldering stations for the hobbyist for cheap outside of academic
       supply companies?
        
       Author : Dracophoenix
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2021-12-04 21:10 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
       | cassianoleal wrote:
       | Mouser Electronics and RS Electronics are 2 that I have used for
       | 3D printing electronics parts, soldering and all that stuff. They
       | might have what you're looking for.
        
       | Giorgi wrote:
       | I don't think anything can beat eBay. Especially if you are
       | looking for second-hand, used, or refurbished tools/devices.
        
       | AussieWog93 wrote:
       | Digi-Key, Element14 (Farnell), RS Components and Mouser are all
       | big suppliers that offer reasonably priced components in any
       | volume you want. They're widely used by professional engineers
       | for both retail and wholesale orders, as well as BOM cost
       | estimates.
       | 
       | Octopart lets you compare prices across all of them (and more).
       | 
       | For components that you can tolerate the occasional issue with,
       | AliExpress is also a plausible option.
       | 
       | Specifically for tinkering with FPGAs, I'd recommend looking into
       | Numato. They're a small-ish business based out of India that
       | produce cheap and cheerful FPGA boards. The products are well-
       | made and support is great.
       | 
       | For the soldering station, I'd recommend just Googling "Hakko
       | FX-888" and ponying up the US$100 or so to get one from a
       | reputable supplier. There are cheaper products such as the YiHua
       | 936 you can get for, say, $30 that seem similar to the Hakko on
       | the surface, but all of them will break within 2 years while the
       | Hakko will last many decades. If you're just getting started and
       | don't want to drop $100, just stick to the $10 40W pencil irons
       | and you'll be fine.
       | 
       | Whatever route you go, make sure to get good solder (e.g.
       | Multicore). I used cheap DealExtreme solder for repairs back in
       | the day, and after a couple of years all of the joints cracked
       | and I had to re-do them. Some of the stuff had been repaired for
       | friends and I'm sure at least some of it was binned. If you're
       | strapped for cash, I would seriously recommend buying a cheaper
       | soldering iron in order to get good solder.
       | 
       | Final thing, if you're looking for a cheap oscilloscope for
       | getting started, check out EspoTek (disclaimer: I own the
       | business). It's cheap and cheerful, and designed for newbies just
       | getting into the hobby. A lot of effort has been put into the
       | product, and it's still (semi) actively maintained on GitHub.
       | 
       | https://espotek.com/labrador.
        
       | threshold wrote:
       | None. eBay for its many faults, is the single place you can
       | acquire advanced technologies on a budget. The commercial
       | products the stores you listed provide, at a crushing markup,
       | don't compare to what can be had at auction. Of course if you're
       | paying top dollar sometimes it's better to go to Amazon with
       | their very liberal return policies. But when you want to maximize
       | value for money, eBay.
        
       | imachine1980_ wrote:
       | idk if you want a yellow page, craigslist, or eBay(this type of
       | site have web effects meaning if you don't know probably don't
       | exist), and probably what I THINK YOU SEARCH (at least in
       | Argentina) happens in fb marketplace and parts exchange
       | groups(idk to much people using fb outside of this) probably
       | search a group of hobby who focus on that, communities selling
       | "garbage electronics for cheap" and "hacking space like" who can
       | help you sometimes in exchange for money or share passion, i wish
       | this be helpful if not sorry.
        
       | reginold wrote:
       | Would love to hear responses here. Thoughts...are Adafruit or
       | Digikey what you're looking for?
        
         | juice_bus wrote:
         | I'm not sure about "cheap" but Mouser would be another to add
         | to this list.
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-04 23:01 UTC)